Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
The Edge is one of the latest buildings created by Dub Architects in collaboration with Design North Landscape Architecture, a fully sustainable 10-story office building, an energy-savvy structure featuring one of Canada’s largest solar walls.
Its 560 photovoltaic panels provide 80% of the building’s electrical requirements.
The building is connected to the city’s power grid, returning excess power on sunny days.
The project was recently awarded a 2021 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The design incorporates both insulated triple-glazed and quadruple-glazed systems.
The open floor plates are naturally lit by comfortable north daylight.
The north windows require no blinds and the building requires little artificial light during the summer months.
The ends of the building feature large thermally-separated balconies and solar screens to control sunlight.
The development contains private educational facilities throughout seven floors and private office space on the top two levels.
The ground floor engages the street with changing pop-up uses.
Eighteen underground parking spaces are accessed through the condominium apartment parkade next door, eliminating the need for a disruptive ramp at ground level.
The solar wall provides sustainable benefits and is a prototype for similar infill conditions.
Here, the building to the south is a recently repurposed warehouse with no anticipated redevelopment for 50 years.
However, the solar wall has a payback period of only 5-8 years, making the prototype feasible in locations with a less certain future.
The flexible interior floor plate accommodates open planning or up to 10 enclosed offices along the north wall.
Heat pumps and lighting serviced from the dropped ceiling along the core allow for an unobstructed exposed concrete ceiling, convenient for demising.
Air ducts are supplied along the beams and electrical floor outlets are served by ducts within the poured concrete floor.
Project: The Edge Office Building
Architects: Dub Architects Ltd.
Design Team: Gene Dub, Walter Di Tommaso, Norman Kloever, and Stephen Smolski
Landscape Architects: Design North Landscape Architecture Inc.
Client: Five Oaks Inc.
Contractor: T C Biggs Construction
Photographers: Doublespace Photography Younes Bounhar
