Since its inception in 2008, Community Forests International (CFI) has been providing rural communities around the world with the tools they need to take advantage of their unique strengths, assets, and opportunities for grassroots innovation. As recognized leaders in regenerative solutions and community-based climate change adaptation, the organization’s approach begins with a deep understanding of the social, economic and environmental challenges facing rural populations. Community

Forests International’s guiding vision reflects these core values and a commitment to fostering bottom-up positive change through an empowering, participatory framework:

"Together we change the world. Through shared challenges we create opportunity…”

A Beginning,

in TanzaniaIn Tanzania , Communi ty Forests International has worked to plant over 1.5 million trees for fruit, timber and conservation to date. CFI has built solar energy micro-grids and rainwater harvesting systems for entire small island communities. CFI has developed new agricultural techniques and innovated new low-carbon household technologies.

“…our communities transform how we live and work. We are all leaders. We all innovate. We work in harmony with the natural world. It’s not just our responsibility, it’s our potential.” – CFI Vision Statement

These successes have coalesced with the launch of the of the world’s first Rural Innovation Campus, a facility designed to scale up community adaptation and ecologically-based rural enterprise regionally by fostering peer-to-peer innovation and knowledge transfer. With support from the European Union, the Rural Innovation Campus in Tanzania is now up and running, serving as an important platform for positive change as rural communities around the world confront the challenges of a changing climate, degraded natural resource base, and increasingly competitive globalized marketplace.

Bringing the Lessons Home…

Founded and based in Sackville, New Brunswick, Community Forests International understands the unique challenges facing Canada’s Atlantic region. Rural Maritime communities must diversify and enhance their local economies to thrive in a changing environment. Currently, however, our communities lack a platform to both create and capture emerging rural

opportunities. The Rural Innovation Campus model has proven successful in promoting positive change abroad, and Community Forests International believes that by replicating the approach in New Brunswick it may serve as a catalyst for the creation and dissemination of much-needed regenerative solutions here at home as well.

What a Canada Rural Innovation Campus Means for CFI

The Canada Rural Innovation Campus will allow CFI to change the conversation surrounding the rural sphere and help shift its course from one of decline to one of regeneration. It will allow the organization to engage and support the next wave of rural entrepreneurs, serving as a vehicle for rural innovation and prosperity. It will enable CFI to build a community of problem solvers, bridging the gap between innovative thinkers and communities in need around the world.

“A Canada Rural Innovation Campus will provide the capacity and foundation necessary for Community Forests International to continue its growth as an organization, deepening and scaling up its model of positive change.”

As an important piece of organizational and

community infrastructure, the Rural Innovation Campus will reflect CFI’s

progressive culture and versatile program while drawing inspiration from the region’s unique building traditions.

CFI’s prioritized design principles:

1. EMPLOYING BUILDING DESIGNS INTEGRAL TO THE SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT

2. AIMING FOR A NET POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT :

ENERGY • WATER • CARBON • LIVEABILITY

3. EMPLOYING LOCAL BUILDING MATERIALS (WHERE POSSIBLE, MATERIALS SOURCED FROM SITE)

4. EXCELLENCE IN FACILITY PLANNING, EFFICIENCY AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

5. TRANSFERABLE FOR USE BY OTHERS

6. CONNECTIVITY AND BENEFICIAL OVERLAP OF FACILITIES

Additional, qualitative design concepts for the campus prioritized by Community Forests International include:

• Fostering a community atmosphere that supports cross-discipline collaboration among residents and a 'mingling' of people and ideas (eg. continuity between spaces and activities)

• Accessible to all including constructive public access (connection to wider community without undue disruption of onsite work flow)

• Creating an inspiring, immersive experience for guests which includes exposure to an ecologically rich working landscape (eg. sustainable forestry and agriculture), active lifestyle (eg. nature-based recreation) and applied innovation (eg. new approaches to green building, renewable energy generation, and food production in practice)

• Cultivating a human habitat that mimics the regenerative and dynamic qualities of natural systems (eg. passive water, energy, and nutrient / waste cycling; well-adapted to seasonal variations; resilience in the face of shock)

Rural Maritime communities lack a critical platform to create their own oppor tun i ty. Communi ty Fores ts International has a strong track-record of serving as a catalysts for positive change in this regard, but currently lacks the capacity to scale up it’s regional impact.

The Rural Innovation Campus, a purpose-built facility at the geographic centre of New Brunswick devoted to supporting innovation in rural livelihoods and technologies, will provide the platform for CFI and the communities it supports to achieve rural prosperity.

Rural Innovation Campus SolutionEmbracing innovation as well as time-honoured techniques, the Rural Innovation Campus will host services and facilities critical to meeting the unique needs of rural entrepreneurs. The campus will build a global network of rural communities and innovators – fostering cross-discipline collaboration and preparing rural enterprises for the future’s unique challenges and opportunities.

