Busby Perkins+Will Architects
Synergy is the highest scoring LEED® Platinum project in the world
Dockside Green is the largest development of city land in Victoria’s history. Once complete the development will total of 26 building and include residential, live/work, hotel, retail, office, light industrial uses and numerous public amenities. With a LEED® Platinum rating targeted for each building, the project is a global showcase for large-scale sustainable development.
The first phase of Dockside – known as “Synergy” – is the highest-scoring LEED® Platinum Certified project on record. It includes four detached buildings: a nine-storey and a six-storey residential tower with commercial units on the ground floor, and a two-storey and four-storey residential building with townhouses.
Note: Jonathan Westeinde declared a conflict of interest re: The Dockside submission. He did not participate in any discussions or recommendations regarding the Dockside Green Synergy submissions.
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Dockside Green integrates innovation in various aspects into an outstanding architecture which creates exciting “synergies”. Aside from the LEED® platinum rating, Dockside Green addresses issues such as traffic – due to the mixed use structure of the project – biodiversity, microclimate, etc.
All 3 aspects of sustainability (social, economic and environmental) have been addressed. Efforts to create a vibrant community – such as public walkways between the buildings – distinguish the project from many other urban developments. Dockside Green sets a new standard for mixed use urban developments in North America.
Currently this development establishes a new global standard for sustainable communities and sets the bar higher as Synergy, the first phase of the development, is the highest scoring LEED® Platinum project to date. As Canadians, we should be proud of this achievement!
Why Dockside Green Synergy is the most deserving of this award is that it goes beyond green and delivers the complete triple bottom line by incorporating sustainable social and economic aspects.
The design is most successful at the ground and roof levels. The development team has completely understood and celebrated human scale and how people, flora and fauna will harmoniously live, work and play within the community.
In general, the quality of architecture amongst all of the candidate projects was good. We were able to assess almost all projects at a level playing field of sustainability. Therefore, our jury was able to focus much more on the buildings as architecture. The candidates’ follow through from concept design to built form were all well resolved. The level of exterior and interior integration, and the realization of the buildings as a whole were good. Building details were actually able to be discussed… and for design not only green merit.