Tag Archives: Engineering and Technology Building

McMaster University Engineer and Technology Building
Vermeulen Hind Architects (Perkins + Will)
Main St W and Emerson St
Built: 2009

The Engineering and Technology Building is situated at McMaster’s Main and Emerson corridor, adding a contemporary touch to McMaster’s streetscape presence. The five storey, 125,000 square foot building consists primarily of two materials: concrete and glass. The structural frame of the building is made of poured-in concrete, a durable and aesthetically pleasing material. Above street level, the building is composed of a glass curtain wall of varying bands of glass. The predominately glass façade is just one of the many features that landed the Engineering and Technology Building a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for meeting environmental standards. Inside, the building was designed as a teaching tool. There are structural and mechanical elements in the building have been left exposed to help the students to study some of the building’s functions. There are two elliptical shaped classrooms inside the building. These rooms are both within a three-story funnel shaped tower located at the buildings west façade. Some of the building’s sustainability features include: rainwater harvesting; occupancy and automated photo sensor controlled lighting; high recycled content in primary materials; inclusion of local slag; and heat recovery for exhaust air. The Engineering and Technology Building, which cost an estimated $48 dollars, has won two awards of distinction. Hamilton’s Urban Design and Architecture Awards committee chose the Engineering and Technology Building as the recipient for the Award of Excellence for Architectural Design in 2009. The second award was the architectural merit category in the 2009 Ontario Concrete Awards.