The first was to bring 2,600 medical students and researchers together in an innovative and interactive learning environment that would be connected electronically to other universities in the province.
The second was to have classes open in time to permit the B.C. government to fulfill a promise to double the number of graduating physicians in the province.
A third was to complete the work in a way that would be recognized across North America for its environmentally responsible construction methods.
UBC met all of its targets, an achievement that project designers attribute to the power of teamwork -- and the building's E-shaped, box-like structure. Not only did it bring the centre in on time and on budget, it won a gold certificate for Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) from the U.S. Green Building Council, based in Washington, D.C.
With 560,000 square feet of laboratory space, lecture theatres and classrooms, the LSC is also one of only eight buildings in Canada to be awarded a gold certificate by the Green Building Council, an industry coalition set up to promote the concept of green buildings. Others include the Vancouver Island Technology Park, Calgary's Nose Creek Recreation and Library, Winnipeg's Mountain Equipment Co-Op, and Pavilions Lassonde-Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal.
"I think it is a phenomenal building that represents the future in so many ways,'' UBC president Martha Piper said.
A building of LSC's size would normally take two years to design and an additional two or three to construct, architects say.
But due to its key role in addressing a shortage of doctors in B.C., the construction process was condensed into just 29 months, allowing the ground-floor medical school to open in September, 2004. The building will be fully completed later this year.
The building's "repeatable" E shaped structure allowed construction crews and trades people to start work on one wing of the building while digging the foundations of the second and third.
"The repetition that is incorporated into the structural design brought huge economies to the project in both time and money," said Carl Stewart, senior vice-president of Ledcor Construction Ltd., which managed the construction process.
The structure's shape also helped it to secure a gold certificate for sustainability even though medical research buildings usually face huge challenges in getting such awards. This is because three separate wings could easily be enclosed with a glass rooftop that instantly created two large atriums, bringing light and ventilation to the upper-level laboratories at virtually no additional cost.
"The LSC demonstrates UBC's commitment not only to the health and welfare of the environment but also to the health and well-being of its students," U.S. Green Building Council president Rick Fredrizzi has said.
But there was no single overriding factor that earned it the LEED gold certificate. The building won high marks for UBC's decision to locate the structure on a hazardous waste site, one that had to be cleaned up before construction could begin, said Taryn Holowka, a spokeswoman for the Green Building Council.
It also earned points for its exceptional water efficiency, which was achieved through the use of low flow toilets, waterless urinals and sensor-controlled faucets.
Apart from the high percentage of recycled material used in construction, judges liked the fact that the structure consumes 28 per cent less energy and emits 1,000 fewer tonnes of greenhouse gases than a standard building. That is expected to add up to an annual savings of $180,000 for the university.
The structure, which was built to allow UBC to consolidate under one roof several research institutes that had been scattered across the campus, houses 24 laboratories, two lecture theatres with seating for 350 students each and 45 classrooms.
It also has spacious lounge facilities where students can mix and exchange ideas while looking out over the atriums.
The school intends to use broadband technology and video cameras to reach out to students across the province by providing interconnectivity between UBC, the University of Victoria and the University of Northern British Columbia.
The LSC's ground floor classrooms are equipped with interactive video equipment, allowing students in Prince George to pose questions in real time to lecturers in either Vancouver or Victoria.
The same technology permits off-site students to watch demonstrations in anatomy classes in the building's basement labs.
"This is a pretty radical departure from traditional delivery of curriculum,'' said Paul Szaszkiewicz, a principal with Diamond & Schmitt Architects Inc., the Toronto firm that led the design process. "Students don't have to move around the province."
In previous years, Mr. Szaszkiewicz said, students were sequestered into old basement silos to do their research. Today they can gather in the large atriums, which encourage interaction among students, researchers and professors.
The university won the gold certification at a time when the green building concept has moved from the fringes of the commercial construction sector into the mainstream.
"This isn't the crazy notion that it used to be," the Green Building Council's Ms. Holowka said.
About half a billion square feet of North American construction, or 5 per cent of the total, is working to gain a LEED certification.
In Canada, institutions such as universities are quickly waking up to the fact that by using sustainable construction methods they can reduce the energy consumption of any building by as much as 50 per cent during its life span.
"That's a huge saving for the building owner,'' said Thomas Mueller, president of the Canada Green Building Council.
Under the LEED system, projects can aim for four levels of certification, depending on how many points they are awarded out of a maximum of 69. A platinum rating is equivalent to an Olympic gold medal and is followed by gold, silver and certified.
No structure in Canada has yet won a platinum certificate.
But industry officials believe it won't be long -- the University of Calgary has pledged to make platinum certification the target for any new building it builds in the future.
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