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Modern six-storey light-frame wood construction in British Columbia (BC) incorporates highly-detailed, researched and safe solutions. the engineering technology being adapted in the province is positioning BC at the forefront of the north American wood-frame construction industry. Mid-rise building solutions currently being developed and refined in BC will lead to more sustainable communities and affordable housing solutions that will positively change the face of north American cities.
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) is one of Canada’s most progressive retailers, having embraced a philosophy of corporate, social and environmental responsibility since its creation in 1971.
Not simply a retailer, MEC engages in its own research and product development to ensure that it remains on the leading edge of sustainable practice. As early as 1994, MEC began manufacturing clothing using polyester fleece made from recycled pop bottles.
In the same year, anticipating a period of rapid expansion, MEC began to look seriously at the environmental impacts of its building program. Its board of directors endorsed a policy requiring environmental consultation for the construction and renovation of new and existing facilities. From modest beginnings, the outdoor retail cooperative now has over four million members and annual sales of more than $300 million.
With each new building project, MEC has endeavoured to advance its own sustainability agenda, and in this respect wood has played an important role. In 2002, the MEC Ottawa store was constructed largely from heavy timber salvaged from an existing building on the site; in 2008, the Burlington store was designed with a completely demountable heavy timber structure that earned it a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) credit for innovation; and in 2013, the North Vancouver store, another building in which wood features prominently, received a Canadian Green Building Award for its comprehensive approach to sustainability.
Canada’s newest nationally-protected area, Parks Canada’s Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, includes 15 islands and inter-tidal areas flanked by the large urban centres of Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia. After the formation of the National Park Reserve in 2003, a site was acquired in Sidney (20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Victoria) for its Operations Centre.
Completed in September 2005, the new Operations Centre provides an administrative and operations hub for the National Park Reserve, and became Canada’s first LEED® Platinum certified building. The LEED Green Building Rating SystemTM is an industry-recognized, voluntary standard that rates buildings based on their environmental performance. To obtain the Platinum level, a building needs to obtain at least 52 points of a maximum possible 70 points. Several innovations were employed to allow the Operations Centre to obtain LEED® Platinum. For example, all of the building’s space and domestic hot water heating needs are extracted from ocean water. Other features include rainwater storage for use in the building’s low-flow toilets, roof-mounted solar panels supplying 20 percent of the building’s energy needs, use of natural light and ventilation, landscape plantings that do not require irrigation, energy efficient lighting fixtures, and exterior sunshades to keep the building from overheating. Energy consumption for the building is 75 percent less than that of the Model National Energy Code reference building.
This LEED® Platinum building relies on glulam beams and columns for the main structural support. In addition to its ease of installation and local availability, the glulam provides interior ambience for the exposed structure. Wood-frame walls are used for a large proportion of the exterior walls and western red cedar is used extensively for both interior and exterior finishes.
Rock Community Church is located in Woodbridge, Ontario, directly north of Toronto. Several years ago, the congregation bought a large, wooded property and used an existing residence and outbuildings for their needs while funding was acquired and design was developed for a permanent facility. Designed to incorporate a detailed list of user requirements, the new building was ready for occupancy in October 2007. There are two particularly noteworthy features of this building. One is the way it was designed to suit the site and second is the modular design that will allow the building to expand as the size of the congregation grows. The Rock Community Church design carefully uses structural and decorative wood products to blend with a beautiful natural setting and to provide architectural appeal and acoustical performance inside. The 2.2-hectare (5.4 acre) site (Figure 1) falls within the Woodbridge conservation area. To respect the natural setting, the design focused on creating an environmentally-friendly building site that would harmonize with its surroundings. All site elements, including the building and the parking lot, were carefully located to save existing trees and fit the site topography. The neighbouring deciduous trees provide shading from summer sun and allow the entry of winter solar heat through the floor-to-ceiling glazing in the altar area of the sanctuary.
