Our First Sub Thoughts
The new UBC Student Union Building will aim high: to empower, to advocate, to lead by example with ecological, social and financial sustainability. It will be accessible and diverse. It will be an inspirational, dignified space, at home in an exciting landscape.
The new SUB will function like an agora — an arena for the community to express its values. It will be a space where student culture will flourish. Local values can be expressed in light of global concerns. Springing from this desire, this new agora must have these mutually beneficial core objectives:
Foster the UBC Student Community
This is the core objective of the building. It must be a home-away-from-home for all students, be they from Kitsilano or Kenya. As such, it must have an atmosphere that fosters both formal and informal conversation. What is formal conversation, exactly? Imagine more functional club space. Clubs are core campus communities, allowing students to gather to focus on specific issues or common interests. Informal conversation is a beer at the pub. The informal social side of campus sustains vital aspects of learning and community life. This building must support both, and will do it through a design that is flexible. We feel flexibility is key to sustainable buildings and sustainable society. The nature and detail of student culture will always be in flux, and the building must be able to accommodate different programs and desires as needs and times change.
Engage the world
Underlying much of the work done to date is a desire for a building that is a source of great pride to the students of UBC. Part of this means having a student-centered, student-created building at the heart of campus. But the scope, in our initial interpretation, should be even broader than that. This is really about creating a building that contributes to the global conversation about architecture, sustainability, and community. From this, naturally, will come a building with impeccable “green” credentials. Ultimately, this type of thinking can be a gift to the world, as opposed to focusing solely on the UBC community of students.
The Conversation
Doug Birkenshaw is a design leader and partner at B+H. His favorite design tool is a souped-up Fujistu laptop. His creativity used to be fueled by tobacco until he quit.
Bruce Haden is a design leader and partner at HBBH. His favorite design tool is a Mac G5, fueled by JJ Bean strong drip. He hates cigarette smoke, so he’s glad Doug quit.
Listen in as Bruce and Doug ask, “What’s your SUB?”
Bruce: I spent a lot of time at the SUB while I was at UBC.I would go for drinks, for food, and just to hang out—on my own or with others. The fact that UBC is not an urban campus means the SUB building is the heart of the student community. It’s like a mini city, replacing the functions and funkiness that surround urban campuses like Queens. You’ve designed for Queens, right Doug?
Doug: Right, Bruce. Queens has an obvious urban feel, which was a great context to work in. The exciting challenge for UBC is to create that urban feel based on what the students want their “city” to be. I know when I was at Waterloo, I would go to the SUB late at night after a deadline to find the place teeming with life. Sometimes they’d build an impromptu movie theatre in the main atrium. What was cool about it was the spontaneity, the lack of overt planning. Again, it was everything you want from a city: active, casual, accidental and lively—24/7.For me, that translates into a building that’s flexible, transparent, and welcoming.
How do you like to work with outside input?
Doug: Every project has a unique culture, so the best way to involve everyone varies. In this case we’d set up a Design Cube inside the existing SUB building as our base of operations. It’s an amazing chance to integrate the design “flow” with the life of the building.
On our other university projects, we’ve involved students by using rapid prototyping in their labs to develop models of spaces and even components like railings. The students end up directly shaping their building.
Bruce: I am pumped about the idea of basing myself in the SUB building during the first key design steps. It will be like coming home! I also think it’s great to talk to people who often don’t end up at the table. What do the kitchen staff want in a new SUB, for example? I like to hear from people who may not speak up in a group meeting—one-on-one meetings can be a great tool.
UBC SUB Design Cube
Talk about one or two of your favorite projects—any relationships to SUBs?
Doug: Beamish Munro Hall at Queens—built to house a new engineering curriculum—was a project that really summed up the joy of being an architect. The program was so compelling. These are the people who design and build solar cars to race across the continent. Their curriculum was developed at the same time as the building, so the design became a lab for their ideas. The building has thousands of embedded gauges to measure everything from stress on beams when people walk on them to lighting levels and heating and cooling loads—and all the info is viewable online. It also has a three-storey bio-filter green wall. The SUB should be a constant source of inspiration. A beacon in terms of social innovation and sustainability.
Bruce: I am very proud of the Nk Mip Desert Cultural Centre. The building is innovative, super green, and is a focus of great community pride—all crucial to a successful new SUB. I also love to sit in the JJ Bean cafés we design and watch people—coffee shops are often the living rooms of the city. People fall in love, get dumped, write books, everything. The SUB needs to be similar: full of life and great conversation.
Nk’Mip Desert Culture Centre
What’s your thinking on green?
Bruce: Maybe we should think about social green as opposed to just tech green. Part of the answer to environmental catastrophe is technology, but I passionately believe the answer is social as well, and I worry about what I call “green bling”—techie bits that may or may not work ten years from now. Maybe sweaters will save the world before solar panels do!
Doug: I love the new green materials and tech products, from LED lighting to waferboard made of harvesting waste—great stuff. There is a clear commitment on the part of UBC students to make the SUB super green. One trick is to keep it simple and low tech (or no tech). Complexity often leads to inefficiency. Simple things like an analysis of the local conditions, using the site to maximize the positive effects of climate. In “social green” terms, at the Queens building we asked people to commit to using only low-energy flat screens, and to accept there might be five days in summer where they might be a little warmer than usual. These simple strategies are huge energy savers—when the users and the building work in tandem. The achievment of LEED® Platinum is important for the building, but we are interested in what more we can do!
