Welcome to UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability Building!
Click here to enjoy the Building’s Narrated Audio Tour
The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability – CIRS- is an interdisciplinary academic centre that is a focal point for sustainability research and operations at UBC. The CIRS Building is home to a number of UBC units, research groups, and industry partners. The design mandate for CIRS was to create a “regenerative” building — one that would go beyond conventional sustainable design principles and to have a “net-positive” impact on its environment and the lives of its human inhabitants.
Within the building, passive design strategies are integrated with high-performance systems, using renewable resources and unique site opportunities. CIRS is on target to achieve LEED® Platinum and Living Building Challenge recognition.
CIRS is a four-storey U-shaped building that wraps around a large auditorium, with a living roof courtyard on the second level. The two main wings of the “U” contain offices, labs and work spaces, a café, and service spaces such as an ecologically-based reclaimed water treatment plant, and these are connected by a four-storey, naturally lit and ventilated atrium.
CIRS is the source of multiple research projects, as well as the subject of ongoing studies on the long-term effects of sustainable design, construction, and operation, including research on the performance of wood structures over time. It is intended as a new baseline in sustainable building at UBC, which other projects should strive to surpass.
One of the main reasons timber products were so heavily used for the construction of the CIRS Building is the fact that in 2009, the Province of British Columbia passed Bill 9-2009, also known as the “Wood First Act”. The aim of this bill was to promote and advance the culture of timber construction in non-residential settings by requiring the use of wood as a principal material in any provincially funded buildings.
The design process began in 2008 and construction of the CIRS building started in March 2009. The construction process finished in August 2011, and the CIRS Building was ready for the 2011 winter term at UBC. It supports a lecture hall, office and meeting spaces, and a café.
Project Facts:
| Architects: | Perkins + Will Architects Canada Co. |
| Structural Engineers: | Fast + Epp Structural Engineers |
| Construction Manager: | Heatherbrae Builders |
| Size: | 5,675 m2 |
| Completed: | 2011 |
We highly encourage that you visit the Official Website of the CIRS Building for more information.
Make sure to visit all of the features of the building before moving on to the next stop.
General Information
Uses of Wood in the Building
Sustainability Features
Continue to Bioenergy Research & Demonstration Facility Building 