Eastgate Office Building

The design challenges of this project were two-fold: to build a healthy, sustainable office space, yet also support the highly-technical missions and energy-sapping equipment for Environment Canada’s important weather forecasting work to continue 24/7, under any circumstances.

This required a carefully-measured balance between passive design strategies and technical devices and systems. The building is wrapped in a durable high-performance envelope and oriented to optimize natural light. The three-storey structure features a central atrium with sloped steel columns, which metaphorically reference an interior forest, along with a custom wood spiral staircase to entice visitors to choose the stairs over elevators.

To capitalize on flexibility, Fast + Epp created an efficient cast-in-place concrete flat slab supported by concrete columns on a 7.5m x 7.5m grid. The flat plate concrete system increases adaptability when it comes to installing mechanical and electrical services. Cast-in-place concrete end bearing bell piles support the column loads, while lateral loads are carried by the cast-in-place concrete cores at the stairs and elevators.

Despite the client’s strict sustainability standards, a tight budget, a complex mechanical system and an extensive electronic load, Eastgate Office Building was able to perform to its LEED Gold targets – a considerable achievement.