Hope Blooms community greenhouse wins Lieutenant Governor’s Award
Written by: Matthew Jarsky
The Hope Blooms Community Greenhouse, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been awarded a 2015 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for its outstanding design. The greenhouse was designed, pro bono, by alumni firm Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd., in collaboration with Professor Brian Lilley and the volunteer youth of Hope Blooms. The Lieutenant Governor’s Award is awarded by the Nova Scotia Association of Architects to recognize outstanding architectural design.
The Hope Blooms Greenhouse opened May 1, 2015. The greenhouse is located in Murray Warrington Park (at Brunswick St. and Divas Lane), next to the Hope Blooms Community Garden. Working pro bono, architects Fowler Bauld & Mitchell partnered with consulting engineers CBCL Limited and Professor Brian Lilley of the Dalhousie University School to design this important community hub. The greenhouse successfully maintained a comfortable growing environment all though the winter of 2015 (its first year of operation).
The garden, greenhouse, and nearby kitchen are the infrastructure of the successful Hope Blooms community development initiative.
Hope Blooms is a grassroots project, led by youth, enabling the community to take ownership of their food sources and empower people to make a difference in their own lives and the community at large. Children, young adults, and their adult helpers tend a garden in North End Halifax whose harvest helps feed their families and supplies herbs for their successful salad dressing business. Two dollars from the sale of each bottle goes toward a scholarship fund to benefit neighbourhood youth.
FBM is very pleased to have been able to contribute to the project’s success. The firm donated its services to design the greenhouse in support the work of Hope Blooms and as a contribution to the vitality of North End Halifax. FBM aimed to make the greenhouse beautiful, functional, and durable.
The project was made possible by the generous donation of time and expertise by major supporters Build Right Nova Scotia, Aecon Construction, Lindsay Construction along with many other builders and suppliers. Dalhousie University Professor Brian Lilley also contributed valuable ideas and information.
The architect of the greenhouse, FBM principal Matthew Jarsky (MArch FP ’96) says “We were all inspired by the young people of Hope Blooms, as well as that of their advocate and guide, Jessie Jollymore—their passion, their optimism, and their infectious excitement. We are grateful for their help in creating an iconic community hub.”
Jessie, in a CTV news interview, called the building “an amazing work of art!”
The greenhouse is a 1 500 square foot (139 m2) off-grid building. It draws nearly all of its energy from the sun, in contrast with conventional greenhouses (which require fossil-fuel–fired supplemental heating systems)—hence the term “solar greenhouse.” Some additional heat will be provided via a compost air-heating system.
The greenhouse is glazed with 525 sq. ft. (49 m2) of twin-wall polycarbonate (which insulates 60 times better than a comparable single thickness of glass).
Solar-powered vents open automatically when it is hot and close when cool.
The walls are constructed using insulated concrete forms made from concrete and waste wood chips. At nearly two feet thick, the walls incorporate tremendous thermal mass and high levels of insulation.
Rainwater is harvested from the roof and collected in a storage system located inside the building.
The greenhouse features a gravel floor that allows for improved plant transpiration (“breathing”).
The compost bin has a capacity of 25 cubic yards (19 m3); a volume equivalent to about eighty Halifax municipal compost carts.
When complete, the compost air heating system will collect heat given off by decomposing compost to supplement solar energy during the shoulder seasons.