PROJECTS T3 Sterling Road and T3 Bayside Phase 1

ARCHITECTS–T3 STERLING ROAD DLR Group Architecture inc. (Design Architect and Architect-of-Record) and WZMH (Local Affiliate Architect)

ARCHITECTS–T3 BAYSIDE WZMH Architects (Executive Architect) and 3XN (Design Architect)

TEXT Lloyd Alter

In 1970, Barton Myers and Jack Diamond bought the Eclipse Whitewear Building on King Street in Toronto and converted it into offices. They left the brick walls and massive wood structure exposed, and kept visible all the conduits, ducts, sprinkler pipes and other mechanical paraphernalia, layering in industrial lighting. When you entered the space, you got the shock of the old: the existing warehouse adapted for modern use. Soon, warehouse conversions were happening around North America, including in San Francisco and in Minneapolis, where a renovation of the half-million-square-foot Butler Building became the continent’s most prominent example.

Creative industries loved these spaces, which quickly filled with architects, advertising firms, and tech startups. Jane Jacobs understood this, writing in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, “Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.” 

But old buildings were not without their problems. The floors were usually mill decking, where lumber such as 2x10s were nailed to each other to carry the heavy industrial loads. Noise passed right through them, as did dirt: staff would often find dust and debris on their desks. 

In 2016, real estate developer Hines built the continent’s first large new mass timber building, which they called T3 (for Timber, Transit, Technology). They aimed to capture the look and feel of a warehouse, without the drawbacks. It was sort of a new-old building. Hines noted in their marketing materials at the time:

“We love old brick & timber warehouses. We love the feel of them, the originality, and the entrepreneurship that lives inside their bones. They are cool places to collaborate, create, and innovate. Unfortunately, these buildings lack good natural light, are drafty, noisy, and have outdated HVAC systems. So we asked ourselves, why can’t we solve these problems by selecting an authentic location, surrounded by heritage buildings, and construct a brand new, vintage building? All the charm of an old brick & timber building, with none of the downsides.”

The Minneapolis T3, designed by Canadian mass timber pioneer Michael Green and American firm DLR Group, was built with glue-laminated columns and beams. Its floor slabs were made of Nail-Laminated Timber (NLT) supplied by StructureCraft of British Columbia, and nailed together in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Modern NLT was developed in Germany in the 1970s by engineer Julius Natterer. NLT was used because it was in the building codes and could be made anywhere, by anyone with a nailgun; Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) was not yet approved or manufactured in North America. Unlike conventional construction, with mass timber, the supplier often acts as the timber structural engineer and builder, delivering the complete package. StructureCraft says, “Our Engineer-Build model brings responsibility for all the steps of engineering and construction under one roof, to a company that has significant experience taking on this responsibility. Engineer-Build synthesizes and smooths out the building process.”

T3 Minneapolis was a success, and Hines took the concept to other cities, with a total of 27 buildings completed, under construction, and in design. The most recent finished T3s are in Toronto, where Hines has opened two projects: T3 Sterling Road and T3 Bayside. 

Hines pitches its T3 projects as “timber buildings with a conscience,” claiming “T3’s exceptional amenities prioritize health and well-being, and the natural wood interior and bright, inspiring spaces help people feel—and do—their best.” Research backs this up. An Australian study, Workplaces: Wellness + Wood = Productivity found that “Employees surrounded with natural wooden surfaces on average reported higher personal productivity, mood, concentration, clarity, confidence and optimism—and were more likely to find their workplaces relaxing, calming, natural-feeling, inviting and energising.” These ideas are captured in the concept of “biophilia,” a term coined in the mid-80s by Harvard professor Edward O. Wilson to refer to humans’ fondness for nature, including plants, wood, and natural light.

Hines also points to the environmental benefits, noting that building with wood avoids the emissions that come from making steel or concrete, which together total about 15 percent of global carbon emissions. “When a tree is taken and used in a building that will last for centuries,” the developer writes, “that piece of wood is storing that carbon dioxide in the material for the life of the building.” 

For T3 Sterling Road, Hines brought DLR Group and StructureCraft together again, including lead designer Steve Cavanaugh, who worked with Green on T3 Minneapolis. StructureCraft’s roles once more encompassed acting as the timber structural engineer, coordinating timber sourcing, and providing supply and installation. The team also included WZMH Architects as the local architect of record. 

Toronto’s Sterling Road district has become a hotbed of warehouse conversions and brewpubs, anchored by the Museum of Contemporary Art; the New York Times has described it as “newly hip, its appeal broadening beyond the small cadre of tuned-in artists and bohemian types who for years have had it to themselves.” The site certainly nails the Transit of the T3 moniker, with a short walk to the Bloor subway and the UP Express train, which connects to downtown and the airport. The environmental importance of location and available transit is often underestimated: Alex Wilson of BuildingGreen calculated that the energy used by tenants commuting to a building was 2.3 times the energy consumed operating the building.

Phase 1 of the Sterling Road project includes two buildings totalling 300,000 square feet, constructed of glulam columns and beams, and with Dowel-Laminated Timber (DLT) floors. DLT was developed in the 1990s by a German company which called it Dübelholz, German for “dowelled wood.” Holes are drilled in softwood lumber with a moisture content of about 15 percent, and hardwood dowels, dried to about 8 percent, are driven in. As the dowels absorb moisture from the surrounding wood, they expand, locking the assembly together. StructureCraft has built sophisticated DLT machinery in its Abbotsford plant, which can spit out massive 12-foot-wide by 60-foot-long panels.

Sterling Road is a bit rough around the edges, and the design for T3 Sterling aims to be edgy as well, with exposed diagonal bracing and steel bars added on the exterior to emulate the appearance of industrial windows. The program is geared towards young urbanites; while the upper floors are conventional leased office space, the ground floor has a large co-working space, a well-equipped gym, and bicycle storage. 

Different types of mass timber have distinct looks and feel, and DLT can be finished in different ways. T3 Sterling’s DLT is made of 3”-wide boards with a kerf on the corner, giving it a seriously industrial look, like you used to get in warehouses when wood was thicker. While most modern office buildings have a 30-foot-by-30-foot grid, mass timber is not cost-effective at that span, so the grids in the T3 are 20-by-30. DLR lead architect Steve Cavanaugh explained that many layouts were tested against the grid, and it was found to maintain planning flexibility. 

Although they both share the T3 label and are made of mass timber, T3 Bayside is a very different building from T3 Sterling Road. It’s located in the rapidly developing area just east of the downtown core, and is surrounded by new residential towers.

In branding this building, Hines adjusted the second “T” in T3 to substitute “Talent” for “Transit,” because it’s a fairly substantial 24-minute walk to Union Station. (A light rapid transit line, approved by the City in 2019, is currently in the design phase.) WZMH is back as the architect of record, with Danish firm 3XN as lead designer. 

Where T3 Sterling Road is industrial and edgy, T3 Bayside is all business. Its defining architectural feature is a stepped, recessed band of glazing ringing the façades, which permits a succession of double-height spaces. The original concept included grand stairs running through these double-height spaces from ground to top floor, but this was before the pandemic, when it was anticipated that the building might be occupied by a single tenant who would appreciate the interconnection of their spaces. However, the market has changed significantly, and the building is starting to be leased to smaller tenants. The double-height spaces are now called “opportunities,” and are currently filled with removable slabs. Common areas on the first, second, and third floors do remain connected, resulting in a small set of dramatic spaces, linked by enticing stairs.  

As at T3 Sterling, the columns and beams of T3 Bayside are made of glue-laminated timber, but this location’s slabs are Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). The laminations in CLT are made up of 2x4s, laid up flat to form a layer; the next set is laid at 90 degrees to the layer below, and so on. The whole sandwich is glued together in giant presses. CLT was invented in the States and patented in 1923, but modern CLT was developed by Professor Gerhard Schickhofer at Graz University in the 1990s. Austria had a large lumber industry, but being landlocked, exports were expensive. Turning lumber into CLT added significant value.

CLT is more dimensionally stable than DLT, and can act as a two-way slab, supported on columns without beams. However, Hines specifies a column-and-beam design so they can get competitive pricing between the different mass timber technologies. To avoid the noise transfer that was endemic in older warehouse conversions, the CLT floor is topped with a sound mat and 2.6 inches of concrete.

CLT is usually more expensive than DLT, but the wood, structural design and assembly for T3 Bayside is supplied by Nordic Structures. Nordic is a subsidiary of Chantiers Chibougamau, a vertically integrated lumber company controlling close to six million acres of black spruce Quebec forest; the company processes 15 percent of the renewable resources in the province’s woodlands. Geographically, Quebec is a lot closer than British Columbia, so it is likely that the reduced transport expense helps to balance out costs.

In the base building, there are no dropped ceilings to block the view of the mass timber beams and slabs, and no raised floor—all mechanical and electrical services are exposed. What is normally hidden and often installed haphazardly has to be precise and straight. Every conduit and duct is laid out in advance in the BIM model; notches are cut into the tops of beams for them to pass through. With rare exceptions, the electrical conduits in both Toronto T3s are a work of art, resembling a circuit board rather than a typical electrical installation. The ventilation ductwork is also lovely to look at; in Bayside, there is a narrow structural bay without beams running around the core so that the main supply ducts can run east-west, while the smaller ducts run north-south between beams. It is all brilliantly coordinated. No lighting is installed in the base building; that is added after the tenant layouts are determined. 

Hines notes that T3 Bayside “will store 3,886 metric tons of carbon dioxide.” However, this isn’t counted or credited by LEED. According to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report, “biogenic carbon is excluded since it is assumed that at the end of life, the wood will be disposed and the embodied carbon will be re-emitted back into the atmosphere.”

The treatment of biogenic carbon in LCA calculations is a major topic of discussion—and controversy—in both the industry and academia. Some in the industry don’t believe any credit should be given for carbon being stored in the wood, given that roots are left to rot in the ground, slash is left behind, scrap is burned to kiln-dry the wood, and wood panels are transported from factory to site in fossil-fuel-powered vehicles. Others, like Paul Brannen, author of the book Timber!, claim that so much carbon is sequestered in the wood that developers should be able to sell carbon credits for every tonne stored, to help reduce the cost premium and to encourage more wood construction.

