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The Engineering Complex at UNB is comprised of five buildings, all constructed at different times, and physically connected as one. The first building constructed in 1901, was the original Engineering Building, designed in the Romanesque Revival style, followed closely thereafter by the former Gymnasium, converted in 1944 to the Electrical Engineering Build-ing. In 1957, an expansion to the western side of the two original engineering buildings was made. Sir Edmund Head Hall, a five-storey, 13,600 sq.m (140,000 sf) addition was con-structed to the north of the previous mentioned buildings. Gillin Hall was added to the west side of Head Hall in 1989 and the Information Technology Centre was added to the south of Gillin Hall along Windsor Street in 2000. In April of 2017, UNB requested Murdock & Boyd Architects to come up with a design solution for a new prominent Main Entrance to the Head Hall Engineering Complex, one that celebrates the engineering programs that are delivered at this institution. The space is designed to allow for and promote the collaboration and interaction of students and faculty, provide for additional graduate study areas, larger crush space from the Dineen Auditorium and a space to exhibit and visually celebrate all the disciplines of the world renowned UNB Engineering programs and its graduates.

The University of British Columbia – Okanagan (UBCO) is located in the south-central community of Kelowna in BC’s interior. UBCO’s student community numbers just over 8,300 undergraduate and graduate students, 20 per cent of whom currently live on campus. UBCO strives to provide a vibrant campus life for its students. This is particularly important for resident students as the campus is located at a significant distance from activities in downtown Kelowna. UBCO’s Athletics and Recreation Department manages recreational needs on campus. It has been operating out of facilities initially built in 1994 to accommodate less than half of the current student population. The athletic competition venues on campus still meet a very high standard, but fitness and recreation facilities were lacking. A storage area in the existing gymnasium complex was converted into a weight room and cardio workout area in an effort to provide added services but a permanent solution was needed for the ever increasing number of memberships to the facility. Following the receipt of a substantial private donation for the express purpose of building a new fitness centre on the UBCO campus, UBC Properties Trust held a design-build competition for the new building. The donor stipulated two conditions for the facility: it needed to have an aviation theme, and it had to demonstrate innovative wood construction.

The success of the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Earth Sciences programs resulted in a need for the department to expand in order to accommodate a growing enrollment of 360 major/honours students, 170 graduate students, and more than 6,400 undergrads each semester. As a university with a history of leadership in the advancement of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences, the use of wood for the construction of the UBC’s Earth Sciences Building (ESB) complemented the relationship between environment and science. The new 5-storey north wing of the ESB will house the academic research, lecture, and office spaces at UBC’s Point Grey Campus in Vancouver. Unlike the 5-storey concrete laboratory wing, the academic wing uses wood as the primary structural material because of its architectural qualities and value as a renewable resource. Located along Main Mall, an important north/south artery on campus, the ESB project is exposed to high volumes of pedestrian traffic. Directly across the street from the ESB is the new Beaty Biodiversity Museum, which, together with the nearby Pacific Museum of the Earth, forms an inspiring collection of buildings and features that showcase wood in construction for both the university and public at large. Securing UBC’s position as a global leader in earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences, the ESB is a centre of discovery and learning that embodies the impressive academic and physical scope of the UBC campus. When complete, the academic wing of the ESB will include offices, lecture theatres and graduate workspaces. It will also have a resource cluster on the 5th floor that will serve as a mini-conference facility and incorporate some of the latest technologies to create a flexible learning environment, making the ESB expansion a project that encourages collaboration in both design and academic functionality. The laboratory wing will be dedicated to labs and lab preparation areas, and will also have office space.

Although seismic events occur all over the world, the areas most susceptible to large earthquakes are those that lie along active fault lines. These fault lines are found at the boundaries of the Earth’s tectonic plates, including the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ (Figure 1.1) that encircles the Pacific Ocean. The Ring passes through British Columbia, as well as other active earthquake zones such as Japan, New Zealand, Chile, California and Alaska. More sophisticated approaches to the seismic design of buildings have been developed as our understanding of earthquake behaviour has evolved. The experience gained from a succession of major earthquake events has confirmed that well-designed, ductile wood buildings performed well, especially from the standpoint of life safety.

