Wood Design & Building Magazine, vol 25, issue 102
This issue of Wood Design & Building explores how intentional design can carry culture, support community, and foster connection. The projects featured here demonstrate how a clear vision can transform a building into an environment grounded in purpose, identity, and care, reflecting both people and place.
Several projects in this issue centre Indigenous perspectives and priorities. The Membertou First Nation office building, the Weliankweyasimk Women’s Shelter, and the Chief Leonard George residential building each reflect cultural knowledge, respond to community needs, and create spaces of safety, continuity, and belonging.
Wood is a consistent presence throughout. Long associated with shelter and refuge, it is also a material of gathering, warmth, and shared experience. It is no coincidence that projects grounded in human wellbeing so often turn to wood. This connection is present in many cultures. Our WoodWare feature on FinnFox, for example, highlights the part wooden saunas play supporting health and building community in Nordic (and Canadian) sauna culture.
At the same time, building with wood is not simply a return to the past. While it reconnects us with cultural knowledge and longstanding practices, it also reflects a growing recognition of wood as a high-performance, renewable material for contemporary construction. This is evident in the Chief Leonard George Building, Canada’s first tall mass timber residential building constructed to the Passive House standard. It demonstrates how thoughtful wood design can both preserve cultural continuity and point toward the future of high-performance, low-carbon construction.
Building Canada’s Future With Wood
Course Overview
This session will feature thought leaders in a podcast-style conversation exploring the evolving role of wood in Canadian construction. Through a series of rotating interviews, the discussion will highlight key themes including the rise of mass timber and tallwood buildings, the shift toward offsite construction, and wood’s potential to address the housing affordability crisis. The session offers a forward-looking yet grounded perspective on the opportunities and complexities shaping the industry.
Learning Objectives
Understand how mass timber and tall wood construction are transitioning from niche applications to mainstream use in Canadian mid- and high-rise buildings.
Understand how prefabrication, modularization, and early team integration influence cost, schedule, and risk outcomes in wood construction projects.
Explain how mass timber can support institutional, residential, and mixed-use project goals related to sustainability, constructability, and housing delivery.
Course Video
Speakers Bio
Russell Hixson Editor SiteNews
Russell Hixson is an award-winning investigative journalist who began his career covering crime and courts in the United States before transitioning into Canada’s construction sector. He spent eight years at the Journal of Commerce, where he developed deep expertise in the industry and its key issues. He has also reported on the federal budget from Ottawa and documented the early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while working remotely.
Hixson has developed a strong interest in the construction industry and is passionate about sharing its stories through SiteNews, with the goal of engaging and informing a broader audience.
Jana Foit Principal, Higher Education Practice Lead Perkins&Will, Vancouver
Jana Foit is a Principal and Higher Education Practice Lead at Perkins&Will’s Vancouver studio. With over two decades of experience, she has led numerous mass timber projects, including the Earth Science Building and Gateway Building at the University of British Columbia, as well as the BCIT Tall Timber Student Housing project.
She is a frequent speaker and panelist on mass timber design and contributes to several industry publications, including the Nail Laminated Timber Design and Construction Guide, the Survey of International Tall Wood Buildings, and the Technical Guide for the Design and Construction of Tall Wood Buildings in Canada.
Robert Malczyk Principal Timber Engineering Inc.
Robert Malczyk is one of a small number of university-trained specialized timber engineers. After completing his master’s degree at Warsaw University of Technology, he moved to Canada to study under the renowned Professor Borg Madsen at the University of British Columbia.
In 1997, he co-founded Equilibrium Consulting Inc., contributing to award-winning projects such as the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Galleria Italia designed by Frank Gehry. In 2021, he co-founded Timber Engineering Inc. He currently works on projects across Canada, the United States, and Asia.
His expertise focuses on a systems-based approach to mass timber design, with an emphasis on structural efficiency and energy performance.
Andrew Stiffman Vice President, Construction Services Kalesnikoff
Andrew Stiffman brings diverse project experience across single-family homes, large-scale passive house developments, and low- to mid-rise mass timber construction. At Kalesnikoff Mass Timber, he oversees the full project lifecycle of prefabricated and mass timber projects, from early-stage discussions through to completion.
His background in building science, development management, and hands-on high-performance construction enables him to combine technical expertise with practical delivery, leading multidisciplinary teams to successful project outcomes.
Scaling Affordable Rental Housing with Tall Mass Timber
Course Overview
As cities face growing pressures around affordability, climate resilience and livability, innovative projects like Catalyst’s 18-storey CLT rental development in North Vancouver offer necessary solutions. Targeted toward architects, engineers, developers and municipal leaders this session explores mass timber construction as an affordable housing solution. Attendees will gain insight into the use of CLT in construction and the associated challenges, including structural grid constraints, moisture protection, and prefabricated balcony systems. The session will also highlight how the project achieved near cost parity with comparable concrete buildings, integrated mixed-use programming, and leveraged BIM to support coordination and the permitting process. Participants will leave with practical takeaways for applying these approaches to similar projects in other cities.