Some also worry that building out of wood will lead to deforestation and the loss of old-growth timber. Hines counters by saying: “The trees we use at Hines come from responsibly harvested forests/certified sustainable forests. The forests in the U.S. and Canada, for example, reproduce the timber required for T3 buildings every 20 minutes.”

Adding to their claims, Hines measures and mentions “avoided emissions,” the carbon emissions that don’t happen because of the decision to go with wood. They note in a FAQ that “Compared with steel or concrete, T3 Sterling Road’s timber construction avoids emitting approximately 1,411 metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.” I question the idea of avoided emissions, thinking that it’s like being on a diet and crediting the calories of the chocolate cake I didn’t eat. 

But any negativity disappears when you walk into either T3 Sterling Road or T3 Bayside. The spaces look good. They smell good. Fondle the columns, and they feel good. The biophilic effect is instantaneous. One may argue about the exact count of kilograms of carbon emissions stored or avoided, but as wood expert Dave Atkins noted about building materials, it all comes down to one principle: “If you don’t grow it, you mine it.”

The T3 buildings give tenants the culture, the aesthetics, the warmth, and the biophilic effects of an old warehouse building, with modern technology and services, and without the noise and dust. The carbon savings, however they are measured, are a wonderful bonus.

Lloyd Alter, formerly an architect and real estate developer,  is the author of The Story of Upfront Carbon (New Society Publishers). He currently writes a popular Substack newsletter, Carbon Upfront!

T3 Sterling Road

CLIENT Hines | ARCHITECT TEAM DLR Group—Stephen J. Cavanaugh, Kevin Curran, Kelly Goffiney, Charlie McDaniel, Bobby Larson, Kailey Smith, Neely Sutter. WZMH—Ted DuArte (MRAIC), Robert Sampson (MRAIC) | STRUCTURAL Magnussen Klemencic Associates | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL TMP | LANDSCAPE Janet Rosenberg Studio | INTERIORS Partners by Design | CONTRACTOR Ellis Don | AREA 28,234 m2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION Spring 2024

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 45.6 kWh/m2/year

T3 Bayside Phase 1

CLIENT Hines | ARCHITECT TEAM 3XN—Competition Phase: Jens Holm, Audun Opdal, Kim Herforth Nelson, Elizabeth Nichols, Sai Ma, Monty de Luna, Sean Lyon, Matthias Altwicker; Design Phase: Jens Holm, Matthias Altwicker, Elizabeth Nichols, Laura Wagner, Sai Ma, Catherine Joseph, Jacquelyn Hecker, Ida Fløche, Thomas Herve, Aleksandre Andghuladze, Farzana Hossain, Benji Magin, Christian Harald Hommelhoff Brink, Lydon Whittle, Sang Yeun Lee, Ann Christina Ravn, Thomas Lund, Eliana Nigro, Dora Lin Jiabao, Majbritt Lerche Madsen, Morten Norman Lund; Execution Phase: Matthias Altwicker, Catherine Joseph, Elizabeth Nichols, Jens Holm. WZMH—Robert Sampson (MRAIC), Nicola Casciato (MRAIC), Len Abelman (MRAIC), Paul Brown, Ted DuArte (MRAIC), Nazanin Salimi, Derek Smart, Liu Liu, Ashley McKay, Samer Richani, Akhilesh Ahuja, Terek Aly, Loc Nguyen, Tracey Gaull| STRUCTURAL DESIGN Magnusson Klemencic Associates | MASS TIMBER PRODUCTION Nordic Structures | MECHANICAL The Mitchell Partnership Inc. | ELECTRICAL Mulvey & Banani | LANDSCAPE Janet Rosenberg & Studio | INTERIORS Partners by Design | CONTRACTOR Eastern Construction Company Ltd. | CODE Vortex Fire | CIVIL WSP | GEOTECHNICAL EXP | CONTROLS AND SECURITY HMA Consulting | ACOUSTICS Cerami & Associates Inc., HGC Engineering (Site Plan only) | SUSTAINABILITY Purpose Building Inc. | ENERGY MODELLING EQ Building Performance | ENVELOPE Entuitive Consulting Engineers | COMMISSIONING RWDI Consulting Engineers & Scientists | TRANSPORTATION BA Consulting Group Ltd. | WIND Gradient Wind Engineering | VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION Soberman Engineering Inc. | SIGNAGE Kramer Design Assoc. Ltd. | BUILDING MAINTENANCE EQUIPMENT RDP Engineering Inc. | AREA 23,341 m2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION Fall 2023

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 141.3 ekWh/m2/year | WATER USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 0.3 m3/m2/year (water use reduction of 45% compared to the LEED baseline, including greywater reuse in toilets from water collected on the roof and stored in a cistern)

As appeared in the November 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

The post Timber Redux appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Over the past decade, engineered mass timber has evolved from a new and innovative choice of structural material to becoming almost mainstream. Canadian architects have played a major role in the material’s acceptance in the North American building industry, with British Columbia architects at the vanguard of harnessing Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) around 10 years ago. 

As the three in-construction projects featured on the following pages demonstrate, Canadian mass timber expertise continues to advance—and in Michael Green’s case, it is garnering international projects. Moreover, architects including MTA with Acton Ostry are looking beyond the material’s vaunted renewability and carbon-sink aspects to make their mass-timber buildings even more environmentally sound. And lastly, architects like Intelligent City are integrating and overhauling the very process of designing and building with mass timber. 

The material choice still requires something of a helping hand in terms of subsidies and investment. Though few architects speak freely about it, choosing an engineered wood structure is usually a more expensive way to build—at least for the moment. But that could change quickly as the immense carbon costs of construction become reflected in pricing and in regulations. And as more innovative and impressive projects near completion and prove their mettle, Canadian architects will continue to show that they remain at the forefront of mass timber innovation.

Limberlost Place

An innovative structural system and pre-fabricated envelope set new standards for mass timber public buildings.

LOCATION George Brown College, Toronto, Ontario

ARCHITECTS Moriyama Teshima Architects + Acton Ostry Architects

Even while still under construction, Limberlost Place is hauling in acclaim. Part of George Brown College’s waterfront campus in Toronto, the building has pulled in over a dozen awards, including the RAIC’s 2023 Research & Innovation in Architecture Award, and a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence. Expect more accolades upon its projected completion in January of 2025. 

At 10 storeys high, Limberlost Place is one of the world’s tallest mass-timber institutional buildings. Buildings of this typology must meet onerous construction codes and design considerations; this one will serve 3,400 students and staff. Teaching and gathering spaces occupy the full structure, including a tall-wood research institute, childcare centre, classrooms, and areas for lounging and study. MTA’s Vancouver-based joint-venture partner, Acton Ostry Architects, has already established a benchmark in designing the 18-storey Brock Commons Tower at the University of British Columbia, at the time the tallest mass-timber project in the world. 

Like Brock Commons, Limberlost Place is a hybrid structure of CLT, concrete, and steel. But where Brock Commons’ CLT was mostly hidden under drywall, roughly 50 per cent of Limberlost’s is exposed to view, including its nine-metre-span beams and every column in the building. Its 10-storey height clocks in four storeys above the conventional pre-CLT code, “so we had to be meticulous about every element,” says MTA principal Phil Silverstein, who is the construction administration lead on the project. 

While many North American mass-timber structures are still sourced from overseas suppliers, Limberlost has taken a made-in-Canada approach. Its prefabricated envelope system arrived in two-storey panels assembled in Windsor, Ontario, and delivered just-in-time to eliminate on-site storage needs. The prefab wall panels have been manufactured up to 11.7 metres high and are quickly assembled on site and supported by jack posts.  The CLT for Limberlost Place—manufactured largely from fast-growing black spruce—comes from Quebec-based Nordic Structures. 

As we walked through Limberlost mid-construction, we could already sense the dramatical verticality of its interior, dominated by a three-storey-high glazed foyer connected to smaller common spaces—“breathing rooms,” as design partner Carol Phillips calls them—on the second and third levels. The open volume of the foyer is anchored by a 16-metre-high glulam column, the heaviest member of the entire project, weighing in at 22,000 pounds. “Timber doesn’t like to transfer loads very well,” notes Silverstein. “Timber likes to work vertically.” 

In horizontal terms, a major innovation is the ultra-generous 9.2-metre span of the teaching spaces. It’s essentially a “beamless” construction system: its main structural member is a timber-concrete slab band, composed mostly of CLT, topped by a layer of reinforced concrete. “It’s an extremely shallow system,” notes Phillips, allowing for greater floor-to-ceiling heights as well as column-free spaces ideal for large-group instruction. 

The building has environmental attributes well beyond its use of mass timber. Solar chimneys on the east and west façades will draw air up and through the building from operable windows, to harness the stack effect and establish a natural convection system for temperature regulation. The building informally meets Passive House standards and meets the energy targets for LEED Platinum status, according to the architects, although they will apply for LEED Gold. 

The most salient value of the project is that it will provide a paradigm for many more sustainable mass-timber public buildings in the future. “This isn’t a one-off,” says Silverstein. “It’s a starting point.”

Flora

Canadian mass timber expertise is being tapped for this project in Europe.

LOCATION Nanterre, France

ARCHITECTS MGA | Michael Green Architecture + CALQ Agence d’Architecture

The first thing you notice about Flora is the sensuality of its form. Even in mid-construction, its rounded corners, jogged massing, and prow-like base distinguish it from the other rectilinear buildings around it. Its principal designer, Michael Green, avers that the building’s voluptuous shape is entirely logic-based, following the irregularities of the site and the material economy of avoiding 90-degree corners that often end up as wasteful underused space. 

Flora is a nine-storey mixed-use complex, with offices and retail slated for the lower floors, and a mix of market and non-market housing above. Here in Nanterre, a fast-growing suburb of Paris, Green has teamed up with local architecture firm CALQ Agence d’Architecture to bring his knowledge, design, and powers of persuasion to France. CALQ’s website states that the firm’s main reason for using mass timber is to combat “le réchauffement climatique.” Green concurs. And Woodeum, the Paris-based real-estate developer and the project’s client, promotes itself as a specialist in low-carbon wood architecture—making Canada’s best-known mass-timber advocate a natural choice for a partnership. 

This summer, as Green surveyed the busy construction site in person for the first time, he noted some of the distinctions between building in France versus in his homeland. For instance, the interior of Flora is enlivened by a spiral staircase—a charming, fun, and space-saving element. In Canada, the building codes disallow spiral staircases, because they are allegedly dangerous—although, as with so much in life, risk calibration is partly a subjective matter.

