March 7, 2025

The Innovation Village at Fanshawe College is featured in an article by Trevor Schillaci for The Architect’s Newspaper.

Surrounded by the school’s existing brick buildings, Innovation Village is distinguished by its size and bold blue color and a number of high-performance features, including the use of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) panels and an exposed mass timber portico.

Envisioned as a student hub, the more than 126,000-square-foot addition connects to existing campus corridors and student circulation patterns. On the interior, the structure provides new lecture and study spaces, a virtual reality lab, entrepreneurship incubator, and maker space that are available to all of the college’s students, regardless of their program or field of study, along with large gathering and events.

The first floor also features the Library Learning Commons, which was designed in collaboration with representatives of Indigenous communities to support the institution’s numerous Indigenous students. Its focal point is the Kalihwíyo Circle—translating to “good message” in the Oneida language—and will host Indigenous workshops, exhibitions, and smudging ceremonies.

The aims of the interior building program, namely its emphasis on technology, are mirrored by the design of the Innovation Village’s exterior envelope. Building on previous experience using BIPV technology, the structure is wrapped with energy harvesting panels manufactured by Solar Lab, a Danish supplier of PV technology.

“When we were starting the project, we were well into design and construction of a project for Red River College in Winnipeg, which was the first time we had been able to work with BIPV cladding,” Sydney Browne, principal, told AN. “This was the first time that PV cladding of this type had been used in Canada, and we had been really impressed with the system and wanted to keep evolving the lessons we had learned through that project.”

The Innovation Village’s BIPV system consists of several layers of laminated glass integrated within a conventional rainscreen assembly. Using nano technology and a physical deposition coating, the glass layers absorb specific wavelengths of light that are then directed toward the photovoltaic cells, which are laminated on the back side of the glazing. Wavelengths not absorbed by the panel are reflected off of the surface, creating the perception of a blueish hue.

To maximize the collection of solar radiation, the panels are angled outward, increasing exposure to the sky. Nearly 20 percent of the facility’s annual energy use will be supplied by the cladding system.

Though BIPV cladding has yet to see wide adoption within the North American market, projects like these are pushing the industry forward.

“At this point, the biggest challenge is learning who within the construction industry is best set up to fabricate, install, and coordinate these systems,” said Browne. “We’re bridging the electrical systems of the building with the exterior cladding, and those are two parts of a building that don’t normally really talk to each other. These systems are also typically the first of their kind that the local building authority has seen.”

Read the full article on The Architect’s Newspaper here.