Learning Objectives
Understand how tall mass timber hybrid systems can support affordable and mixed-use housing
Identify key architectural, structural, and construction challenges unique to CLT buildings
Learn practical strategies for permitting, procurement, coordination, and construction
Course Video
Speakers Bio
Annabelle Hamilton Executive Director WoodWorks BC
Harrison Glotman Principal Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers
Rhys Leitch Principal Integra Architecture Inc.
Sean Binns Project Director Kindred Construction
Unlocking Affordable Timber Innovations in Structure, Prefabrication, and Code
Course Overview
Bond Tower is a 7-storey mixed-use prototype that asks a critical question: how can mass timber be made cost-effective in the Prairies, where supply chains are limited, demand is low, and timber construction is often reserved for flagship projects. Funded by the Green Construction through Wood Program from Natural Resources Canada, the project develops both prototypes and a built demonstration to advance affordable timber solutions in a region underserved by the current market.
The design leverages nail-laminated timber (NLT) as its primary system, applied in diagrid trusses, floor assemblies, and shear walls. NLT presents a cost-effective alternative to other manufactured products and provides great versatility due to its custom nature. Lateral and gravity-induced forces are carried by a diagrid timber truss fabricated from readily available dimensional lumber and using simple mechanical fasteners. Floor assemblies comprised of NLT are constructed without a concrete topping or proprietary sound attenuation systems, reducing both cost and embodied carbon. Prefabricated wall panels, stairs, and modular service pods further minimize waste and construction time.
Another challenge lies in building code classification. Currently, all structures above six storeys are deemed high-rise, requiring costly and difficult to achieve [in timber] two-hour fire-resistance ratings and fire-safety systems. The Bond Tower design team, working with code consultants, is developing an alternative solution that leverages the inherent 1.25-hour FRR of NLT floor assemblies. This approach suggests a pathway toward a new mid-rise category, making timber projects of seven or eight storeys more financially viable. Alongside a single-stair configuration, which can increase efficiency by reducing non-rentable floor area, these strategies point to a replicable model for affordable timber construction across Canada.
Learning Objectives
Learn how NLT and prefabrication strategies can reduce cost, waste, and construction time, making timber more feasible in the Prairies.
Explore structural detailing approaches that simplify connections and reduce cost, while addressing fire, durability, and acoustic performance in timber design.
Examine how alternative solutions can improve the financial feasibility of 6–8 storey timber projects and support broader code updates across Canada.
Course Video
Speakers Bio
Sasa Radulovic, AIBC MAA OAA SAA AAA NSAA FRAIC LEED AP Partner, Architect 5468796 Architecture
Sasa Radulovic co-founded the Winnipeg-based practice 5468796 Architecture with Johanna Hurme in 2007. A talented designer, Sasa guides the office in seeking projects that explore density, affordability, and sustainability through non-traditional means and a dynamic design approach. Recent institutional appointments include Visiting Professor-Morgenstern Chair with the Faculty of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
Ken Borton, MAA RAIC Principal 5468796 Architecture
Guide to Mid-Rise Wood Construction in the Ontario Building Code
Second Edition
Applicable to the 2024 OBC (O. Reg. 163/24) – In Effect January 1, 2025
Overview
The Guide to Mid-Rise Wood Construction in the Ontario Building Code (Second Edition) provides a technical overview of the provisions permitting 5- and 6-storey combustible (wood) construction under the 2024 Ontario Building Code.
Developed by WoodWorks Ontario / the Canadian Wood Council, this updated edition reflects O. Reg. 163/24 and recent amendments affecting mid-rise residential (Group C) and office (Group D) buildings.
The Guide identifies key requirements, conditions, and limitations associated with mid-rise wood construction and is intended to support architects, engineers, builders, regulators, and code professionals working in Ontario.
What’s Included
This technical reference outlines:
Height and building area limits for 5- and 6-storey wood buildings
Fire-resistance requirements for floors, roofs, mezzanines, and loadbearing assemblies
Sprinkler system requirements (NFPA 13 vs. 13R)
Combustible cladding limitations and compliance pathways
Fire blocking and concealed space requirements
Fire department access and street-facing provisions
Emergency power enhancements
Structural and seismic design considerations
Mixed-use building permissions and occupancy separation requirements
The Guide focuses on new construction and is intended to be used in conjunction with the Ontario Building Code.
Developed to support practitioners working with encapsulated mass timber construction (EMTC), this tool helps determine whether a compartment design aligns with the 2025 edition of the National Building Code of Canada (NBC).
By entering key information about your compartment layout—including size, wall configuration, mass timber elements, and encapsulation details—the calculator evaluates whether the design meets code requirements for exposed mass timber elements.
The tool allows users to:
Evaluate permissible percentages of exposed mass timber elements (beams, columns, walls, and ceilings)
Confirm compliance within suites or fire compartments
Identify potential code issues through automated warnings
Visualize compartment configurations with a generated 3-D model
Review encapsulation requirements and supporting notes
This practical calculator helps architects, engineers, and code professionals explore compliant design options more efficiently when working with mass timber construction.
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