Although the French remain détendu about risks that furrow the brows of Canadian code-writers, they are rigorous about certain other requirements that enhance sustainability and quality of life, notes Green. Their national building code includes the stipulation for cross-ventilation, for instance, while our national building code has nothing of the sort for residential construction.

In Green’s most recent TED Talk, he unpacked his bid for the next big transition in mass-timber engineering and design: a system based on biomimicry. He foresees a future of plant-based materials whose lignified tissues and cellulose are reinforced in a way that will allow the architecture to carry loads in the same way as tree branches, with an aesthetically pleasing curvilinearity that would have an inherent structural logic. And instead of the standard spruce-fir-pine now used for most Canadian mass timber, the choice of plant will be based on what’s local and ecologically appropriate. “It might be bamboo in one region, and then grass, or salal, or hemp in another,” he says. His concept “is going to be a big thing. It’s not happening yet, but it will in ten, twenty years,” he avows. “As humans, we’re very resistant to the idea of starting over. But we need to rethink all aspects of the built environment.”

Back to the here and now: French authorities, like their North American counterparts, are still nervous about transitioning the entire structural framework of buildings to mass timber. That’s not the way Green would have it. The ground floor of Flora is concrete, and so it’s essentially a hybrid structure.  All over the world, including here in Canada, notes Green, “concrete use is driven largely by code. So, you have different trades, you have two different structural materials, you have finger-pointing.” It’s not the cheapest or the most efficient way of building, but it will change, he expects, or at least hopes. “We’re still stuck in a version of the old system. It’s time to move on.”

Intelligent City

An integrated system of design and manufacturing is the project.

LOCATION Delta, British Columbia

In some ways, the Intelligent City factory in Delta, B.C., seems like some sort of sci-fi film set. A giant robot lumbers around in a caged space, looking oddly like a Meccano dinosaur. And yet this metallic creature may well be the future master builder of the region. Controlled by a petite woman holding what looks like a PlayStation remote-control device, the robot is building mass timber components for the firm’s first real-world project. 

“We saw that the delivery of infill urban housing—multi-housing in particular—was difficult to develop,” says Cindy Wilson, the company’s co-founder with architect Oliver Lang. “Every time you have a new person come to a team, they have their own way of thinking how things should be done. So how could we curate a system that is more integrated and could be repeated at scale?” 

By unifying and distilling the messy process of construction into software-controlled prefabrication, the firm essentially smooths over the schism between design and manufacturing, and streamlines the custom design work that is usually dedicated to discrete buildings. Since the Intelligent City team has more control of the overall process, they can also ensure more price stability. This was evidenced in one of their current projects. “During Covid, the price of construction almost doubled,” notes Wilson. “But importantly, about 60% to 80% of a building’s superstructure is our components, so those prices remained stable. We’ve also developed an ecosystem of a supply chain.”  

As previously reported in Canadian Architect, Intelligent City—the sister firm of Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC)—opened its manufacturing facility in Delta, B.C., two years ago. Now the factory is thrumming as its staff and ultra-high-tech software produce the largely pre-assembled components for the “product proof,” a kind of miniature sample building that staff work on to determine where and how the components will later be assembled on-site. 

The firm’s first “real-world” building will be the Vancouver Native Housing Society’s Khupkhahpay’ay Building, a nine-storey housing project to be built in East Vancouver by GBL Architects and Ventura Construction Corporation. Intelligent City is producing the building’s Passive-House façade system. 

The two-year period from factory inception to the launch of actual construction reflects the typical process of testing, commissioning and certification of the building systems and the robotics, but this first real-world project will smooth the way for more projects, built faster, says Wilson. To create a system that would not only be repeatable and scalable but also customizable, the Intelligent City team has streamlined the entire process of building, from preliminary design to construction, so that design and manufacturing are integrated from the start. The fruits of this work are most impressive at the end stages: remote-controlled with proprietary software, the factory’s giant robot lifts, positions, and custom-cuts oversized panels of mass-timber walls, floors, and ceilings. The cuts are unique to each product and can vary in size and shape, allowing electrical channels and ventilation ducts to be embedded in the components before they even leave the factory. Crucially, the customization is instantly and economically adjusted for each component and each project by altering the instructions to the robot. 

The result is a convergence of two processes—architecture and construction—that are normally sequential, separate, and rarely align as well as we’d like them to. There is usually no downtime from delays in material delivery or labour shortages. Once on-site, the components will be assembled much more rapidly than in conventional on-site construction, with much of the electrical and ventilation elements already embedded in the structural framework.

Wilson and Lang believe that Intelligent City’s approach will have an impact not only on the take-up of climate-friendly mass timber, but also in addressing the housing affordability crisis. “The more control we have over the building, the more we can control costs,” says Wilson. “This is where we can really make a difference in affordable housing. It’s not just time, materials, or labour. It’s how we can roll out the creation of housing at scale, in a systematic, predictable way.”

The post Spreading the Wood: Three projects that are leading the way in Canadian mass timber innovation appeared first on Canadian Architect.

For architecture aficionados, a highlight of each summer is the West Vancouver Art Museum’s annual West Coast Modern Home Tour. For this frequent attendee, the 2023 tour was haunted by the ghost of Arthur Müdry’s late great Beaton house—a 1965 paean to Pacific forest that met an untimely end when it was sold and demolished in 2018. When the Beaton house was part of the tour, Müdry told me in a subsequent interview: “Nature is sacrosanct… One of the sins of our time is that when we find beauty in nature, we never know how to live with it in the right relationship.” 

Müdry’s belief in the sanctity of nature resonates in his 1989 Chun House, on this year’s tour. Like its predecessor, this gem was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as by Müdry’s fascination with gothic architecture.

Surely one of the other architectural sins of our time is the price-per-square-footage-driven disappearance of mid-century modern classics. The preservation of our modernist heritage is one of the annual tour’s noble aims. But it also appeals to a certain generational looky-loo longing from those of us on the wrong side of real estate history, to see what once-middle-class homes sited in majestic wilderness actually looked like.

The fundraiser is part of a West Coast Modern Week that includes lectures and events, and is presented by British Pacific Properties, a developer involved with West Vancouver since 1931. Preternaturally nostalgic, the tour celebrates an architectural moment before the city of West Vancouver’s demographic sea change, and is as much a festival of old guard culture as it is a preservationist cause. 

And yet, as one wanders through the vaulted ceilings, natural light, and stunning views from every angle of the Chun home, it’s easy to imagine these homes that seem to levitate off the gorgeous landscape as the cathedrals of our time.

This is perhaps most literally true of Paul Merrick’s boathouse on this year’s agenda, which he designed as an extension of the luxury Sewell’s Landing apartments in Horseshoe Bay. Merrick says the arcing structure was inspired by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. 

But it’s the sacredness of both nature and the single-family home that pervades the tour. Wolfgang Gerson’s 1967 Itzinger-Meuldyk house in Caulfeild—down the hill from an of-the-era Erickson and perched on a steep, forested site—honours its mid-century roots even as it transcends them. It was opened up to the spectacular view of Howe Sound by architect and owner Jason Wexler and his wife when they removed a brick fireplace in the living room, bringing the outdoors in. 

Rather than a sense of exposure to the elements, Donald Manning’s 1955 post-and-beam house in the British Properties, elegantly renovated by Georg Koslowski in 1978 and by ABC last year, feels like a sleek sanctuary cocooned by forest.

The owners of the 1957 Ron Thom Carmichael house have replaced a wall in the dining area with foldable glass panels to reveal an ocean view, and moved the original door to create a light-filled hallway. The respectful updates still allow the hexagonal plan to express a sense of tightly choreographed domesticity. The perfectly sited home has the magical effect of bringing the geometry inside the visitor, as they tour this mid-century looking glass, gazing out across the harbour at the downtown micro-lofts they call home.

Hadani Ditmars is a journalist, author, and photographer.

The post West Coast Modern Home Tour appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Within the heart of British Columbia’s Squamish Valley is the newly built Leon Lebeniste Fine Furnishings & Architectural Woodworking industrial facility. The 2,700-square-metre purpose-built facility, designed by Hemsworth Architecture, emphasizes quality and sustainability, rare attributes for an industrial space. The three-storey building sits within the natural landscape of Squamish and reflects the longstanding traditions of craftsmanship and manufacturing in the region.

A specialized custom furnishing and woodworking practice, Leon Lebeniste had outgrown their previous, smaller facility, and was in need of a larger space for manufacturing and design. Leon Lebeniste founder Jon Hewitt reached out to architect John Hemsworth of Hemsworth Architecture after seeing Hemsworth’s BC Passive House Factory project in Pemberton. Hewitt envisioned a local hub for makers and creatives to gather. “We care about design, and we wanted to work in a place that reflected that. We also wanted it to be approachable, where people could come by and it could be a gathering place for makers in Squamish.”

During the design and construction process, Hemsworth Architecture took a collaborative approach with Hewitt. Provided with a clear vision for the space and specific goals for the workspace, Hemsworth Architecture was able to take the brief and provide recommendations with a focus on sustainability.

The new Leon Lebeniste building is nestled within the mountains of British Columbia’s Squamish Valley, in the industrial district of the town of Squamish. A premier destination for world-class adventure activities, the town is popular with outdoor athletes, and has in recent years evolved to attract increasing creative talent with its close proximity to Vancouver. This new design and production space for Leon Lebeniste fits into this growing shift. Offering more than a typical cookie-cutter development, the building is intentionally designed to have a meaningful and positive impact for its occupants as well as for the broader community.

In contrast to similar facilities in the surrounding industrial district, the Leon Lebeniste building’s main facade features a long strip of floor-to-ceiling glazing, allowing views into the production facility from the outside. “Industrial spaces tend to be a black box,” explains Hemsworth. “Instead, we chose to open up the ground floor to create a real relationship between the exterior and interior. We designed this in a way to bring in the community, so that when people are passing by day or night, they have a view into a local workspace.”

Beyond the front-facing window, the rest of the exterior is clad in vertical red cedar slats, treated with a natural preservative to extend their life and minimize maintenance, and custom profile metal panelling.