The campus program is designed to assist emerging innovators and groups in refining their ideas via relevant workshops, residencies, partnerships, and incentive challenges. CFI has already served as a launchpad for new rural products and technologies, including forest carbon offsets and decentralized solar energy hardware. The Rural Innovation Campus will allow CFI to formalize a platform for solution incubation, and aggregate a host of mentors, instructors and stakeholders to help bridge the gap between innovative thinkers and communities in need.

The Rural Innovation Campus program will be composed of public workshops, hands-on apprenticeships in land-based livelihoods such as organic farming and sustainable forestry, and a start-up acceleration.

Public WorkshopsCFI regularly hosts hands-on public workshops covering a range of complimentary topics including traditional land-based skills, ecological design, and natural building. The Rural Innovation Campus will facilitate an expansion of this workshop curriculum and allow CFI to service a broader demographic.

ApprenticeshipsCFI has successfully hosted 6 long-term internships in organic farming and ecological forestry to date, and will continue to expand this education model at the Rural Innovation Campus. The internship program will immerse participants in real-life, full-cycle innovation projects on- and off-site, including land use, ecological design, renewable energy, social enterprise, and green building initiatives. Apprentices will gain the experience, skills, and network support necessary to pursue related livelihood activities in their own communities going forward, promoting widespread replication and expansion of program successes.

Start-up Acceleration

The Rural Innovation Campus process for creating new start-ups will be based on a bi annual programming cycle. One programming cycle per year will be devoted to an annual Rural XPrize – a business solution and product design contest geared towards meeting specific market opportunities. The remaining programming cycle will provide accelerator opportunities to a broader range of start-ups through an open application process called the Evolution Project.

Rural XPrizeIncentive prizes have grown from a relatively niche open innovation tool to a proven innovation strategy for both the private and public sectors. They are now employed by such diverse players as the White House and Google Inc. In 2014, Community Forests International launched its own unique adaptation of the open innovation challenge with a highly successful ‘Rural XPrize’ and now plans to expand this model as a core program at the Rural Innovation Campus.

Can a building blur the lines between humans and nature?

CFI’s first Rural XPrize challenge focused on meeting the need for a tailored sustainable cabin design for the fledgling Rural Innovation Campus. The event exceeded all expectations by attracting a total of 57 entries from professional teams located in 11 different countries. This level of engagement illustrates both how connected the world has become, and the level of creativity that an open, incentive-based competition can inspire.

CFI is now excited to harness the Rural XPrize model as a framework for supporting innovators at the Rural Innovation Campus. The structure will allow CFI to target all stages of the innovation chain, from ideation through demonstration to mainstreaming and scaling up.

The Evolution ProjectCommunity Forests International is building a suite of business development services to equip the next generation of entrepreneurs with the tools necessary to solve some of our planet’s most pressing challenges. By partnering with organizations and institutions such as the Pond-Deshpande Centre, Planet Hatch, The Mentra and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, the Evolution Program will build on New Brunswick’s unique business development ecosystem.

In 2014, the organization asked recent Dalhousie University Masters in Engineering graduate, Sebastian Manchester, to develop a cost effective way to deliver solar energy to a small, isolated island in the Indian Ocean. Since then, Sebastian has worked to power over 400 homes through the development of a Portable Solar Micro-grid and has incorporated Jaza Energy Inc. Community Forests International provided start-up funding, travel support, and field support, in addition to a network that was able to support the Maritime-based entrepreneur as he worked to pilot and perfect his prototype in East Africa.

In 2013, Dale Prest, a recent graduate from St. Francis Xavier’s Masters in Earth Science approached Community Forests International with the notion that carbon offsetting could be used as a way to support sustainable forestry operation in Atlantic Canada. CFI worked with Prest to pilot an offsetting framework on a property owned by the organization and ultimately connected his efforts to clients and institutional partners.

Community Forests International is looking forward to formalizing an approach to business development which turns good ideas into viable enterprises. The Evolution Program will be able to identify where participants stand in the innovation cycle, and will create custom programming based on individual needs.

TimelineThe Rural Innovation Campus development plan spans three years beginning in the summer of 2015. As described below, construction of the main campus facilities will be carried out in complimentary phases. Accommodation is prioritized for construction in Year 1 followed by educational facilities in Year 2. Innovation facilities make up the largest building component and will be constructed in two phases spanning Years 2 and 3.

Site InformationThe site is an awe-inspiring 240 hectare mixed farm and forest property situated near they community of South Branch, New Brunswick and approximately ½ hour from both the city of Moncton to the east and the town of Sussex to the west. It is located within a forested upland valley at 2,593,372 meters easting and 7,415,708 meters northing (UTM NAD 83 CSRS New Brunswick Stereographic).