Located in Sudbury, Ontario, Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture is the first new school of architecture to be built in Canada in 40 years. Its mandate is to provide a uniquely integrated, uniquely focused education to Indigenous, Anglophone, and Francophone students. It is the only school of architecture outside of Québec to offer French-language studio courses, and the first to include offices for Indigenous Elders, who play a central role in the school. The curriculum addresses resilient architecture and fabrication techniques for northern latitudes, with an emphasis on Indigenous culture, wood construction, local ecologies and resources, and design for the impact of climate change. The school is a didactic instrument with structural and HVAC design elements purposefully exposed in each of the various buildings. The multi-phase development of the McEwen school began with the adaptive reuse of the site’s two existing heritage structures. The two storey CPR ticket and telegraph building (circa 1914) became faculty offices and a boardroom, and the single-storey market building became a temporary studio before ultimately transforming into the fabrication laboratory once the new studio spaces were constructed. Phase two of the project included the construction of a 36,480 ft2 steel-and-concrete Studio Wing, and the new 15,670 ft2 CLT Library Wing which is the focus of this case study. By combining the two repurposed heritage buildings with 52,150 ft2 of new construction, the McEwen School of Architecture demonstrates the properties of wood, steel, concrete, and masonry construction, and illustrates to students the structural potential and aesthetic qualities of each.

Red Deer College (RDC) Student Residence is a 5,800-sq.m. (60,000-sq.ft.), five-storey wooden structure with 145 units, designed and completed to meet the 300-bed demand for the Canada Winter Games in early 2019. RDC envisioned a building that would be a welcoming, fun home base for students; the college was well aware that isolation and lack of community support for students have a negative influence on their ability to perform in the classroom and can negatively impact their mental health and well-being. The goal was to create a “residence” that felt more like a home. Manasc Isaac Architects, led by Vedran Škopac, proposed a hybrid between a student residence and a set of seven distinct “public gathering spaces,” scattered around the perimeter of all five storeys of the building. As part of the plan, Škopac’s team increased the conventional amount of social space by a factor of 10. The residence also functions as a hotel, providing accommodation for short- and longterm visits. Another design mandate was to incorporate sustainable features, which influenced the decision to utilize a wood structure with a high performance building envelope that maximizes thermal performance and comfort. With a construction budget of $18.5 million, funding allowed for photovoltaic panels cladding the east, south and west faces, which provides approximately 45 percent of all energy the student residence requires. Although the building was not aiming for certification, it was designed to a LEED Gold standard. As an example of an innovative approach to dormitory housing, Red Deer College Student Residence prioritizes quality of life and sustainability, while using mass timber construction to achieve both goals. These are some of the reasons it won a 2019 Wood Design & Building Canadian Wood Council Award.

This case study examines the design and construction of two elementary schools in Vancouver, British Columbia in which mass timber was chosen as the primary construction system for the first time. W k ’wan’ s t syaqw m Elementary School (formerly Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary School) and Bayview Elementary School, located on the east and west sides of the city respectfully, were part of a pilot project by the Vancouver School Board (VSB) aimed to assess the potential for expanding the use of mass timber in future school projects (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). To this end, the documentation of: the opportunities presented, the challenges faced and the lessons learned, is a vital step in the evaluation process.

Climate change is one of the largest threats facing the planet today. The construction industry accounts for 11% of global carbon emissions, playing a significant part in the climate crisis. To determine the best solution for future school buildings, not only does practicability, economy and constructability play a part, so does sustainability. In order to better understand the embodied carbon emissions associated with the construction of new school buildings in British Columbia, the embodied carbon content associated with the four framing systems examples in the companion report, An Analysis of Structural System Cost Comparisons (costing study), was assessed. The purpose of this study is to allow the embodied carbon associated with these systems to become an important factor when choosing a viable scheme. Embodied carbon is the carbon footprint of a material or product. To determine the embodied carbon of a building you must consider the quantity of greenhouse gases associated with the building. The most effective way to measure this is through Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), a study which determines the embodied carbon from cradle to grave (material extraction to building demolition). Consequently, an LCA was conducted for each of the four schemes presented in the costing study. Additionally, for wood frame Options A and B, WoodWorks online carbon calculator was used to determine the potential carbon savings associated with carbon sequestering.

As land values continue to rise, particularly in higher-density urban environments, schools with smaller footprints will become increasingly necessary to satisfy enrollment demands. There are currently several planned new school projects throughout British Columbia that anticipate requiring either three-or four storey buildings, and it is forecast that demand for school buildings of this size will continue to rise. Though timber construction would offer a viable structural material option for these buildings, the British Columbia Building Code (BCBC 2018) currently limits schools comprised of timber construction to a maximum of two storeys, while also imposing limits on the overall floor area. Given these constraints, the development of viable structural options that would accommodate larger and taller schools constructed primarily with timber materials has not been a key focus. With the above factors in mind, the purpose of this report is to build upon the findings of the previously published Design Options for Three- and Four-Storey Wood School Buildings in British Columbia prepared by Fast + Epp and Thinkspace dated November 2019. Specifically, this report supplements the previous one by providing guidance in assessing and comparing the various framing options considered in the previous report primarily on a cost basis.

