SFU has laid out an ambitious program for the growth of its Burnaby campus residences. The new Residence and Housing Master Plan 2015–35 spans 20 years and will double capacity on Burnaby Mountain, considerably reshaping the structure of the residence community.

The 75-page report provides a five phase construction program that will raise the number of residence beds from 1,554 to 3,250 over the next 20 years through seven new buildings and an expanded dining hall.

Consultation on the Master Plan is open indefinitely, with opportunities for students to make their voices heard over email and in person. The last of four open houses will be held on Wednesday Dec. 2 between 12 and 2 p.m.

This transition includes the creation of two-story ‘living-rooms’ for the towers, the relocation of the Simon Hotel, and the consolidation of Residence and Housing’s offices and facilities.

The progressive demolition of Louis Riel House, Madge Hogarth House, and the Cowichan House townhouse block is planned to allow space for new buildings. Another portion of the plan is accommodated in the surface lot behind the towers, and the hilly forested area north of that lot.

The plan maintains the key east-west pedestrian axis of the original Erickson & Massey campus design.

In addition the plan intends to create the “ideal residence community” based on student surveys, with a variety of housing options. Currently options for living in residence consist of two varieties of single dorm rooms, four-person townhouses, and studios for graduate students.

The new plan includes the potential for single and double occupancy units, as well as suites, semi-suites, studios, and apartment units. These expansions are proposed to take place in an incremental fashion, with an initial focus on expanding first year residence capacity before moving on to upper year and graduate students.

This focus is the result of a disproportionately higher demand for first year housing — a demand that has the potential to put pressure on housing availability and push out upper year residents. Currently, SFU is unlike other universities in that it can be extremely difficult for students to remain on residence beyond first year due to high housing demand.

Through the provision of this plan, the university is presenting a drastic change in the direction for residence growth. It has been 11 years since the dining hall and towers were built, a project which itself was preceded by a near 12-year gap with Hamilton House and the townhouses. The Shell, Louis Riel, and Madge Hogarth residences date back to the beginnings of SFU.

Residence is not addressed in detail in either the 2010 Burnaby Mountain Campus development plan or the 2015–2020 SFU five year capital plan. According to Tim Rahilly, Associate VP Students, the Residence Master Plan would be utilized to fill in these gaps and update the university’s plans as it develops. Each step of the Master Plan requires additional examination, budgeting, planning, and approval through university administration.

Development for the Residence and Housing Master plan began in 2013 after the  residence’s budgetary crisis several years ago. One of the initial options explored at that point was the partial or complete privatization of the SFU residences. This idea gained traction in 2005 and was discussed for half a decade before being ultimately discarded. 

According to Tracey Mason-Innes, the director of SFU’s Residence and Housing, the plan presents a change and an acknowledgement by the university that “if we’re committing to residence, then we need to think and plan about how we should do it.” Despite the 20-year timeframe set out in the Master Plan, Mason-Innes described it as a growing plan that has to be revisited as circumstances change and new buildings are opened.

Rahilly commented on the future of family housing on campus, saying that it is a continuing conversation with UniverCity that he hopes will yield information by late spring on the potential provision of family housing in that area.

Beyond new construction, Mason-Innes noted the importance of maintaining existing facilities. Mctaggart-Cowan Hall is scheduled to begin renovations this summer and will be the last building to be updated.

According to Mason-Innes, feedback to the plan has so far been positive. With the proposed two-story ‘living rooms’ for the residence towers being a strong point.

Mason-Innes was pleased with the response to the proposed living rooms: “It’s the first step, and something that could be done quite easily in comparison.”

Residents have raised concerns about the removal of the surface parking lot north of the towers. However, the concern is more about the potential effect of its removal, and not around existing demand for parking spaces.

Aside from physical changes, the plan will have a ripple effect on how residence is structured, from delivery of services, to community programming, and residence orientation.

[dropcap]“N[/dropcap]ow in the light of global warming and reducing our environmental impact, we all need to find a more efficient way to use energy,” stated SFU Mechatronics Systems Engineering associate professor Majid Bahrami, who was recently recognized among the 2016 Canada Clean50 in the category of research and development.

The members of the Canada Clean50 are considered leaders in sustainable development who have made a measurable impact with their work.

Bahrami is the director of the Laboratory for Alternative Energy Conversion (LAEC), located at SFU Surrey. The lab focuses on sustainable cooling, thermal management, and fuel cell materials.

The LAEC is also responsible for training over 70 students in sustainable energy research. Research in the lab is conducted primarily for members of a relevant industry who are interested in sustainable energy.

Bahrami elaborated on the role that industry plays in the LAEC: “At the moment we are working with 15 different companies, providing them with the information they need. This ranges from testing, material characterization, modeling, prototyping, and fuel solution. Basically the lab is run like a startup company.”

This approach is successful, according to Bahrami, because his students gain industry-related experience throughout their schooling, and are therefore more likely to secure better jobs. The direct connection with industry also allows for a fast integration of these green technologies.

One such technology is the LAEC’s atmospheric water generator. This was created with sustainable water in mind. Bahrami noted, “This can be used in a variety of locations where there are no other water sources available.” These could be areas hit by natural disaster, areas where the aquifers have been depleted, and even arid climates where no other water is available. It works by sucking in air and extracting the moisture.

The current model can produce 20 to 30 litres of water per day, but it is scalable up to 100,000 litres per day. “It’s expensive water,” Bahrami added, “but atmospheric water is the most sustainable water you can get.”

Another example is the adsorption refrigeration system, which generates cooling without using electricity. According to Bahrami, it uses abundant low-grade heat, temperatures that are below 100 degrees Celsius, to start the cooling process. Not only does this technology avoid the energy costs of cooling, but it avoids the use of harmful refrigerants that act to deplete the ozone layer.

The team has developed yet another eco-friendly technology in collaboration with local electronics manufacturer Alpha Technology. It is a cooling system within an enclosure for telecommunication provision systems, which are used for the provision of wireless internet and cell phone service. The cooling system regulates what is termed ‘parasitic power,’ which is required for the cooling system.

Bahrami explained, “We reduced the environmental impact of these telecommunication system enclosures by 15 per cent. In a nutshell, we are removing all the parasitic power required for cooling this system.” This “parasitic power” refers to the energy wasted through the heating and cooling of various moving parts.

Bahrami holds the Canada Research Chair in Alternative Energy Conversion Systems, a government program geared to keep Canada on the cutting edge of research and development. As chair, reducing our environmental impact through practical innovations is important to him. “With the Paris convention, we are going to commit to at least 30 per cent GHG (greenhouse gas) reduction, it’s a Herculean task.”

Herculean it may be, but the efforts of Majid Bahrami and the students at the LAEC have earned them a place among Canada’s Clean50.