The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (the Board) delivers provincially mandated services to 13 communities in Northwestern Ontario. To help clients achieve self-sufficiency, the Board provides assistance to seniors, children, and people with addictions and administers social housing programs. In March 2012, the Board’s ability to help people was greatly enhanced by the opening of a new building in the Thunder Bay central business district. Before the new building came into service, services were delivered from three sub-standard locations, an arrangement that often required clients to travel from one location to another to get help. A feasibility study that examined the possibility of amalgamating the three offices considered three different locations for the new building. The site selected is in the centre of Thunder Bay, adjacent to the city hall and library (Figure 1). Initial resistance by the local community to bringing social services clients into the business district has been dispelled. Instead, it appears that the public and social services clients view a bright, progressive building as a positive influence. In addition, staff absenteeism has decreased. The building is wood post and beam construction with woodframe floors and infill walls. Glulam columns were left exposed. This aesthetically pleasing expression of the structure, combined with wood millwork and doors, provide a bright, positive atmosphere for staff and clients.
A stunning coastal forest in Vancouver, BC is the gateway to the University of British Columbia (UBC) which has provided inspiration for the institution’s long-standing relationship with wood. The result is an enviable inventory of wood buildings interspersed throughout the campus which showcases ground-breaking technologies and sustainable design.
UBC’s commitment to promoting locally sourced, environmentally responsible, leading-edge engineered wood products and building technologies has culminated in the most recent addition to the UBC Vancouver Campus: the Brock Commons Tallwood House. The newest of the UBC’s student residence buildings, Brock Commons Tallwood House currently stands as the tallest contemporary hybrid mass timber building in the world.
Over the years, with an ever-increasing demand for student housing, UBC developed a preferred typology for its student residences, creating mixed-use residential hubs to enhance campus life. For this latest project, the University was determined to demonstrate the applicability of an advanced systems solution to BC’s development and construction industries while advancing its reputation as a hub of sustainable and innovative design.
Wood use from the 18th to the early 20th centuries frequently included seven-storey wood buildings; taller wood structures such as church towers and pagodas were built worldwide earlier still. Today, pushing the envelope of wood use comes with challenges. Authorities having jurisdiction and oversight of the approval process for a new generation of tall wood building designs require comprehensive scientific data to evaluate their safety since there are no prescriptive provisions in the Canadian building codes to permit them. Until such a time as building codes establish provisions for tall wood buildings, performance aspects of their design must be proven on a design-by-design basis.
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), in recognition of the technical challenges inherent in the design and construction of modern tall wood structures, has provided targeted funding to support demonstration projects that use innovative engineered wood products and construction systems.
Over the last couple of years Quebec City has witnessed significant population growth and there has been a construction boom to meet the ever-growing demand for housing. In 2003, Quebec City became interested in the land of the Pointe-aux-Lièvres area for new real estate development. This vacant land on the banks of the Saint Charles River and just North of « Nouvo St-Roch » was deemed an ideal location for building a new neighbourhood. Poised between nature and the city, the spot was coveted by many who wanted to create a dynamic living environment. The Quebec City council saw the opportunity to create a new neighbourhood that would showcase sustainable development. The land developers selected by the city were tasked with developing the area sustainably and offering eco-responsible solutions. Therefore, using wood in the structures was natural.
Development has begun. Three projects were launched in the eco-district, in which Origine is the signature building of this new neighbourhood. This 13-storey, 92-unit building stands out thanks to its architecture, as well as its engineering prowess. The NEB Group, which consists of Nordic Structures, EBC, and Synchro Immobilier, wanted to push the boundaries of wood materials. Origine’s great innovation resides in its lateral resistance system made entirely of wood. It is actually thanks to this innovation that the 41-meter high building can boast about being the highest modern building with a 100% solid wood structure. The NEB Group hopes Origine will pave the way for other similar structures. Forest resources are abundant in Quebec, and design professionals’ expertise in wood construction is developing to use them in large-scale structures. Origine has proven the feasibility and safety of using wood in this type of building.