As land values continue to rise, particularly in higher-density urban environments, schools with smaller footprints will become increasingly more necessary to satisfy enrollment demands. There are currently a number of planned new school projects throughout British Columbia that anticipate requiring either three-or four-storey buildings, and it is forecasted that the demand for school buildings of this size will continue to rise. Though timber construction would offer a viable structural material option for these buildings, the British Columbia Building Code (BCBC 2018) currently limits schools comprised of timber construction to a maximum of two storeys, while also imposing limits on the overall floor area. Given these constraints, to date there has not been much effort put into the development of viable structural options that would accommodate larger and taller schools constructed primarily with timber materials. With the above factors in mind, the purpose of this study is to illustrate the range of possible timber construction approaches for school buildings that are up to four storeys in height. Given this emphasis on four-storey construction, this study focuses on the main classroom blocks within a school building, as these portions of the building are the ones that are the most likely to take advantage of an increased number of storeys. While other portions of school buildings, such as gymnasiums, shops, and multi-purpose areas are also strong candidates for wood construction systems, since there are already numerous examples of this type of construction these areas are not emphasized in this report.

Wood-frame construction is an important option for school buildings as well as an important choice toward meeting a sustainable future for Ontario. The facts behind this statement are demonstrated by first exploring how wood-frame construction addresses the three major components of sustainable development: what is best for the environment, what is best for the economy, and what is best for society. Factors that owners, funding partners and design teams must consider when developing a project will then be identified, above and beyond sustainability objectives. In practical terms, the impact of building code requirements, geography, and climate on budget and construction scheduling are explored. Wood construction systems and their components available for use in low-rise school buildings in Ontario are introduced. Site-built and pre-fabricated options, including the innovative cross-laminated timber system, are explained along with the benefits that can be expected from each. The requirements of the Ontario Building Code (OBC) as they pertain to wood construction are elaborated upon. All references to the Ontario Building Code are based on an extensive review of the OBC as it pertains to wood use in low-rise educational buildings undertaken by code experts Morrison Hershfield for Ontario Wood WORKS! Parts 3, 4 and 5 of the OBC were reviewed to identify pertinent conditions, limitations or restrictions. The report of their analysis is attached in its entirety as Appendix B (page 33). Unsprinklered one and two-storey school buildings up to 2,400 m2 can be built entirely with wood construction systems, provided certain requirements are met; adding sprinklers to these buildings brings that maximum area up to 4,800 m2 . With the use of firewalls to compartmentalize a larger building into a series of connected smaller buildings, this maximum area can be considerably increased. A requirement for non-combustible construction does not necessarily imply that school buildings must miss out completely on the benefits of wood construction systems, such as heavy timber roof systems or wood interior elements and finishes. There are also alternative options for complying with OBC requirements which allow for the use of developing wood technologies. The importance of a wood construction system in terms of benefits to building users and to the environment is explored in detail. Beneficial attributes of wood as a building material include its renewability and its natural ability to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it away in its fibres; that it is sourced from sustainably managed Ontario forests; that manufacturing efficiencies result in a more responsible use of energy and reduced pollutants to the atmosphere when compared with other major building materials; these attributes all help to mitigate climate change. The benefits of a wood construction system during the construction phase, in terms of material delivery times and optimized construction scheduling are also explored, along with benefits during the life of the building. Some of these benefits are a result of wood’s natural thermal and acoustical properties; others, such as durability and adaptability, result from wood’s natural properties combined with the correct use of the products. There are also less quantifiable though equally important effects, such as the warmth of a natural system and its impact on the learning environment. Five case studies, four schools across the country, and one in the United States, are included to help demonstrate these benefits.

Algonquin College is a major provider of post-secondary education in Eastern Ontario, with campuses in Ottawa, Perth and Pembroke. The Perth Campus is located in the Town of Perth, approximately 65 km west of Ottawa. In keeping with Perth’s historic involvement with the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site, the Perth Campus’ area of excellence is heritage preservation training, which draws students from the local community and from around the world. In 2009, planning began for a new building capable of accommodating more students. During construction of the new building, comprised of the Academic Hall and the Construction Wing (Figure 1), classes continued in an old building that was subsequently demolished. A new outdoor construction pad is located over the footprint of the old building. The new building was ready for classes in September 2011, one year after the start of construction. The town of Perth has a rich history, reflected in the nineteenth-century mills and factory buildings along the Tay River, Victorian storefronts and grand, century-old, timber-frame buildings. The Algonquin College Perth Campus building sought to blend with this fabric through the use of traditional forms, locally sourced materials, and woodframe construction.