About HBBH + BH
HBBH + BH is a 100% Canadian team with an international perspective.
Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden architects (HBBH) – Vancouver
B + H Architects (B+H) – Toronto + Vancouver + Shanghai + New Delhi + Sharjah + Dubai + Ho Chi Minh City
HBBH has been building community for 35 years. A great example is Granville Island, a globally recognized urban design and architectural solution. Both Granville Island and the new SUB could be thought of as “a city within a city” – a place that creates a framework for community and conversation.
B+H brings Canadian design to the world. A global portfolio includes the Hong Kong New World Tower in Shanghai, and the Pudong Sheraton Hotel. Canadian university facilities include buildings at Queens and Sheridan – including advanced green tech.
HBBH were green leaders before LEED®. The Capers Building in Kitsilano was a dramatically early example, incorporating the first use of geothermal heating and cooling in Western Canada. Another leading example is Koo’s Corner, a small East Van townhouse project and a benchmark for the City of Vancouver’s Ecodensity conversation – also Bruce Haden’s home.
HBBH + BH know UBC, having co created the new Marine Residences / Commons Block, the ICICS facilities and the Hugh Dempster Lecture Pavilion.
Video
The SUB is your building and a legacy you will leave for future generations of UBC students. Your thoughts are important to us and we want to hear from you! What's Your SUB? Tell us what you want your sub to be!
Well lit please! Some areas with natural lighting from the sun would be sweet.
Locally established food retailers only!
Sound dampening materials to keep the place a bit quieter would be nice.
outdoor seating areas protected from rain and wind – for eating, socializing, meeting, and relaxing.
less or no HVAC noise in and around the building.
(West doors have a lot of noise)
Vaulting in the ceilings. Perhaps an attractive portcullis. Definitely a debates chamber in the Oxford Union style.
make the Bike Kitchen more accesible. more bike racks.
Plenty of washrooms
a space for studying, relaxing, catching up with friends, recharging between classes, student services. I want it to be my one-stop shop.
An indoor atrium (with manually openable windows) with a water feature. Something to take us to the tropics in the middle of the Vancouver gloomy winters.
Don’t forget about the BBQ area! The BBQ outside the south SUB entrance on sunny days is one of my favourite things about UBC. It would be awesome if it was given consideration in the new plans and updated.
What about using wood affected by pine beetles? Like the Richmond Oval. I think it’s an incredible way to support BC’s forestry industry, it’s sustainable and it looks still looks beautiful.
high ceilings, lot’s of real BC (raw) BC wood, something that looks outdoorsy and not ikea.
lots of natural light
‘cleanup’ rooms for commuter students, a place to fix your hair, makeup, get changed, maybe even showers!?
cheaper food.
Your thoughts on social versus tech green is great to hear. I’d love to see open spaces that are more intuitive to navigate unlike the nooks and crannies of the current basement. also, composting & recycling bins in other areas outside of the immediate dining area… many of us walk and eat!
SOlar panels!
I want it to be accessible.
Performance space! Both enclosed spaces for theatre, dance, film, etc. and spaces open to the main concourse for musicians, jugglers, poets, speakers, etc.
so excited that you were chosen! woo!
you’re following me on twitter. thank you.
Green Walls, active building monitoring (with public numbers and data for us engineering geeks)!
Fireplaces are also a nice way to make common spaces feel cozy.
Just got the great news that HBBH B/H is in the final three! Thanks to all our supporters and congratulations to BTA and BPW as well.
Amazing student involvement. All UBC students should be proud.
On behalf of the entire HBBH B+H Team, Bruce Haden
Just got the great news that HBBH B/H is in the final three! Thanks to all our supporters and congratulations to BTA and BPW as well.
Amazing student involvement. All UBC students should be proud.
We will keep this site live during (and after !) the final selection process so we can get feedback.
On behalf of the entire HBBH B+H Team, Bruce Haden
It’s a refuge from the rain during the winter but should also take into consideration that a lot of students like to be outside during nicer weather.
The SUB is definitely a more of a home-away-from-home for all students but I don’t think clubs are core campus communities. Clubs mostly gather outside of the campus at least the clubs that I’ve come across or have heard of from students in clubs. A lot of them bring their activities outside the school and are mostly informal social engagements involving alcohol outside campus. Perhaps that’s more geared towards students that don’t spend as much time socializing on campus. The sub is a place whether to just grab a bite before, between, and maybe after classes. A place to be able to spend time at and be able to eat while catching up with school work or meeting up with friends during breaks. Most students commute to the school so it’s more of a place you zip in and out of between schedules. I’d be very curious as to how a home-away-from-home for students would function for commuter schools.
i would like a SUB that encourages health and life…the green wall seems to help create this kind of atmosphere. in addition to a sustainable design, sustainable and healthy food options should be plenty.
Climbing plus green wall?? Awesome!! Also, the knoll people are very protective, good idea to keep it to stay on their good side
I would like the new SUB to reflect the multicultural backgrounds of students. This is very important for me.
Also, I prefer a bright and colorful student building to dull and dark ones..more plants inside of the building as asset..
Cheaper food. All food on campus is rediculously expensive for students…less corporate domination and more student-friendly services
Well thought through…great presentation.
Love the sustainability approach…and the real understanding of the UBC experience.
Please build it, it looks great!
I want this!
great presentation!
Free food and I m sold!!!!!!!!!!
I hope the new sub can have more clean and nice washrooms. More choices of food, and more entertainment facilities
Looking forward to seeing the presentation on thursday at 11!