Since the 2009 change to the British Columbia Building Code (BCBC) that increased the permissible height for wood frame residential buildings from four storeys to six, more than 300 of these structures have been completed or are underway around the province.
Most are located in the core of smaller municipalities and in the inner suburbs of larger ones, offering a more sustainable and cost-effective option for densification than concrete or steel equivalents. Most of these buildings have employed wood frame from the ground up, with a five- or six-storey building being constructed on a concrete slab-on-grade, or on top of a concrete basement parking garage; others have been constructed above one or two storeys of commercial accommodation, currently still required to be built in noncombustible construction. This requirement will change when British Columbia adopts the 2015 National Building Code of Canada (NBC), which will allow light wood frame assemblies, mass timber slab elements and wood beams and columns to be used in place of concrete or steel.
Over the past eight years, architects, engineers, municipal authorities and local fire departments have become familiar with the basic parameters of this new building type. Over the same period, market conditions have continued to evolve.
Beyond the energy conservation standards referenced by LEED and mandated by municipalities, there is an increasing interest in ultra-low energy buildings that comply with the Passive House standard, now formally administered in Canada by Passive House Canada.
There is also a growing need to explore new approaches to project delivery, particularly when building on infill lots that have little or no space for vehicles, materials storage and staging, and where the inconvenience to neighbours from the traffic, noise and dust generated by traditional site construction is increasingly disruptive.
Further revisions to the 2015 NBC to be introduced in British Columbia in 2017 will expand the permissible use of six-storey wood construction from multi-family residential (Group C) occupancies to business and personal services occupancies in Group D.
Prior to “modern” building codes, such buildings were often constructed using heavy timber post-and-beam systems, with solid timber floors. However, with the advent of new mass timber panel products, the opportunity has arisen for developers and design teams to explore new forms of wood construction, including hybrid mass timber/light wood frame construction.
In response to these new market conditions, traditional wood frame construction techniques and project delivery methods have been modified or adapted to achieve greater efficiency, economy and performance. This case study looks at three different projects in the Vancouver area, similar in having a predominantly multi-family residential program, but differing considerably in their approach to design, construction details and project delivery
Templar Flats in Hamilton, Ontario, has the distinction of being the first occupied, modern wood-frame mid-rise building completed in Ontario. It was constructed under provisions (O. Reg. 191.14) added to the province’s Building Code (2012 OBC) that permit wood-frame construction up to 6 storeys, an increase of two storeys over the previous iteration of the code. The 6-storey, mixed-use project offers 25 modern residential units above three street-level restaurants in the city’s downtown core. The City of Hamilton is committed to revitalizing the downtown and developments on King William Street, including Templar Flats, have benefited from infrastructure improvements in the area. Templar Flats brings together the best of the old and new in an innovative, hybrid solution that puts a modern 6-storey building with glass penthouses between two thoughtfully restored heritage buildings that were adapted into a single, unified development.
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.
It is significant that wood played such a large role in this type of complex, which is usually done in other materials. The wood structure is a unifying element between the spaces of the centre. The design is coherent, consistent, elegant and expresses wood beautifully.
Located in Edmonton, Alberta, the Mosaic Centre for Conscious Community and Commerce was designed to be the province’s first “net-zero energy” commercial building and demonstrate the feasibility of low-energy-use buildings in cold climates. The owners challenged the design team to deliver a net-zero energy building capable of gaining certification by the Living Building Institute and LEED® Platinum. In addition, feasibility analysis favoured wood construction to meet all building science challenges and also provide an enhanced interior work environment. Construction started in mid-March 2014 and was completed in the fall of 2015 — three months ahead of schedule and on budget. The 2,790 m2 (30,000 ft.2) building is located in the emerging southwest Edmonton community of Summerside.
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