By Aaron Mahoney

Process Reaching Completion

U of L’s new Science and Academic Building to officially open on September 13th and 14th

May 15, 2019 | 1:24 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s been nearly a decade in the making but come this fall the Destination Project at the University of Lethbridge will open to the public officially.

The U of L, in partnership with Economic Development Lethbridge and Beakerhead Creative Society, is planning a community celebration to mark the official opening of the new Science and Academic Building.

The two-day event will take place on Sept. 13 and 14 and will feature a host of interactive programs designed to showcase the 38,500 sq. metre building, celebrate ingenuity, science education, research and discovery.

President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Mike Mahon says the building was designed to showcase the research activities being done on campus and to inspire future generations of scientists but admits it’s been a process.

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“First it was lobbying the provincial government to think about funding the building. When I started as President nine years ago, I remember sitting down with the Premier of the day Ed Stelmach and talking to him about this building. Nine years later now and we’re just about ready to open the building. It’s been a labour of love both in terms of obtaining the funding for the building, but then of course doing all of the planning that led to the creation we see today. This is a massive, massive building and to design a building of this size with this level of technicality as a science building was quite a feat,” Mahon said.

Mike Mahon

Officials from the university believe once the new building is open, it will have a significant impact on attracting new students due to a variety of factors.

“We believe this will be the most technically advanced science building in North America and we also think it will be the most sustainable science building in North America,” Mahon continued. “Those two pieces for students I think will be very attractive.”

The U of L used a company out of Germany called Transsolar to help them design the most innovative approach to sustainability.

“This building will be 53 per cent more sustainable than traditional science buildings, so that in and of itself I think is a great indicator of how sustainable it will be,” Mahon added.

As ambassadors for the city, Economic Development Lethbridge has been a strong advocate for the Science and Academic Building from the outset, recognizing the economic impact of its construction and how it will be a driver of innovation and entrepreneurship for years to come.

EDL CEO Trevor Lewington says the underlying theme of the Brighter Together brand for Lethbridge is that innovation and leadership will take the community forward into the future.

“We are pleased to partner with the University to bring Beakerhead to the city as we showcase the new Science and Academic Building while actively engaging the community in what leadership in innovation really looks like.”

The University and EDL have partnered to sponsor the Beakerhead activities that they believe will enhance the many U of L faculty presentations designed to engage and excite visitors during the grand opening celebrations.

Beakerhead is an Alberta-based charity with a mandate to advance education at the crossroads of art, science and engineering, believing that when you throw open the doors to science and engineering through a welcoming world of art and entertainment, ingenuity happens.

Beakerhead CEO Jeff Popiel is excited to bring a small taste of Beakerhead to celebrate the grand opening with the University of Lethbridge.

“Creating a hub like this for science education, outreach and collaboration inevitably sparks ideas, inventions and discoveries that will redefine the future.”

When it comes to features of the building that are the most cutting edge on the sustainability side, Mahon says the most significant one is something called the winter garden.

“The entire south side of the building is a winter garden, which is a wide expanse. In essence, what happens from a technological perspective is the air comes into the very large garden, and is either heated or cooled depending upon the time of the year, and then sent up into the air handling system.

“That’s what makes the building so much more efficient from a sustainability perspective. We’ll be heating and cooling the building with the outside air to a large extent. There’s only one other building in Canada that uses the winter garden feature, which is the hydro building in Winnipeg, and presently it’s considered the most sustainable building in Canada,” Mahon said, adding that’s one of the reasons they used Transsolar because that’s a feature they created and designed.