Take a short bus-ride to experience several significant architectural projects in Nanaimo. Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Emergency Ward Innovation inspired a highly functional facility with extraordinary indoor environmental quality. Each of the five patient care zones has a landscaped courtyard, bringing calm, and life-world connection to a typically high-stress environment. Operable glazed walls in the psychiatric emergency and intensive care lounges fold open to courtyard gardens. A three-phase thermal labyrinth, exterior automatic solar shading and natural and displacement ventilation combine to achieve the lowest energy use of a hospital in BC. Vancouver Island Regional Library Nanaimo North Branch Architect: Low Hammond Rowe Architects Inc. Uplands Walk Social Housing Architect: Low Hammond Rowe Architects Inc. Project Green Rock After stopping at the Buzz Coffee shop, one can walk around several commercial/ industrial buildings in proximity with shared bioswales that have public signage about the details. Buildings include: TD Canada Trust Bank, Country Grocer, McDonalds, The Buzz Coffee House, Moksha Yoga Studio, Green Rock Liquor Store, McGregor Thompson, Arbutus Distillery, bioswales, (all nearby!) SELECTION OF THIS TOUR IS REQUIRED THROUGH THE REGISTRATION PROCESS

Presented by various experts on behalf of Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).