The Vine ShrouD

The Spirit

Village 1. The first residence built for the University of Waterloo, marked a monumental step for the university. From 1966 to present, V1 has offered durable and affordable housing for students on campus. However, as the world moves forward, the buildings of the past also need to move forward. This project takes a step towards sustainability and innovation, and into the future of building design.

The MIND

The Vine Shroud draws inspiration from the symbiotic nature of climbing ivy and building facades. The aluminum panels not only emulate the climbing nature of ivy, but they will also provide an surface that living ivy can grow on. If so desired, ivy can be planted at the base of the panels and allowed to grow up the panels, providing extra shading for the building.

The BODY

The Vine Shroud consists of 40 perforated aluminum panels, each at about 9m in height and 1.5m in width, providing solar solar shading to the brick façade underneath. To compensate for the varying amount of direct sunlight on each face of the building, the densities of both the perforations and the panels can be adjusted. The simple brick façade beneath the shroud provides an effective baseline to construct a well insulated and simple-to-build wall.

The EXPERIENCE

Currently, the V1 residence is only open for housing during the fall and winter terms. This is partially due to the lack of ventilation and thermal control of the current façade system. With the addition of the larger windows, better insulation and solar control, V1 will be transformed into a sustainable and far more comfortable building to live in. Improvements to the thermal control of the building also opens up the opportunity to occupancy during the summer term, providing more students the opportunity to live on campus.

Furthermore, improving the thermal control system will also result in far more comfortable temperatures during the colder months. Additionally the increased thermal performance will reduce the need for artificial heating and cooling, which reduces costs and benefits the environment.