GoalCommunity Forests International aims to achieve a design solution for the Rural Innovation Campus facilities which creatively accommodates the constraints of the program, reflects the core principles and vision of the organization, and meets the unique needs of the campus residents and curriculum.

History of the Land

This inland area of the Kennebecasis River Valley has straddled Mi’kmaq and Maliseet territory for thousands of years. The t rad i t iona l dwelling of both these peoples is a portable wigwam constructed using softwood poles, s p r u c e r o o t lashing, and birch bark sheathing. T h e r e g i o n ’ s s u b s e q u e n t A c a d i a n a r c h i t e c t u r a l history includes fi e l d s t o n e foundations and fi r e p l a c e s , thatched roofs, dovetailed logs, adzed half-timbers, and heavy timber frames with cob infill walls. Early English settlers introduced more log shanties, timber frames, stone enders, and saltboxes. Wood construction has dominated in the region since the mid-1700s due mainly to the local abundance of forest products. More recently the site has been home to Whaelghinbran Farm. It’s founders, -pioneers of organic agriculture and ecological forestry - lived directly off the land for over 40 years before Community

Forests International purchased the property in 2012. The abundance of the farmland and advanced ecological

res to ra t ion o f the fo res t land a t Whaelghinbran are testaments of a careful and forward thinking approach. The Whaelghinbran model demonstrates that it is possible to make a living from the land while at the same time restoring and preserving its ecological health. This is an invaluable lesson for overcoming the great economic and ecological challenges facing rural communities today – and in turn the Whaelghinbran property provides the ideal setting for CFI’s Rural Innovation Campus.

Location and Capacity of Utilities

Electricity: Grid electricity provided by NB Power is available onsite at secondary supply voltages(nominal 120/240 volt, single phase, three wire). The operating ranges are: normal (110/220 -125/250 volt) to extreme (106/212 - 127/254).

Information & Communications: Landline telephone service is available onsite. Wireless service is currently very limited and high-speed broadband internet is currently only available via satellite services.

Water & Sewage: There is no municipal supply of water and no municipal sewage removal available onsite. All water must be supplied by onsite well or rainwater harvesting and all waste water must be dealt with onsite. Solid Waste: Regional Service Commission 8 provides solid waste removal services for the entire Kings County including this site.

Access & Legislative Constraints

The site is accessed via a dirt road, approximately 1 km off of NB route 114 and approximately 5 kms from NB route 1. Conditions of the dirt road are generally fair but access is difficult during winter storms and throughout spring breakup (April-May).

The property is protected under a working land conservation easement held by the New Brunswick Community Land Trust (NBCLT). New buildings may be erected onsite subject to the approval of the Management Committee described in the easement.

Facility Requirements

The Rural Innovation Campus facility requirements can be categorized into the following three distinct but complimentary building blocks: Block 1 – Living, Block 2 – Learning, and Block 3 – Innovating. Due to the varied nature and differing physical requirements of each of these component spaces, they will be dealt with separately in the following sections. It is important to note that directly translating these functional divisions into physically separate building envelopes is not a prerequisite of the design solution, but it is an option. All buildings will aspire to be as energy-efficient and well-insulated as possible, while incorporating features of passive solar gain and ventilation.

Further stratification of the facility requirements accompanies a 5, 10, and 30-year phasing approach to the Rural Innovation Campus development. This design brief refers specifically to the initial 5-year term requirements but subsequent 10 and 30 year requirements are included for consideration. Where possible, design solutions that accommodate future expansions are preferred.

Living Block

Dormitory-style infrastructure is envisioned to provide basic, short- and medium-term accommodation for apprentices, resident innovators, and accelerator participants on campus. This ‘Living Block’ should sleep a maximum of 15 guests and also provide for a shared kitchenette, lounge space, toilet and shower, and two washer & dryer combinations. In addition to this shared accommodation, the campus will include private lodging in the form of ‘backwoods’ cabins. Personal cabins will offer a retreat-like experience for deep-focus work and a balance to the communal nature of campus living. Although retreat cabins are outside of the scope of this design brief, they are mentioned here as an important consideration in the overall campus accommodation plan.

REQUIREMENTS 5 YR 10YR 30YR

Space 120m2 160m2 160m2

Operating Schedule 24 Hours/Day 7 Days/Week 24 Weeks/Year 168 Days/Year 4032 Building Hrs/Year

24 Hours/Day 7 Days/Week 42 Weeks/Year 294 Days/Year 7056 Building Hrs/Year

Components sleeps 15 2 toilets 2 showers 2 washer & dryers shared kitchenette & lounge

sleeps 15 4 toilets 4 showers 4 washer & dryers shared kitchenette shared lounge

Adjacencies Relative proximity to both Block 2 & 3 in order to create a cohesive campus experience.

