Project Description
Size: 510 m2 (5,500 ft2)
Cost: $5.7 million
Location: Edmonton, AB
The Blatchford development has been envisioned by the City of Edmonton as a unique community within the city, and a world-leading, sustainable community.
Blatchford Energy Centre One (BEC1) is primarily to function as a large mechanical process room, focused on accommodating District Energy Sharing System (DESS) infrastructure. However, it was identified from the outset that the facility must also fit comfortably within its context in the community, and be expressive of both its function and the ideals underlying the Blatchford development. BEC1 is to be a building that is industrial by virtue of its function and the equipment it accommodates - yet it is also to be, in a significant sense, a civic building and a prominent part of the community.
This means the building must be attractive, appropriate, and sensitive to its context in a way not typically associated with industrial buildings. This is due both to its location in a vibrant public, pedestrian focused area planned to be key to the character of the development; and also due to the desire that it express and educate in relation to its function by promoting awareness of the DESS more generally.