Walking into the Leon Lebeniste building, the shop floor is revealed from the entranceway, creating a sense of openness and transparency. A large staircase leads to the floors above which provides a sense of scale and allows in additional natural light from the upper floor. The factory itself occupies the entire main floor, and includes an automated five-axis milling machine, custom veneer production, and a traditional millwork layout and assembly area. The space was thoughtfully custom-designed with the required machinery in mind, to ensure the workspace would accommodate both the current and future equipment needs. High ceilings and extensive glazing bring in ample natural light and create a sense of spaciousness throughout the main factory floor.

The office and design spaces on the mezzanine level above the production floor offer additional space for work and collaboration. Overlooking the production floor itself allows for a holistic sense of the operation, avoiding a separation between the office and production staff.

“Even though the design process is technologically driven, you still need a direct relationship and access to what’s going on on the shop floor,” explains Hemsworth. A small kitchen and communal space are also included on this floor, allowing for staff to come together and encouraging mingling between all employees.

The top floor features additional industrial and office spaces, designed with the goal of sharing the building with other makers and environmentally focused creators in the Squamish community. A future public cafe with a rooftop patio and a living green roof open to exceptional views of the Stawamus Chief is planned to further situate the building within the mountainous landscape. The top floor is instrumental in serving as an incubator for small, local companies specializing in innovation, design, and production.

Natural materials are emphasized throughout the structure, with mass-timber cross laminated timber (CLTs) used for the floors and roof, and a Glulam post and beam structure throughout. All interior and exterior walls are wood framed, with all wood products used in the construction sourced from sustainability-focused producers in British Columbia. By prioritizing the use of renewable mass timber and wood throughout the entire building, the embodied carbon of the project is significantly lower compared to similar industrial buildings in the area that typically use tilt-up concrete construction.

Another advantage of building with CLTs and Glulam is that they are approximately 1/5 of the weight of concrete, enabling the building to perform significantly better from a seismic perspective. The use of wood also pays homage to the history of Squamish as a timber-based town.

Rather than simply standing alone, the building is intentionally built to provide a positive impact to the greater community of Squamish and the evolution of this growing town. What’s more, the building has also served as a clear example within the greater Canadian architectural context of how the progressive use of timber-based construction has become a viable option for building owners as they confront the challenges of climate change.

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A new report on the use of wood in the design and construction of kindergarten to grade 12 schools has just been released. The report, titled Wood Use in British Columbia Schools, has been co-authored by BC- based Thinkspace Architecture Planning Interior Design and Fast + Epp, structural engineers, and provides a practical guide to the use of wood in K-12 schools. 

Commissioned by Forestry Innovation Investment, a Crown agency responsible for promoting the BC forest industry, the report is intended to be a resource for school districts, administrators, design professionals or anyone working in the education sector who is curious about the use of wood in school design and construction – but doesn’t want to get mired down in a highly technical research paper.  

All three companies are based in British Columbia, and the report focuses on local case studies as well as local building code requirements. There are, however, are a number of broader applications and lessons that can be learned and applied to design and construction opportunities in schools across Canada, particularly as they relate to alternative solutions for three- and four-storey wood construction. 

The report, which was compiled with input from structural engineers, code consultants, and sustainability experts, takes a fact-based approach to the topic. It also seeks to dispel some of the myths surrounding the use of wood in large-scale construction projects, including the notion that wood structures are inherently unsafe in the event of a fire.  

An excerpt from the Executive Summary lays out the report’s approach: 

Wood, particularly in British Columbia, is an inherently valuable resource for the design and construction community, with a huge opportunity to increase its use in both new construction and renovations and upgrades. Wood is an amazingly useful and resilient material. Thanks in part to advances in the industry, wood can now be used in applications that were traditionally reserved for concrete and steel – and it should be a regular part of our architectural, engineering, and construction vernacular.

One sector that deserves special attention when it comes to an increased use of wood in design and construction is the education sector, with a focus on K-12 schools. 

Each school project, regardless of whether it is new construction, an addition / expansion, or a retrofit, represents an opportunity to further the provincial and federal governments’ desire to reduce carbon emissions and footprints, work towards net-zero, and support local forest-based economies. Additionally, school districts have ready access to homegrown technology that is leading edge, globally. In other words, there are many reasons to use wood in schools. 

When asked about the goals for the report, lead author Ray Wolfe, Architect AIBC, noted, “We wanted to produce something that was useful for a wide audience. We’re strong proponents of the use of wood in schools, and want to make the subject – as well as the ideas around using wood – accessible to as many people as possible. We think we’ve done that here. We hope it will spark useful discussions, and ultimately lead to more K-12 schools being designed and built with wood.” 

The report explores a broad range of topics, in particular:  

• the various potential use of wood for structural and non-structural applications, including the current trend towards mass timber structures 
• highly relevant case studies on recently completed schools / schools under construction / schools in design, including three- and four-storey mass timber schools, and notes on costing for these schools compared to traditional construction methods 
• key considerations and processes for using wood in schools, including sustainability, student health and well-being, and ease of construction  
• an overview of the sustainability implications of building with wood  

• the challenges to address with building codes, specifically the need for alternative solutions in municipalities that currently limit the height of combustible (wood) structures to two storeys 
• recent advances in wood use technology, including new structural capabilities of wood, the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) when designing schools with wood, and the use of modular wood construction 

Each of those topics is explored in detail in separate chapters, and then summarized at the end of the report. Some of the key findings include:  

• wood is a highly viable option for school construction for a number of reasons, including its nature as a sustainable product, a reduced carbon footprint, health and well-being of students, and ease of construction 
• hybrid mass timber construction, which combines wood with limited steel and concrete use, is an alternative to mass timber-only or steel-and-concrete construction – particularly in jurisdictions that are still getting comfortable with the use of combustible construction for larger schools 

• wood use alone does not make a building inherently sustainable, and high-performance sustainable design is needed to ensure environmentally sound schools 
• mass timber, when it is adequately designed and fabricated, does not need to be encapsulated in order to meet fire resistance ratings as laid out by building codes, meaning that its natural beauty can shine through and provide biophilic benefits to students and staff  

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In 2020, I led a studio at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design that asked: How can we halve the carbon emissions of buildings over the next decade? Our collective research focused on strategies for benchmarking and reducing embodied carbon, using a series of real-life Toronto multi-unit residential buildings as case studies.

Towards Lower-Carbon Materials

The Ha/f Research Studio has since worked to build on this initial research. Working with the City of Toronto’s Green Standards Team and Mantle Development with the support of The Atmospheric Fund (TAF), we are currently developing embodied carbon benchmarks for Part 3 buildings across Ontario. The ongoing study involves stakeholders representing the full spectrum of our industry and included nearly 50 voluntarily submitted project life cycle assessments (LCAs). This intake reveals that LCAs are being conducted across Ontario, and are being performed throughout the design and construction process. The number of respondents familiar with the tools suggests that the market can support this type of analysis.

As part of the study, the City’s team requested an assessment of two active, City-owned projects to understand their embodied carbon and find potential reductions, and to understand how future policies should align with design phases and existing planning submission milestones. Both projects—the Western North York Community Centre and the Toronto Paramedic Services Multifunctional Paramedic Station—are 2021 Canadian Architect Award recipients, and have had embodied carbon and operational performance as key drivers of their designs from the outset. Working directly with the City’s project managers and the architectural teams, Ha/f produced detailed LCAs and reduction recommendations that targeted material specification changes, given that each project is nearing design completion.

The Paramedic Services Multifunctional Paramedic Station’s LCA revealed six main sources of upfront emissions that could be improved upon, without requiring significant redesign or additional construction cost. Given their relative impact, the floor slab insulation, concrete mix, and floor sealant were obvious places to focus. Of note is the project’s CLT roof structure—the use of mass timber has served to reduce the project’s total embodied carbon, resulting in a value of 380 kgCO2e per m2—a figure on the low end of our benchmarking spectrum.

We circled back to the client and architect teams with the suggestions shown in Figure 2. Through straightforward material and specification swaps, the project could avoid upwards of 800 tonnes of CO2e—or roughly 44 years of Canadian per capita emissions. Following a brief review period, the architects responded that 5 of the 6 changes would be implemented, and that initial costing feedback stated the changes were cost negligible. Forty-four years’ worth of emissions avoided through a two-week study reveals, to me, just how simple the first steps towards the radical reductions required of us are, and that substantial reductions are immediately achievable through existing, readily available options.

Mass Timber and the Impact of Biogenic Carbon Sequestration

Building further on last year’s studio, I wanted to broaden Ha/f’s understanding of embodied carbon in contemporary construction through a focus on the “it” material for carbon reductions: mass timber. Given the surge in attention that mass timber has received, this year’s students took on case studies to better understand the promise—and limitations—of this family of materials. How does the embodied carbon footprint of mass timber buildings compare to the largely concrete structures of the previous year’s studio, which averaged 505 kgCO2e/m2? To expand this question across geographies, we assessed the structure, envelope and finishes of mass timber projects from Sweden, the UK, Ontario, Washington, and Oregon, engaging many of the world’s leading mass timber architects in the process.

Initially, the carbon advantages of mass timber were not as evident as expected. This year’s research study set averaged 443 kgCO2e/m2 for new construction, or roughly 90% of last year’s study set. A caveat for this comparison is that the mass timber projects from this year’s study are largely commercial uses, and as a result have far less internal walling, which serves to reduce their totals in comparison to last year’s multi-unit residential buildings. Ultimately, the embodied emissions associated with the extraction, manufacturing, erection, occupation, and ultimately disposal of either building stock are near equal.

However, if carbon storage via biogenic sequestration is taken into account, the net average drops dramatically to 192 kgCO2e/m2—roughly 40% of typical construction. There is currently a lot of debate about how best to account (or whether to account at all) for carbon storage in LCA reporting, due in large part to the complexities of forestry practices around the world, and the unknowns of a building’s ultimate service life. Our studio visited local operations to better understand the seedling-to-sawmill process. This experience prompted the students to investigate the sources of timber across the range of projects, an exercise that enabled a greater appreciation for the impacts of forestry at-large, and a keener sense of the challenges related to the lack of reliable data.

Overall, it became clear that responsibly sourced wood, when accounting for bio-sequestration, can be a low-carbon solution for structure, envelope, and interior finishes. Beyond wood, the re-emergence of less processed, organically based materials also offers promising carbon-storing options for structure, envelope, and finishes.

