Third Space Commons, an ultra low carbon building by engineering design team Third Quadrant Design, has been featured by UBC Applied Science. Advised by Assistant Professor Adam Rysanek, the team recently received a BC Embodied Carbon award in the small buildings category for the project, their entry into the 2023 Solar Decathlon competition. After the competition, the building will be converted to a teaching and learning space for Applied Science. An open house will be held at Third Space Commons on April 14, 15, and 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The project is located at 6363 Biological Sciences Road, behind the Earth Sciences Building (2207 Main Mall). All are welcome to attend and experience what carbon minimalism looks like.
“From the conception of Third Space Commons we wanted the building to be more than a building,” explains MArch student and project lead/executive member Katie Theall. “We dreamed of an addition to UBC’s campus that would advance the practice of sustainable & climate resilient design through both its construction and its programming.” This has manifested as a focus on embodied carbon (the emissions resulting from the manufacturing of the building materials all their way to their eventual disposal), rather than operational carbon, which is commonly prioritized by industry and government. “[The BC Embodied Carbon Award] allows us to share our conviction that our buildings must respond to the global climate crisis, and that industry and government needs to focus on total carbon rather than just operational carbon in future design and construction.”
Along with Katie, the team features BDes students Brittany Hermawan, Marco He, Collette Bartschat, and Mia Torrence; MArch students Maverick Chan, Lorena Polovina, William Ho, and Julio Ginter-Agreda; as well as BEnds alumni Julie Yang and Kertty Guo.