When you take in a show at Arts Commons, you can breathe easy knowing that you are in one of Calgary’s best buildings for air quality. The reason for this lies in the basement of Arts Commons. If you take the service elevator down as far as it goes, descend a staircase, and push through a series of doors, you’ll find a room that roars with the whirring of machinery that keeps Arts Commons running. It is here that you’ll find the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a state of the art, custom-crafted collection of fans, ducts, and industrial piping that keeps Arts Commons patrons comfortable and safe. 

The Arts Commons HVAC system is about more than air flow, it ensures that the air in its buildings is clean and controlled for comfort. So how does it all work? The air that flows into the building is run through what is called a “dual duct” system, where each giant duct is responsible for either heating or cooling the air before it is sanitized, filtered, and mixed to the optimum temperature. The HVAC system is fully automated and tracks the temperature, humidity, and C02 levels within the building, as well as if there are any gaps that could compromise its efficiency. 

“Every ounce of air that goes in and out of the venue, we know where it’s been,” says Jason Nieskens, operations supervisor at Arts Commons. It’s a big job keeping track of all that air. “Right now, I am moving 13,500 litres of air per second on the auditorium side. On the stage side, I’m doing another 80,000 litres, so I’m doing about 220,000 litres per second.” To put that into perspective, the average house moves around 400 litres in the same amount of time. “Every second this is moving 550 homes.”  

It’s no surprise the system can move that much air. The ducts themselves are big enough for several people to stand inside comfortably. The largest of the bunch clocks in at a whopping 30-feet tall—tall enough to fit two trucks standing end-to-end on top of one another. Some of the ducts contain a bank of long, green filters that are MERV 15A rated, one of the highest ratings a filter can have. While other ducts have massive UVC lights that kill any remaining organic matter before the air circulates through the building. Together, the system ensures that the air inside the building is nearly free of dust, mold, bacteria, and viruses. 

All of this means that Arts Commons has an HVAC system that moves more air—and cleaner air—than many of the big office towers in downtown Calgary. But the HVAC system at Arts Commons is also unique for its ability to respond to the surrounding environment. “We have a lot of special needs,” Nieskens says. “Because of Chinooks, because of our location—we are in a prairie desert, really when you get down to it—we do not typically get a lot of rainfall, we’re very dry.” Unlike other venues in Canada, where too much humidity is a problem, Arts Commons has to add water back into the air with a custom-made, ultrasonic humidification system that conditions the air with micron-sized water particles. Keeping the venue at a constant level of humidity is important, not just for patron comfort, but also for the musicians of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, whose instruments could be negatively affected by fluctuations in the atmosphere. 

In addition to ensuring a safe breathing environment, the HVAC system also plays a role in keeping the Arts Commons venues at a comfortable temperature. Nieskens and his staff constantly monitor fluctuations in the building’s temperature and make constant adjustments to maintain it at an optimum 21 degrees. “We know how much heat a person puts out, we know how much energy that is, and how much energy we have to put into the system to keep that temperature,” Nieskens says. “It’s a mathematical calculation just to figure out how much air we need to get into a venue and the temperature we need to keep it cold.” 

All this effort results in an Arts Commons experience that puts the health and enjoyment of patrons first. Next time you take in a show, make sure you breathe in a little bit deeper and appreciate the folks behind the scenes who are focused on your experience. “That's the key to all of this, to make sure that everyone is comfortable and safe,” Nieskens says. “We want to make sure that this is the safest building in downtown Calgary.”