Envelopes: Embodied Carbon Meets Thermal Performance

Focusing on envelopes, this year’s case studies stood in stark contrast to the highly emissive, thermally low-performing, aluminium-based unitized glazing systems of the multi-residential buildings that we examined last year. The envelopes of this year’s study reveal substantial upfront and operational emission reductions achieved by (a) reducing window-to-wall ratios, and (b) incorporating mass timber into the façades themselves. These savings are further amplified by a whole-life carbon assessment, given the comparatively short lifespan of the unitized systems. Envelopes that achieve high R-values and also serve as carbon sinks offer our profession a promising direction of travel. 

Geography Matters with Mass Timber

In comparison to other materials, the provenance of mass timber has significant and disproportionate impacts on the resulting global warming potential (GWP). Where mass timber supply and manufacturing was regionally abundant, the footprint of the timber was roughly 10-15% less than in projects where the engineered material was sourced trans-continentally or internationally. Of the four Toronto mass timber projects, only one used wood sourced in the province
of Ontario, while all CLT and glulam elements were still imported from either European or western North American sources. 

Beyond the impact of continental transportation, the location of processing is a significant factor in how emissive one product is relative to another. As a result, industry-wide generic Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) can be significantly different to manufacturer-specific EPDs for the same product class. A close examination of EPDs early in a project’s development can help ensure the eventual sourcing of timber that is sustainable, low-impact, and importantly, available. In the case of the Catalyst Building, we had two LCAs to compare: one conducted by the Carbon Leadership Forum in 2019 and ours in 2022. The delta between generic data and that of the eventual supplier resulted in a 40% increase of the project’s total embodied carbon. Variations between manufacturer emissions relate in large part to the carbon intensity of the power grids that their facilities sit upon. A sawmill in Alberta emits roughly eight times that of one in Washington State; as a result, a tree cut in BC feeding into either mill would carry much higher embodied carbon if cut and dried in Alberta. Geography matters.

A Whole-Life Carbon Perspective

Finally, the benefits of mass timber are most significant if we are able to take a whole-life carbon perspective that accounts for upfront material emissions, reduced life-cycle operational emissions, and future disassembly and reuse of structural materials. Marrying the reductions afforded by mass timber’s biogenic storage capacity with high-performing, low-GWP façade systems can result in buildings with significantly reduced footprints upfront, as well as over the life of the project. Whether or not we build in mass timber, we need to take a whole-life carbon view to ensure decisions made to reduce operational emissions are not resulting in significant, unintended upfront emissions.

Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.  

—Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chair of IPCC working group 2, February 28, 2022.

The time is now. Our entire industry needs to adopt a whole-life approach to the buildings we design. We need to address the magnitude of emissions associated with our daily design and specification decisions. As evident in the examples above, a short investigation into a material class’s provenance could result in the avoidance of several lifetimes’ equivalent of emissions.

Canadian architects, engineers, and planners have a disproportionate responsibility when it comes to addressing climate change, and only by taking a whole life view will we be able to balance reductions in operational emissions with reductions in embodied carbon emissions.

We are here to support your practice, institution, or municipality to take this on. We look forward to discussing this research and its findings with you, at your request.

The Ha/f Research Studio was conducted at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.  It was led by Adjunct Professor Kelly Alvarez Doran, co-founder of Ha/f Climate Design, and Senior Director of Sustainability and Regenerative Design at MASS Design Group.

The project team included graduate students Saqib Mansoor, Bahia Marks, Robert Raynor, Shimin Huang, Jue Wang, Rashmi Sirkar, Ophelia Lau, Huda Alkhatib, Clara Ziada and Natalia Enriquez Goyes.

Project partners from the architectural community included White Arkitekter, Waugh Thistleton, Hawkins/Brown, Lever Architects, Michael Green Architects, Bucholz McEvoy Architects, ZAS, MJMA, Patkau Architects, BDP Quadrangle, and Moriyama & Teshima Architects.

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Last August, a new tourist attraction opened in Malahat First Nation, just north of Victoria, BC. The Malahat SkyWalk is a 600-metre walkway that spirals up over the treetops, leading to a viewing deck with panoramic views of nearby mountains and sea inlets.

Unlike recent lookouts such as New York City’s Vessel, the SkyWalk relies on a gentle ramp, rather than stairs, to elevate its visitors. “A ramp makes it into a more pleasant experience, whether you’re pushing a baby stroller, or you’re two years and you want to walk it yourself, or you have some mobility issues regardless of age,” says architect Brent Murdoch.

There’s a satisfaction in making your way up the tower through your own efforts—an experience that can’t be matched by an elevator or gondola. The design carefully calibrates that experience, starting with a pleasant arrival through the forest that leads you on a curated walking experience through the trees that lands partway up the tower. A modest five percent grade takes visitors up a widening spiral to the upper lookout. Along the way, they encounter a variety of play areas—slides, a water feature, a climbing net—creating appeal for anyone who visits. The structure’s impeccable construction and detailing are notable. So is the structure’s careful interaction with its landscape, from its considered placement on the site, to the choreography of views along the ramp.

The structure is also an inviting introduction to Malahat First Nation, on whose territory it sits. Silhouettes of local animals, and panels pointing out unique characteristics of flora and fauna accompany visitors on the way up, while didactic panels at the top highlight local birds and environmental factors that impact the region. Information on topics such as moon cycles and sea life blend Indigenous knowledge and Western science. Tourism on Indigenous lands—especially when presented with such generosity and craft—are a form of conciliation, creating places where knowledge and natural beauty can be shared between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Mutual respect between Malahat First Nation and non-Indigenous team members characterized the entire design and construction process. The idea for the SkyWalk originated with non-Indigenous business partners David Greenfield and Trevor Dunn, experienced resort developers who led the creation of the Squamish Oceanfront and Sea to Sky Gondola near Whistler. They approached Malahat First Nation with the idea for the spiraling walkway, forming a win-win partnership that would yield an approachable tourist attraction while providing opportunity for the Nation to build its profile and capacity.

Coincidentally, Kinsol Timber, one of the West Coast’s leading manufacturers of large-scale timber structures, was located two kilometres down the road from the site. That allowed for the project to draw on local materials as well as local labour. “They were exceptional, and the logistical convenience was stratospheric,” says Murdoch.

“Malahat SkyWalk encompasses the foundational pillars for circular economic success. Environmentally sound, socially proactive, and honour of the lands, its people, and culture. The project sets the bar high for future development projects within Malahat’s traditional territory,” says Angela van den Hout, the Nation’s Director of Economic Development.

From the top of the SkyWalk, it’s clear that this project has hit the mark in a multitude of ways. Two worlds—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—have come together to create a landmark centered on sustainability, accessibility, a celebration of the natural world, mutual prosperity and land stewardship. It’s a hopeful place that allows your mind to contemplate many expansive concepts related to land, water and sky as you travel towards an inspiring view of the inlet.

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The Williams Lake First Nation government administration building is a dynamic two-storey hybrid mass timber facility located in the central interior of British Columbia.

Designed by Thinkspace, with the chief and counsel of the Williams Lake First Nation, the project is the administrative home for the 857 members of the T’exelcemc, or Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN), offering a full range of services, including education, healthcare and economic development. The building, which serves as headquarters for the Nation’s elected leadership, also includes council chambers, cultural exhibit space, and an archeological laboratory.

This 17,700 sq ft building was designed to be spatially efficient. Despite its modest size, the use of transparency, light, and thoughtful programmatic distribution ensures an impressive presence. The design challenge was to represent past values and placemaking, while simultaneously creating a warm and modern feel that embodies contemporary WLFN values and identity. Selecting an exposed mass timber structure and choosing to use wood extensively throughout the space makes that vision come to life. 

The wood landscape inside and outside the building acts as an armature, providing ready-made framing for artwork and cultural objects. Careful attention to detailing and connections create a clean aesthetic, complementing and supporting the desire for a modern, efficient building that is representative of the T’exelcemc identity. 

The building planning diagram combines an interconnected two-storey linear atrium with a one-storey gallery, council chamber, and research wing. The parti for the massing and program allows the two interlocking volumes to create a clear and identifiable entry that connects indoors and outdoors while still making the exhibit space at the entryway a focal point.  

An open design in the administration space allows for transparency, light, and artwork dispersed throughout the building’s volumes, thanks in large part to the atrium. Clerestory glazing brings natural daylight to both levels of the administration zone. The workspace is flexible and adaptable, and consists of both open and closed offices. Wood is always visible, and part of the day-to-day experience for staff.

Wood was chosen for the building for cultural, aesthetic, biophilic, and constructability reasons, but also because of its sustainable properties. Locally- and regionally-sourced wood products significantly reduced the building’s carbon footprint, and will sequester CO2 for its lifespan. In terms of operational sustainability, the building incorporates state-of-the-art mechanical and HVAC design, complete with dynamic heat recovery, maximized ventilation, and sophisticated control systems. Lighting controls and LED fixtures exceed ASHRAE standards while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. High-efficiency windows naturally expose southern sunspaces and create a warm environment while reducing the need for additional lighting or energy draw. Xeriscape landscaping will reduce water consumption, conserve natural flora, and contribute to local animal habitats. The pond beside the building was preserved after turtles, a sacred species for the T’exelcemc, were discovered there. 

This innovative, inspired building serves a highly functional purpose, but it also makes a profound statement. It speaks to the pride the Williams Lake First Nation has in its heritage and culture, an awareness of the land and natural resources, and the importance of defining its own identity within a physical context.  

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Researchers at X University (formerly Ryerson, renaming in progress) have launched the New Wood Open Architecture (NWOA) Atlas. The atlas is an open platform documenting participation-oriented projects centered on wood tectonics, assemblies, joinery and finishes. The project’s research team included Paul Floerke, Vivian Nyachira Kinuthia, and Michael Plummer. 

“[The projects] meaningfully involve the dweller in the ongoing spatial design, building and maintenance of their dwelling,” says the team of researchers. “Through physical engagement with building with wood, dwellers form a sincere and lasting relationship with their environment, with their home.”

The approach of the NWOA Atlas blends theory and practice. On one hand, it aims at creating common ground; on the other, it considers the practical relevance and specificity of particular construction situations.

According to the research team, the collected projects show how design processes are experienced in their relationships to the human being, showing continuity in basic principles without excluding individuality.

“The descriptions and analyses are partial answers to formulating a better, more humane, more environmentally friendly world,” says the team.