Separations Separation from high traffic areas, loud machinery use or group congregation spaces, and any activity that could potentially disrupt dormitory privacy, peace & quiet

Zoning Private and off limits to the general public without invitation

Phasing Prioritized for construction in Year 1 in advance of the Learning and Innovation Blocks.

Learning Block

Community Forests International has hosted approximately 50 hands-on workshops and short-courses to date involving over 500 participants from across Atlantic Canada. With the planned expansion of its educational infrastructure the organization anticipates hosting approximately 200 students annually over the next 5 years. Annual volume is projected to double by 2025 as the Rural Innovation Campus grows in scope.

The majority of educational events will initially be single day workshops involving both an indoor and outdoor component as well as a communal meal. Class sizes will be capped at 20 participants but planning should anticipate an additional 10 users for overflow as well as staff, instructors, and facilitators. In addition to educational programming, the Learning Block will also be used for large public events such as innovator pitch and trade shows, open farm days, and professional gatherings.

REQUIREMENTS 5YR 10YR 30YR

Space 183 m2 249.5 m2 275 m2

Operating Schedule 11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 26 Weeks/Year 130 Days/Year 1495 Building Hrs/Year

11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 42 Weeks/Year 210 Days/Year 2415 Building Hrs/Year

11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 52 Weeks/Year 260 Days/Year 2990 Building Hrs/Year

Components 20 classroom seating 30 food prep & dining 2 toilets 2 showers produce storage

20 classroom seating 45 food prep & dining 4 toilets 4 showers 1.5x produce storage

20 classroom seating 50 food prep & dining 4 toilets 4 showers 2x produce storage

Adjacencies Relative proximity to both Block 1 & 3 in order to create a cohesive campus experience. Preferred access to parking to accommodate high pubic circulation.

Separations As the most ‘public’ area of the campus, the Learning Block requires a degree of separation from the more private Living & Innovating Blocks. Separation from loud machinery use and any activity that could potentially disrupt learning environment also required.

Zoning Accessible to general public during regular hours

Phasing Constructed in Year 1 following the Living Block with possible carry-over to Year 2. Constructed in advance of the Innovation Block.

Innovation Block

Fostering innovation is central to the vision and program of the Rural Innovation Campus. Residents will be enrolled in a tailored curriculum of training and acceleration enriched by onsite facilities, including an innovator’s hub and fabrication lab (fab-lab). Formal mentorship from leading practitioners and exposure to a wide range of hands-on activities designed to cultivate multidisciplinary thinking will provide the ingredients necessary to bring good ideas into reality. The Innovation Block is the largest and most diverse component of the Rural Innovation Campus. To support interdisciplinary activities throughout all stages of the innovation chain - from ideation to ‘proof of concept’ to scale – it must be flexible in nature. The primary areas of the Innovation Block will include: a staff and innovators’ office hub, a small dry lab, and a larger fabrication lab which will serve as a ‘maker’ or ‘hacker’ space as well as a machine shop. In the long-term, additional facilities including a wet lab and wood shop are anticipated. REQUIREMENTS 5YR 10YR 30YR

Space 230.4 m2 314.8 m2 317.2 m2

Operating Schedule 11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 26 Weeks/Year 130 Days/Year 1495 Building Hrs/Year

11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 42 Weeks/Year 210 Days/Year 2415 Building Hrs/Year

11.5 Hours/Day 5 Days/Week 52 Weeks/Year 260 Days/Year 2990 Building Hrs/Year

Components 5 staff workstations 1 admin office 100 m2 maker space 66 m2 machine shop 10 innovator’s cubicles 16 m2 dry lab 5 person locker

10 staff workstations 2 admin offices 100 m2 maker space 66 m2 machine shop 10 innovator’s cubicles 16 m2 dry lab 5 person locker 10 m2 wet lab 60 m2 wood shop

10 staff workstations 3 admin offices 100 m2 maker space 66 m2 machine shop 10 innovator’s cubicles 16 m2 dry lab 5 person locker 10 m2 wet lab 60 m2 wood shop

Adjacencies Relative proximity to both Block 1 & 2 in order to create a cohesive campus experience. Preferred access to parking to accommodate delivery/shipping large equipment and products

Separations As the loudest and most hazardous area of the campus, the Innovation Block requires a degree of separation from the Living & Learning Blocks.

Zoning Generally treated as a place of work but open to the public on a structured basis.

Phasing Constructed in two phases over Year 2 & 3 following completion of Living and Learning Blocks.