Although an official opening was held earlier in the year, members of the community were given the opportunity to check out the new laboratories in the Canal Building Nov. 5.
The open house highlighted the building’s new features, said Rafik Goubran, acting dean of the faculty of engineering and design.
“At the original opening, we didn’t have the labs yet. We just received the occupancy at the time to come into the building,” Goubran said. “What we [had Nov. 5 was] an open house, where a number of labs [were] open so the community and our alumni [had] a chance to go and look at some of the labs and some of the facilities we have available.”
Some of the labs that were showcased include the H.I.H. Saravanamuttoo Gas Turbine Laboratory and the Jo Yung Wong Laboratory for Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Mobility, Guidance and Control.
The six-storey building is sectioned off into various departments. Its primary function will be to house a new master’s of applied science in biomedical engineering, as well as aerospace and sustainable engineering programs, according to a document written by Carleton alumnus Rob Thomas.
The Canal Building, along with the new River Building, is part of Carleton’s extensive Waterfront Project. In total, the federal and provincial governments invested $52.5 million in the construction and design of these buildings.
The expansion process was quite fast, Goubran said.
“When the program was announced by the government, we were ready, we had already the plans for the building so it came very fast and we’re very glad to see that,” he said.
Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi, who’s also a Carleton graduate, was very helpful in getting funding for the building’s expansion, president Roseann Runte said in her speech.
“All the universities were in a sense competing against each other for funds,” Runte said.
“We asked [Naqvi], who is our graduate, to be our champion and he really was our champion. He represented our interests very well to the government.”
Naqvi praised the building, and said when he was a student, he was more motivated when there were “good places to learn.”
The Canal Building is designed to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable, Goubran said.
“The building itself is also a main lab for energy conservation and sustainability,” he said. “The building has got on top of it — on the roofs — lots of solar panels that actually capture solar light and then convert it into electricity.”
The open house is not a one-time event, Goubran said. He said he expects more open houses to occur as more labs open in the coming weeks.