The spoke diagram visualizes the openness of each case study by assigning a point along each spindle, based on how the design addresses various criteria. The inner ring marks low engagement with criterion, while the outer ring marks a high level of engagement.

A gradient between passive and active involvement is divided into primary areas of influence where the inhabitant is involved in the architecture. Active involvement includes a high level of control and influence over the primary architectural aspects of a project; while passive involvement is the base level where the inhabitant has influence over a limited number of architectural elements.

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The Wood Design & Building Awards program invites North American and International entries for their 2021-22 awards cycle honouring excellence in wood architecture. The program is an opportunity to discover and celebrate the world’s best wood architecture, in diverse locations and with a wide variety of typologies.

Entries should consist of building projects that show a wide range of wood product applications and demonstrate an understanding of the special qualities of wood, such as strength, durability, beauty, and cost-effectiveness.

All projects completed in the period between January 1st, 2018 and December 30th, 2021 are eligible, except for previous Wood Design & Building Award winners.

An architectural jury from Canada and the United States will consider creativity, appropriate use of wood materials for practical requirements, and innovative design. Winning projects will be showcased in the 2021-22 Celebrating Excellence in Wood Architecture book, an award video on our websites, and presented at education events throughout the year.

Projects can be submitted in six categories: Non-Residential, Residential, Architectural Interiors, Remodeled, International Building, and Other (Exterior Structures, Bridges, etc.)

Honor, Merit and Citation awards will be given at the discretion of the jury. Winning projects will be showcased in the 2021-22 Celebrating Excellence in Wood Architecture book, an award video and in a future edition of the Wood Design & Building magazine.

More details on the awards and submission requirements can be found here.

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The Canadian Wood Council’s Wood WORKS! BC program recognizes excellence in contemporary design and building with wood in Vancouver at the virtual 16^th Wood Design Awards in B.C. Many design and building professionals joined the virtual event, including architects, structural engineers, members of project teams, local government, industry sponsors and guests.

Winners and nominees of the Wood WORKS! BC 2020 Wood Design Awards were honoured and recognized for their leadership and innovation in structural and architectural wood use.

BC Provincial Minister Katrine Conroy (Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development) provided a special message, congratulating the award winners while also outlining some of the forest industry changes her government is currently working on. She also mentioned a number of high – profile wood buildings in BC that are expected to get underway soon.

There were over 50 nominations in 9 categories for the 2020 awards – with nominations from all over the province, as well as some international project submissions from as far away as Taiyuan, China. All projects illustrate distinctive and unique qualities of wood such as strength, beauty, versatility, and cost- effectiveness while showcasing a variety of wood uses.

“With wood now recognized for its ability to significantly reduce greenhouse gas impacts in our built environment and increase construction efficiency, it now plays a leading role in the current design and building revolution. The continued exploration of new frontiers with wood is the foundation of our

awards program and the projects presented here this evening provide a view into the future,” explained Lynn Embury-Williams, Executive Director of Wood WORKS! BC.

This year’s winners in the wood design categories include:

Residential Wood Design: Perkins&Will, Vancouver, BC, for SoLo in the Soo Valley, BC

Multi-unit Wood Design: Studio 531 Architects, Vancouver, BC for Cubes in Courtenay, BC

Commercial Wood Design: Proscenium Architecture and Interiors, Vancouver, BC for MEC Vancouver Retail Store in Vancouver, BC

Environmental Performance: Public Architecture and Communication, Vancouver, BC for UBCO Skeena Residence in Kelowna, BC

Institutional Wood Design: Small: dk Architecture, North Vancouver, BC for the Skeetchestn Health Centre in Savona, BC

Institutional Wood Design: Large: Lubor Trubka Associates Architects, Vancouver, BC for the Tsleil-Waututh Administration and Health Centre in North Vancouver, BC

Western Red Cedar: HDR Architecture Associates, Penticton, BC for the Lakehouse in Summerland, BC

Wood Innovation:  Perkins&Will, Vancouver, BC for the Pavilion at Great Northern Way in Vancouver, BC:

International Wood Design: Michael Green Architecture, Vancouver, BC the Catalyst Building in Spokane, Washington, USA 

Two Jury’s Choice awards were also awarded. The first award went to Waymark Architecture in Victoria, BC for the Charter Telecom Headquarters located in Victoria, BC. The second Jury’s Choice award went to Francl Architecture Inc. in Vancouver, BC for the West Village District Energy Centre located in Surrey, BC.

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PROJECT South House, Mississauga, Ontario

ARCHITECT Giaimo

PHOTOS doublespace photography

As you travel down Third Street in Lakeview, Mississauga—a neighbourhood just west of Toronto—a monolithic volume on a corner lot stands out for being unlike anything else in the suburban residential area. Neighbours have nicknamed it “the blue house,” and from certain angles, the blue-faced block looks like an entirely new construction, rather than an addition to an existing home. It has no windows and minimal details. An inset cedar door and an exaggerated scupper are the only hints of the spaces on the other side of the punchy metal siding.

Architect and homeowner Joey Giaimo admits the design doesn’t fit within a familiar mold: “It confuses people a bit.” The rectangular form is nonetheless proportioned to mediate between the bungalows next door and two three-storey residential buildings across the street; the latter help fill a noticeable gap in multi-family housing. Beyond the blue, you can catch glimpses of a volume tucked behind, suggesting there is more than immediately meets the eye.

Giaimo’s architectural practice favours working with existing conditions. In his work for clients, as well as on his own home, he resists a recurring process: “the default to buy a property, tear it down, and build from scratch.” Glancing down the street, numerous Lakeview bungalows have been razed and replaced with two- and three-storey counterparts, with footprints pushing at lot limit-lines. Clad with stucco and stone veneer, they reflect a commodification of shelter—a phenomenon that has intensified in recent years in the Toronto region. Properties are purchased for land value. More square footage is added, in new houses that shelter fewer and fewer people.

Turning the corner on East Avenue reveals another face to Giaimo’s suburban house. This façade—the original entry to a 1920s bungalow, which has been kept in place—has the age that the other lacks, and is partially obscured by maturing trees and shrubs. The materials here are largely untouched and unconcerned with keeping up appearances.

The rectangular footprints of the old house and the new addition intersect inside the home. The frame to the Third Street door was preserved, and serves as the threshold between the two. Inside the addition, layers were peeled away to reveal the original exterior pine sheathing. Meanwhile, new gussets transfer loads between wood joists and studs that frame a skylit stepped entry hall that extends out towards the street.

The work demonstrates there are options beyond teardowns—even for a small bungalow. Thinking creatively about reuse and renovation is even more important when it comes to larger buildings and ensembles, like those recently targeted for demolition at the Dominion Wheel and Foundries site in Toronto. Giaimo previously worked with heritage specialists ERA, and says he aims to take guidance from existing built conditions—regardless of whether they are considered generic or have formal heritage recognition.

For his own house, the design was influenced by studying the varied additions made to nearby detached houses over decades. These single-family homes and the lots they occupy are an outcome of a centuries-long process of land dealings and annexations. The 1806 Head of the Lake Purchase between the Mississaugas of the Credit and the Crown exposed the land that is now called Lakeview, along with its surrounding waterfront, to accelerating systems of colonization. Territory was surveyed, and concession roads were laid out to give new settlers access to lots. World War I pushed land use around Mississauga’s waterfront towards industrial manufacturing, with heavy infrastructural investments in the nearby Lakeshore Road, the railway, and later, the Queen Elizabeth Way expressway. New houses were built for returning war veterans, while farms were sold for detached suburban development.

Giaimo believes that the original house at Third and East was likely a model used for a residential Ponzi scheme, which advertised a new Lakeview Park development and collected deposits on lots that were subsequently abandoned. Over the decades before Giaimo and his wife and business partner, Joanne Casiero, purchased the property, few changes were made. They chose to keep the 1920s house, making incremental adjustments as their family grew. A 2010 renovation retained the overall massing while opening up its interior spaces. They removed all interior doors, placing a Murphy bed in the bedroom and using sliding partitions to encourage a flexibility of uses between living, sleeping and eating areas.

The blue addition was spurred by the arrival of the couple’s second child. The new hall reorients the main entrance; inside, stepped platforms rise from grade to meet the existing floor. The hall is sheltered from the street and topped by a set of wood joists laid out in a skewed formation, breaking from the rigidity of the exterior form. In addition to serving as a mudroom, the hall is used variously as a play area, workout zone, and home movie theatre. Giaimo’s sons pick books from the one-tier wood shelf that lines the exterior wall and sit on the retained window ledge (which joins to their bedroom) to read. As they grow, Giaimo plans to revisit the connection to the loft space located next to the entry door—currently used for storage—to provide a more private space to read and work.

While the hall marches up to meet the height of the original house, the rest of the renovation opts to go down. Within the footprint of the addition, a stairway leads to a double-height main bedroom. The loft, accessed from the hall above, extends above the bed, while an original window frame offers a view back to the kids’ bedroom in the old house.

Carrara marble panels, reclaimed from the reskinning of Toronto’s First Canadian Place, are used as flooring to blend between the addition and the existing basement. The marble extends outside into a new sunken courtyard, with sliding glass doors that bring in natural light below grade. The renovation transforms the basement into an extension of the living space, while still providing necessary storage and mechanical areas.

The spaces in the resulting home do not fit simple categorization. A large living space flexes as a work-from-home office; pre-pandemic, the family would host guests around an extended dining table by popping up the kids’ Murphy bed and throwing open a sliding partition. As the family ages, they’re also viewing the spaces differently. A desire for more privacy has entered the conversation. “It’s too open,” says Giaimo. This has advanced plans for an at-grade addition where the existing sunroom sits along East Avenue, wrapping the west side of the original house.

For the long-term future, Giaimo and Casiero are proposing the addition of a second residence on the other side of the permeable driveway. This would allow them to share the corner lot of land with another household, and would assist in incrementally increasing suburban density. So far, the alterations to their home have worked within the one-family detached dwelling zoning for the lot—part of the Mississauga by-laws that have been instrumental in shaping the area’s relatively limited housing options. Constructing a second detached living space would require challenging these limitations. Giaimo’s ongoing plans for South House show how our attachments to existing conditions—to physical places, as well as to the policies that shape them—can both ground us, and spur us towards well-considered change.

Monica Hutton is a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and practices in the fields of architecture and urbanism.

