Is Cockwell Hall Really that Good?

Over the years, Appleby has grown into the campus we see before us today. From Colley House standing tall in isolation, to the framework for Cockwell Hall, our community has continued to develop far beyond its expectations. With this rapid expansion, however, comes an increasing responsibility to ensure that our growth remains sustainable, which is something that is reflected in the design of our newest building, Cockwell Hall.

The newest addition to campus boasts an emission-free geothermal system (the first of its kind at Appleby). This system provides the heating and cooling for the entire building with the help of a fully electrified HVAC system (designed to regulate indoor air management- Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning). Now for those of you that may not be as tech-savvy, particularly when it comes to renewable energy, geothermal heating uses a heat pump and underground circuit of pipes that go deep into the Earth's core extracting the moderate temperature to heat buildings. In the winter, the core of the Earth is relatively hot, and so the pumps would draw the warm air up into the building and cycle the cold air back into the Earth, where it is reheated again (and vice versa for the summer).

To make this building even more sustainable, Appleby has decided to add a solar panel array to the top of the building, harnessing sunlight and transferring it into electricity for the entire campus. These panels will produce around 61,000 kilowatts of electricity an hour, contributing to Appleby's energy independence from the rest of the Oakville grid.

Now, not to make anybody hungry, but the windows in Cockwell Hall are also triple glazed. Although this sounds like a sugary donut, these contribute a lot to the building's sustainability plans. These windows essentially have 3 panes of glass. To put this into perspective, the AWB is double-paned windows. This extra layer of glass is not just for aesthetics (though the transparent look does add a bit of colour), but to provide extra insulation, making the building that much more energy efficient, requiring less energy to keep the cold (or hot) air in. Normally when I think of a building automation system, it's usually one of those scary computers in an evil lair locked behind 3 metal doors. But the one in Cockwell Hall is far from that, constantly checking for energy efficiency errors and attempting to correct them.

Apart from all of the wondrously sustainable technology attached to this green, clean addition to campus, it's time to dive into the meat and potatoes, answering the question; "what's it made out of"? Well, the simple answer is products that are locally sourced and have lower carbon footprints. We all remember the beam signing mid-April, right? Well, those steel beams were locally made and are the foundations for the structure. The flooring material also has zero carbon footprint! One can only hope it's going to have a couple more footprints on it by the time next year rolls around. In all seriousness, how can a carpet have no carbon footprint? The answer is in the manufacturing process, with the carpet containing 60% recycled content, made in a Canadian facility entirely run on renewable energy that uses all of its waste and old products to be re-manufactured again into a new product. This idea can be "simplified" into the butterfly diagram, just about the least simple thing you will see all day, other than a diagram of the HVAC system. The technical cycle (or right side of the diagram) can also be applied to the furniture in Cockwell Hall, focusing specifically on refurbished pieces.

Now I know what you all might be thinking: this is so awesome and advanced, no wonder it's taking so long to build. No, no, sustainability is not the reason for the slow construction process, and by extension sustainability council isn’t slow as well. The most helpful explanation I can give is that it really just takes that long. If you think about it, it really makes sense 400+ square meters of classroom space, a 135 square meters Innovation & Technology Lab, a 12-meter bridge connecting Walker House to Cockwell Hall, 14 additional boarding beds in Walker, 7 new adaptive classrooms, 6 new breakout rooms and 123 square meter new common room for Walker. Really, it seems to be a very pro-Walker building. Nonetheless, this is a major win for Appleby and for sustainability, reinforcing Appleby at the top of the charts for sustainable schools in Ontario or Canada for that matter.

For more information, you can visit the Cockwell Hall page on Appleby's website here where you will have access to more information about the building, as well as a riveting construction livestream (I recommend watching).

Cockwell Hall Floor Plans: