The new sustainable on-campus student residence is open
Evangeline Michell (she/her) // Contributing Writer
Nimesh Devkota (he/him)// Contributing Visuals
In May of 2026, Capilano University opened its first on-campus housing facility. Its English name is Treehouse, with Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation providing the names Lam̓íwa (lum-AY-wah) and θqétəw̓tx (th-KET-ow-tuuth), respectively.
It is located at 2075 Tantalus Road, behind the Bosa Centre for Film & Animation and the Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies. This building offers a total of 360 student beds: 38 of single rooms, 155 double rooms and 12 accessible rooms. There are large community and study spaces on all six levels.
Given the quirks of the old Dollarton Highway location, as revealed by the Vancouver Sun’s 2025 reporting on the mushroom scandal, this upgrade was long-awaited. The Government of B.C. reports that $58.2 million was invested between the province and CapU, with the Province providing $41.5 million and the university providing $16.7 million. The building was proposed in 2022, and now that it is finally operational, CapU will see great progress in its sustainability goals as well as on-campus student life and success.
Treehouse was built to target Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, a designation given to buildings that prioritize renewable energy and sustainability. This is a globally adopted building criteria, with various types of qualifying projects. These include new construction, existing buildings, community upgrades, as well as residential and neighbourhood development, earning points to achieve this certification.
The Canada Green Building Council lists “Location & Transportation, Sustainable Site Development, Water Savings, Energy Efficiency, Materials Selection [and] Indoor Environmental Quality” as the six areas in which a project must achieve high performance in order to be LEED certified. According to the environmental standards met by the building, it may simply be certified or be rated Silver, Gold, or Platinum.
A 2026 article published by WoodCentral notes that the Treehouse building energy performance aims to meet “step four of the BC Energy Step Code, the province’s highest operational rating, for a greenhouse gas cut of about 86 per cent,” due to the efficiency of natural gas. The B.C. Energy Step Code establishes expectations for new construction to follow at least step one for larger scale buildings, supporting B.C.’s climate goals of “net-zero energy ready” buildings. The 250-seat dining hall showcases the use of mass timber, a type of wood manufactured using less energy than other building materials, such as concrete or steel.
Another new building at CapU with this certification is the Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies. However, the Care Centre has dot patterns across all the windows that are meant to prevent bird collisions, a feature missing from the Treehouse. The staff member present during the alumni tour on August 24, 2026 was not aware of any plans to add these patterns in the near future.
In addition to the focus on sustainability, Treehouse was designed with reconciliation in mind. The Government of B.C. has stated that the names provided by the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations embody a shared vision of “a home in the woods,” which has been translated into English as Treehouse. CapU has said that these names were the result of collaboration guided by the university’s Indigenous Education Steering Committee (IESC).
The IESC is a forum that conducts “strategic conversations between representatives from the territorial rights holder Nations, the Métis and the University in all academic and student-services-oriented affairs,” according to the Board of Governors. There is also a reflection and gathering space built with Indigenous students in mind, complete with ventilation for smudging. Six beds in the building will be reserved exclusively for Indigenous students to ensure access.
While being built mindfully and in an effort to show CapU’s dedication to a sustainable campus, Treehouse will also support student life and academic success of residents and the student body at large. Having long been a commuter campus, the on-campus residence will open doors for prospective students who need accessible and reliable housing.
North Vancouver’s rental market is unpredictable, so having a comparable housing option on-campus will open up opportunities for students traveling from outside of the Lower Mainland. During the Grand Opening of the Treehouse Building, CapU Student and Residence Advisor Manroop Kaur delivered a speech citing her experience commuting to campus, saying that “treehouse means students can be closer to class, closer to community and better able to succeed.”
Student life between campus and residence has been separated. Its physical distance causes students to sometimes feel disconnected from parts of the university. With residence now on campus, students will be able to participate in more than just student housing, they can attend on-campus events and programs, fostering a broader community within the university.
The previous location on Dollarton Highway—while it opened many doors for students, and was a large step in the direction of Treehouse—is no longer operational. It has now been returned to its owners after nine years of leasing the property. Lam̓íwa / θqétəw̓tx, Treehouse, a home in the woods, is waiting for its first generation of students to breathe life into this new space, introducing a sense of community that CapU hasn’t seen before.