CLIENT Joanne Casiero and Joey Giaimo | ARCHITECT TEAM Joey Giaimo (MRAIC), Mitchell May | STRUCTURAL SWS Engineering (Sam Wong) | MECHANICAL GTA Designs | LANDSCAPE Brendan Stewart | CONTRACTOR Mike Pimentel and Built to Work | AREA 121 m2 | BUDGET $260K (2010 and 2017 phases) | COMPLETION December 2017

The post Attached to the Detached: South House, Mississauga, Ontario appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Wood Design & Building magazine  has announced the winning projects from the international Wood Design & Building Awards program. This year,  16 Canadian firms received awards across six categories. The program recognizes the outstanding work of visionaries around the world who inspire excellence in wood architecture.

Submissions to this year’s Wood Design & Building Awards included a mix of structures, from a humble library built against a rock wall in China, to a reconstructed heritage horse barn in Alberta, and Canada’s longest clear-span wood bridge, in Nova Scotia.

The functionality and diversity of wood is illustrated in the wide range of projects that won this year’s awards. With an increasing focus on renewable materials and net-zero buildings, the use of wood is a solution embraced by many architects and engineers.

 “The Wood Design & Building Awards program is an opportunity to discover and celebrate the world’s best wood architecture, in diverse locations and with a wide variety of typologies,” said Andrew Bowerbank, Vice-President of Market Development for the Canadian Wood Council. “Each year’s jurors are tasked with deciding which projects embody the most creative, innovative and well-executed examples of building with wood. As you can see this year, with more than 30 award winners, there is an amazing abundance of beautiful and functional design, using wood.”

The winners include:

Honor

• Patinoire du Parc des Saphirs, Boischatel, Quebec, ABCP architecture

Merit

• The Roger Bacon Bridge, Nappan, Nova Scotia, Wood Research and Development
• Oregon State University Forest Science Complex, Corvallis, Oregon, MGA | Michael Green Architecture
• SoLo, Soo Valley, British Columbia, Perkins & Will
• Bar U Ranch Work Horse Barn, Longview, Alberta, 1×1 architecture inc.

Citation

• Awen’ Gathering Place, Collingwood, Ontario, Brook McIlroy Inc.
• Whistler Gateway Loop, Resort Municipality of Whistler, British Columbia, PUBLIC: Architecture + Communication
• Passive Ski Cabin, Revelstoke, British Columbia, STARK Architecture Ltd.
• Odeyto Indigenous Centre at Seneca College, Toronto, Ontario, Gow Hastings Architects and Two Row Architect
• Veil House, Vancouver, British Columbia, Measured Architecture

Canadian Wood Council Awards

• Green Gables Visitors Centre, Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Root Architecture Inc.
• 720 Yonge Mass Timber Building, Toronto, Ontario, Brook McIlroy
• Bromont Summit Chalet, Bromont, Quebec, Lemay
• Metrick Cottage and Boathouse, Lake Joseph, Ontario, Akb Architects
• Edmonton Valley Zoo Children’s Precinct: Urban Farm, Edmonton, Alberta, the marc boutin architectural collaborative inc.
• Toronto Montessori School Bayview Campus, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Farrow Partners Inc. Architects
• SoLo, Soo Valley, British Columbia, Perkins & Will

Western Red Cedar — Sponsorship Award

• Travis Price Centre – Camp Manitou, Headingley, Manitoba, 1×1 architecture inc.

Sansin — Sponsorship Award

• Catalyst Building, Spokane, Washington, MGA | Michael Green Architecture with Katerra

Watch below for the full list of winners:

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PROJECT The Osler Bluff Ski Club Clubhouse, Town of the Blue Mountains, Ontario

ARCHITECT Williamson Williamson

TEXT Elsa Lam

PHOTOS doublespace photography

In 1949, two friends who had tired of the long lines at Quebec’s ski hills set out to found a new ski club north of Toronto. When looking for a site, the pair heard from local farmers that the Niagara Escarpment’s best snow conditions were found on the slopes above Poplar Sideroad, near Collingwood.

The recent renovation of Osler’s clubhouse, completed by Toronto-based firm Williamson Williamson, is similarly attuned to the local context, with materials and a design tailored to its cottage-country setting.

Based on a masterplan completed by predecessor firm Williamson Chong in 2014, the design renovates the existing 1970s lodge and adds a new bay to the pleated-roof structure. The addition extends the main-level dining room, housing childcare and auxiliary spaces below. It foregrounds a dramatic pair of Y-shaped wood-and-steel columns—a contemporary version of the heavy timber columns of the original structure.

The decision to renovate rather than rebuild was a matter of budget and wanting to keep the spirit of the existing clubhouse, but it was not a simple task. “Renovations are incredibly complicated,” says architect Betsy Williamson, who describes how the original building was covered in asbestos, and constructed on a base of core slab, atop foundations that had no capacity to support additional weight.

“Old timber is like a house of cards—you can’t take any piece out or the whole thing will collapse,” says Williamson. The team conducted extensive remediation work to the envelope and structure, then braced each individual timber in the building to ensure the stability of the system during construction. The entire structure was conserved, with most of the timber columns left in place, and others relocated to a new lounge that looks out to the ski hill on one side, and over the dining room to the other.

In the 1970s lodge, conduit sprawled across wood ceilings with no fire sprinklers, and the winter wind whistled through inch-wide cracks that had opened in the structural columns. To address these issues, the renovation bumped the slope-side wall of the lodge out by two feet, encapsulating the existing structure behind a new façade equipped with German-designed windows. A new wood-slat ceiling maintains the cabin-like feel of the original building, while creating room for concealed sprinklers and additional acoustic and thermal insulation. Together, these moves brought the building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) down to 130 kWh/m2/year. “Had we been able to also replace the north façade, we would be at 90 or less,” says Williamson.

Such moves add noticeably to the comfort of the lodge, particularly at the crunch times of lunch hour and après-ski, when, in non-pandemic times, more than 800 club members fill the space to eat, drink and socialize. But what sets the project apart is its careful attention to details—a thoughtfulness typical of the high-end residences at the core of Williamson Williamson’s practice.

The smoothly curved Y-shaped columns, for instance, were inspired by the shape of early hand-carved skis, and executed with as much fastidiousness. “In our office, when we’re building with veneer, we show that it’s veneer by making it thin and flat, and when we’re building with solid wood, we show that it’s solid by carving into it,” says Williamson. “We were really specific about the direction of the veneer coming into the curve,” she adds.

A similar logic applies to a rounded wood bar and reception desk, and to a swooping stair balustrade. For the fireplace surround, stone was specified in its various cuts—with its weathered faces, seam faces, and ashlar faces exposed—and placed to reflect its natural orientation.

To execute their vision, the firm brought on millworkers BL Woodworking, and the club hired Upstream Construction. (Construction had started with another company in 2018, and was continued by Upstream in 2019.) Upstream—run by club member Andrew Noxon—was primarily experienced in custom homebuilding, but rose to the occasion. “It’s the kind of contractor we all know and love: works hard, super-organized, going to get the job done,” recalls Williamson. The project opened in December 2019, in time for members to hit the slopes from the renovated lodge that year.

The camaraderie between architect and contractor is evident in a subtle detail on the slope-side of the building. As the opening date deadline approached, the contractor left a panel that sits directly behind a segment of glazing in its natural oak colour to match nearby panels, rather than staining it dark brown as specified. “Dark brown is this magical colour—if you put it far enough behind a spandrel-like window, it reflects during the day, so you can’t tell it’s a spandrel window,” says Williamson. She insisted that it needed to be changed out, even though that involved removing the glass. “I knew it was a big ask.”

Despite the time crunch and their own skepticism, Noxon’s team went ahead and fixed the panel—and in fact, removed the glass twice to do so. When the window was out the first time, Noxon placed a small Lego figure with a hardhat and skirt on the ledge. He had carried the Lego figure in his pocket for the entire project, and nicknamed it Little Betsy. “When we had a question and Betsy wasn’t here, we’d ask Little Betsy,” says Noxon. “She’d normally tell us just to call Betsy.”

They replaced the glass, and the figure fell over. So they took out the window again to glue Little Betsy in place.

The miniature figure now looks out onto the ski slope—the focal point of the project from the start. “The big idea is that you come from the city and leave the world behind,” says Williamson. “You come up through the main entrance, and emerge onto the hillside.” That snowy slope, more than ever, is the centre of the action, whether for skiers enjoying a run or taking a break in the cozy comforts of the renovated lodge.

CLIENT The Osler Bluff Ski Club | ARCHITECT TEAM Betsy Williamson (FRAIC), Shane Williamson (FRAIC), Eric Tse, Irina Solop, Sonia Ramundi, Dimitra Papantonis, Peter Lazovskis, Mat Winter, Nassim Sani, Donald Chong, Chris Routley, Paul Harrison | STRUCTURAL Blackwell | MECHANICAL R.J. Burnside & Associates | ELECTRICAL Lapas Consulting Engineers | CONTRACTOR Upstream Construction | ACOUSTICS Aercoustics Engineering | LIGHTING Alula Lighting | CODE LRI Engineering | KITCHEN AND SERVERY Trimen | SECURITY Huronia | AREA 2,764 m2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION December 2019

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 130 kWh/m2/year | BENCHMARK (NRCAN 2014, non-healthcare institutional buildings after 2010) 278 kWh/m2/year

The post Après-Ski Sanctuary: The Osler Bluff Ski Club Clubhouse, Town of the Blue Mountains, Ontario appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Canadian CLT Handbook, 2019 Edition

Edited by Erol Karacebeyli and Sylvain Gagnon. (FPInnovations, 2019)

Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance

By Michael Green and Jim Taggart (Birkhauser, 2020)

The advantages to building with mass timber are clear: compared to steel or concrete, wood is a renewable resource with the potential to sequester carbon. This makes it a construction material of increasing import in the era of anthropogenic climate crisis.

Two recent Canadian publications help equip architects and engineers in using mass timber. The Canadian CLT Handbook, published by forest products research organization FPInnovations, is a two-volume reference manual compiling technical information on cross-laminated timber. (A parallel US edition is also available.) Tall Wood Buildings, by Vancouver-based architect Michael Green and educator Jim Taggart, focuses on the potential for mass timber’s use in mid-rise and high-rise buildings in urban centres. “Tall Wood buildings represent the most practical, effective and environmentally responsible solution to the global housing shortage,” write Green and Taggart.

