b'Photos provided by Akman Construction.company called Solar Lab. Apart from being sustainable, the solar cladding will lend a striking visual characteristic. It has a couple of different colour options, notes Amanda Ross of Number TEN Architectural Group (which collaborated with Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto), and the colour of the cladding actually changes, depending on the angle from which its viewed. The panels are vertical, but theyre angled so that theyre not flush to the face of the building, but more a very gentle sawtooth, and with the curve in the line at the one end of the building, there will really be an effect of seeing the panel colour change when viewed from Image provided by Diamond Schmitt Architects.different angles. Its quite innovative.Innovation has been an important focus, and Jared Akman, Director of Operations for Akman Construction, says theThe Scott Fruit building that will be a part of the newteam has been looking at different ways to convergeRRC Innovation Centre.technologies. Being a centre for innovation, the building has to be innovative, so there are a number of technological challenges that were going through, like trying to use different mechanical/electrical aspects to accommodate a number of different thingsso you dont have 10 sensors on a wall, for example, but just one to accommodate your lighting, heating, CO detection and occupancy. Were learning as we go, and its going to be a pretty unique building by the time were finished.The 100-year-old Scott Fruit building was one of Winnipegs first to use structural concrete, leading to more challenges on the road to a 100 EUI. Insulating is an issue, the floor is far from level and the rebar is not where you would expect it, but we came up with solutions regarding all of those things, says Ross. Well use spray foam insulation, and well insulate the slab partly by using raised access flooring, which helps in managing the electrical and mechanical for the space. We gain flexibility for those types of things, but it also helps us to compensate for the fact that the original concrete floor is not totally even, and it allows us to expose the ceiling, which has these beautiful column capitals. The challenge of working toward LEED Silver points while combining the old and new buildings, together with the stated goal of being an innovative building to be purposed for innovation, has dictated an expansive series of mock-ups. Weve had to do many more mock-ups than we would typically do for a new build, says Akman. Weve got a whole mock-up section, and were doing mock-ups of justThe 100-year-old Scott Fruit building was one of Winnipegs first to about every aspect of the building. Some of them are in situ,use structural concrete, leading to more challenges on the road to a and some are being done ahead of time, so our mock-up100 EUI.list is pretty comprehensive on this one compared to what it would be for a standard building.Proudly Partnering with Red River College on the Some design featuressuch as the meeting circleare aInnovation Centre Project!nod to the Treaty 1 land on which the facility will sit, as is an Indigenous Training Program included as part of the buildCOLLABORATION. COMMITMENT. INNOVATION.to coincide with RRCs initiatives for Indigenous education. Thats going really well, enthuses Akman, and weve got a huge amount of Indigenous participation, training is going on on-site and it has been a really successful initiative for us and for the participants involved. Its a new program for us, and its just been a great experience.Slated to open in time for the 2020 fall term, the $95 million Innovation Centre was scheduled to open sooner, but waswww.akman.cadelayed early last year while the finances were arranged.Issue 1SpringEdition 2019 BUILD MANITOBA 41'