Endeavour’s Sustainable New Construction program for 2019 is working with Geneva Park, a YMCA camp, to help them create Canada’s greenest cottage community. The camp’s plan is to replace the dozens of old cottages on the site with new cabins that meet the highest goals of sustainability. In 2019, we are building the duplex Geneva Park Sustainable Cabin as an example of how the whole community will transform in the coming years.

As with all Endeavour projects, the design process starts with establishing the sustainable criteria from which we can start to choose appropriate materials and systems. For the Geneva Park cabin, the criteria matrix looks like this:

The building is intended to hit very high goals for occupant health and minimal ecosystem and climate impact. For this project, we selected a material palette that chooses the best of conventional materials, including wood framing and dense-packed cellulose insulation, local wood and shingle siding and mixes in some more alternative choices like hempcrete and hemp batt insulation and lime plaster and tadelakt finishes.

Elevation drawings for Geneva Park Sustainable Cabin

As with all Endeavour projects, things start with a crew of dedicated students arriving from all across Canada and around the world, ready to learn about sustainable building and put their hearts and minds into creating a beautiful, healthy and efficient building. This team joins us for 16 weeks, during which they participate in all aspects of the project construction. They also do classroom work to develop their building science knowledge and sustainable design skills.

Class of 2019, and their hempcrete wall

The student team is led by Endeavour’s instructors. This year, three great instructors spend their days working with the class to ensure that the building meets all of its design goals, as well as the timeline and budget. It’s no small task, and Endeavour is lucky to have such great instructors.

Follow our posts for this project as we explore elements like:

• Helical pier foundation
• Formaldehyde free floor deck
• Super insulated walls with cellulose and wood fiber insulation
• Innovative air-tight ductwork recesses
• Hempcrete and hemp batt insulation
• Air source heat pump and energy recovery ventilators (ERV)
• Natural plaster and tadelakt plaster
• Non-toxic paints and finishes
• And more…