The CLT Handbook is edited by engineers Erol Karacebeyli and Sylvain Gagnon, and clocks in at 812 pages. Its peer-reviewed content delves deep into the construction and performance characteristics of cross-laminated timber, from manufacturing to structural and lateral design. Chapters are dedicated to particular aspects of CLT buildings and assemblies, including vibration performance, acoustic performance, and the lifting and handling of CLT elements. The comprehensiveness of this tome makes it, as the editors write, a “vital ‘how-to’ [of] information on CLT for the design and construction community, and [a] source of information for regulatory authorities, fire services and others.”

While a technical manual does not generally make for riveting reading, the material characteristics of CLT are key to understanding its performance. The material’s lay-up pattern, for instance, means that using wood species prone to shrinkage and swelling may produce unsightly gaps. A chapter on environmental performance dives into the particulars of life cycle assessment, and points to research limitations in current analyses. For instance, what additional carbon benefits or harm would result from not harvesting a forest for use in construction? The forest may continue to grow, but would also be subject to natural disturbances such as fires—a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the most important changes from the 2011 version of the CLT Handbook is an updated chapter on fire performance. The new edition accounts for the extensive research that has taken place in the past decade, with results showing “that CLT elements, with or without gypsum board protection, can achieve significant fire resistance, beyond three hours in some cases.”

As architects working with tall CLT buildings in Canada can attest, the process of reconciling CLT construction with existing building regulations can be onerous. A proposal has been made to include encapsulated mass timber as a new type of construction in the 2020 National Building Code of Canada—provisions that have already been adopted in British Columbia. If accepted, the authors note, CLT would then fall into the prescriptive framework of the code, and “this will facilitate the use of CLT elements in residential and commercial buildings up to 12 storeys.”

In the CLT Handbook, “design” is used most often to refer to engineering considerations, rather than aesthetic results. Accordingly, a good part of the two-volume set is filled with formulae and data tables that will be of principal interest to engineers. No matter: the Handbook is free to download, and well worth having on hand.

A more approachable primer is Tall Wood Buildings. This book opens with a well-illustrated run-down of the principles of building with mass timber products such as CLT, glulam, laminated veneer lumber, and dowel-laminated timber. The thoughtful assessment runs almost in parallel to the structure of the CLT Handbook—starting with the properties of wood, and building up to the factors affecting structural systems, building performance, and construction considerations.

The book then turns its focus to a series of 18 case studies (augmented from 13 in an earlier edition). They are helpfully grouped into different types of mass timber structures. Panel systems use regularly spaced, solid wall panels to carry loads, and are well-suited for housing. Frame systems carry vertical loads through interconnected sets of beams and columns, and are used for programs requiring larger interior spaces. Finally, hybrid systems use different material and structural solutions in combination, for a variety of architectural, structural, environmental or economic reasons.

Each case study is illustrated with diagrams, details and photos, often showing both the under-construction and completed buildings. Shigeru Ban’s Tamedia Head Office, for instance, includes an assembly sequence for the all-wood post-and-beam structure, a design inspired by traditional Japanese joinery. Oval (rather than circular) holes are used at the joints, ensuring that tie-beams cannot rotate, thus allowing them to absorb lateral forces.

Three Canadian examples also figure among the case studies—Perkins and Will’s Earth Sciences Building at the University
of British Columbia, Acton Ostry Architects’ Brock Commons Tallwood House on the same campus, and MGA | Michael Green Architecture’s Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, British Columbia. Such buildings have set precedents in the North American building context, laying the ground for further development of mass timber buildings.

As the CLT Handbook details, 37 percent of the world’s certified sustainably managed forests are in Canada; within Canada, 49 percent of forests are independantly certified. The potential for Canada to become a mass timber leader is tantalizing.

In the preface to Tall Wood Buildings, UK architect Andrew Waugh writes: “re-learning how to build in timber—and how to build tall with the new engineered timbers that the 21st century technologies allow—will be fundamental to our future.” This pair of books are invaluable to architects and students taking on that task.

The post Book Review: Canadian CLT Handbook + Tall Wood Buildings appeared first on Canadian Architect.

ARCHITECT Hemsworth Architecture Ltd.

TEXT Sean Ruthen

PHOTOS Ema Peter

Comparisons between architecture and medicine are frequent: we talk of sick buildings, the heart of a community, and healing the city. But seldom is there opportunity to write of a direct link.

Earlier this year, the new Upper Skeena Recreation Centre—a project championed by a national and local leader in rural medicine—opened to great fanfare, serving three townships and eight First Nations communities near the confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers in Central BC. “Our whole diverse community has come together in an unprecedented and determined way to offer new hope—in the creation of the Upper Skeena Recreation Centre—to our children and young people,” said Dr. Peter Newbery, a rallying force behind the project. “In this Hemsworth-designed recreation centre we have a spectacular resource to contribute to the health and well-being of our community.”

Newbery is a respected figure throughout Central BC, where he has served as a family physician and helped to recruit and support healthcare professionals for decades—work that garnered him the Order of Canada.

A few years ago, Newbery and Vancouver architect John Hemsworth met by chance. Hemsworth was engaged in research for BC Wood on wood arena prototypes, and chose to visit Hazelton for its average BC snow loads—only to discover on arrival that the community’s well-loved ice rink was reaching the end of its life cycle.

Hemsworth’s long work in promoting wood use and Passive House design was recognized by a 2016 Governor General’s award, bestowed for a Passive House-standard factory for manufacturing mass timber panels. In Hazelton, Hemsworth set to work with structural engineers Equilibrium and contractors Yellowridge, demonstrating that a new rec center could be built in wood for roughly the same cost as a fabricated steel structure.

Hemsworth discussed other advantages of using wood with Newbery, the elected and traditional hereditary chiefs representing both the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en nations, and the representatives of the municipalities. The wood would be a renewable resource, harvested from BC forests, and construction could be completed by local trades.

The town of Old Hazelton, established pre-Confederation in 1866, is located near the site of an 8,000-year-old Gitxsan village, and sits in the shadow of the kilometre-high Stegyawden Mountain. In the 1860s, the Omineca Gold Rush brought prospectors by sternwheeler; later, the Grand Trunk railroad brought even more people. Eventually, two more towns were established nearby: New Hazelton and South Hazelton.

The area’s townships and Indigenous villages have comprised Newbery’s catchment for some 42 years, and he is well known by the 7,000 people that call the region home. With the support of local representatives, he rallied official and informal resources together behind this important project. Funding for the building came from federal and provincial governments, who provided $8 million and $4 million respectively for the project. The doctor and his team were also able to secure private donations, including an anonymous $3-million gift.

As is the case with any project, the course did not always run smooth. What were thought to be the foundations of an old hospital next to the existing ice rink turned out to be extensive bedrock. The increased cost of blasting for the new foundations was offset by eliminating a planned kitchen. Despite this, the basketball courts and fitness centre were saved, such that the 5,000-square-metre facility can host hockey and basketball events at the same time. It can also be open year-round—a significant benefit, as the original program had only called for a seasonal facility.

As part of his research for BC Wood, Hemsworth priced out three different options for constructing a standard ice rink from timber: using truss, arch, and clear-span-and-bracket systems. In the version chosen for Hazelton, the clear-span-and-bracket, two cantilevered beams splice into a third to complete an almost 40-metre span. The bracket beams greatly reduce the bending moment, resulting in an efficient and cost-effective structure. The roof is set at a gentle five percent slope, and glulam beams and columns are exposed throughout the facility.

Opposite the bleachers, a mural by Gitxsan artist Michelle Stoney pays tribute to the local hockey teams, figure skating organizations, and athletes that have used Old Hazelton’s arena over the past 40 years. A traditional cedar pole—donated by Symoget Niisnoolh and Ray Jones and enhanced by Symoget Delgamuk and Earl Muldoe of Gitsegukla Nation—will soon be raised at the recreation centre’s entrance.

Hemsworth recalls how the original arena had to be evacuated for fear of structural collapse. When visiting the existing A-frame structure with structural engineer Robert Malczyk, the two discovered that the 42-year-old building—then open and filled with people—was unsafe. “I’m philosophical, and in some other world we didn’t show up that day and there was a disaster,” says Hemsworth. “But that didn’t happen—and instead, we have this wonderful new arena.”

The community was initially devastated by the closing of the rink. To respond, they decided to use $250,000 of the new building’s budget to demolish the unsafe structure and refurbish the existing rink for outdoor use during the new building’s construction.

Newbery says that the new building is much beloved, and was well used for five-and-a-half months prior to the onset of COVID-19. The eight villages in his catchment are now under strict lockdown measures. Old, New, and South Hazleton used to host visitors who would travel to see the 8,000-year-old Gitxsan village at the fork of the two rivers; they have all but seen their tourism industry disappear this past summer.

Nonetheless, the recreation centre endures as a symbol of widespread support and future hope for the communities. During the fundraising efforts for the centre, the Vancouver Canucks sent three NHL heavyweights—Dave Babych, Kirk McLean, and Jyrki Lumme—to skate on the newly restored outdoor ice. As a facility shared across multiple communities, Old Hazleton’s new recreation centre brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, adults, and Elders, supporting inter-generational inclusion and diversity.

The importance of the facility, in particular for the youth in these remote communities, cannot be over-stated. In BC and across Canada, such buildings keep youth healthy and engaged, working together through sport in ways that few other places in their communities can offer.

Hopefully, the centre is only the first of its kind. In tandem with the centre’s completion, Hemsworth released his white paper on behalf of BC Wood detailing how similar wood structures could replace other arenas. According to Hemsworth, close to 200 arenas in the province are nearing the end of their life cycles. New wood versions—especially if they are as handsome as the Upper Skeena Recreation Centre—will surely be embraced as the hearts of their respective communities.

Sean Ruthen, FRAIC, is a Metro Vancouver-based architect and the current RAIC regional director for BC and Yukon.

CLIENT Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine | ARCHITECT TEAM John Hemsworth (RAIC), Dean Shwedyk, Alvin Martin, Stephanie Matkuluk | STRUCTURAL Equilibrium Consulting | MECHANICAL MCW Consultants | ELECTRICAL NRS Engineering | CONTRACTOR Yellowridge Construction | REFRIGERATION JS Refrigeration Engineering | AREA 5,100 M² | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION September 2019

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