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TRANSCRIPT
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innovative wood designi n a n a t ur a l e n v i r o n m e n t
SQUAMISH ADVENTURE CENTRE
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Squamish Adventure Centre
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the squamish adventure centre is a combined visitor
centre, outdoor sports museum and economic development ofce.
On the outskirts o Squamish, British Columbia, the Outdoor Recreation
Capital o Canada, the Centre beckons the 2 million visitors who travel
the highway each year between Vancouver and Whistler, which are
the joint sites or the 201 0 Olympic Winter Games.
Elliptical in plan, with wing-like roos that hover above
transparent walls, the building was created to inspire visitors with
the spirit o the coastal mountains. The project was commissioned by
the District o Squamish to catalyze its transormation rom lumber
town to cultural centre.
The client group wanted a striking building, in local materials, that
would set a benchmark o quality or the upcoming redevelopment
o the towns waterront on Howe Sound.
This project is an example o a new typology o the tourism visitor
centre, operating as a combined cultural and historical venue. At its
most ambitioususing organic orms and materials indigenous to
the areathe design seeks to evoke an immediate awareness
o landscape.
richard iredale, partner iredale group architecture
Organic lines and glass curtain walls, o course, are not out o
the ordinary in contemporary buildings. What makes the Centre
remarkable is that its primary structure is made o Douglas-fr. The
heavy timber rame building orm, with ew, i any, right angles, was
made possible through the application o locally based, leading-edge
design expertise and manuacturing technology.
architecture
key
1 Exhibit Hall
2 Lobby
3 Theatre Ofce
4 Grand Hall
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wood andsustainability
the elliptical geometry o the Squamish Adventure Centre
contains over 1,000 uniquely shaped heavy-timber members, all
made rom locally grown D ouglas-fr harvested rom a sustainably
managed orest operated by the Squamish First Nation.
Solid sawn timber has the lowest embodied energy o any
major building material, and local harvesting, milling and abrication
minimize transportation energy while providing economic and social
benefts to the region.
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facts
The Squamish Adventure Centre is a striking example o advanced
wood technology and the capabilities o British Columbias timber rame
industry. It shows how modern designs with complex geometries can
be quickly and economically built
The Centre is built rom 60,000 bd t (142 mD
) o No. 1 structural andbetter Douglas-ir timber rom the west coast o British Columbia
The structure comprises more than 1,000 uniquely crated elements
that required detailing and precision milling in the inest tradition o
Canadian timber rame building
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facts
The 5,800-tC (522-mC) building is enclosed by 350 linear t (107 m)
o glazing that reaches a height o 26 t (8 m) at the north and south
ends o the structure
The wood structure was designed, detailed, abricated and erected
in just three months to meet a tight timeline o eight months or the
entire project
The choice o wood in this commercial application highlights the natural
beauty and versatility o the Douglas-ir structural timber products or
which British Colombia is world renowned
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the adventure centres curved but terfly roofs
which perch lightly on a supporting structure o exposed timber
columns, brackets and beamsare made rom 35 dierent composite
steel and timber roo trusses that each have a unique geometry.
Combine this with the architects desire to maximize the transparency
o the building envelope by rebeting the glazing rames into the
vertical wood members, and one can begin to appreciate the
complexity o the joinery required.
To realize such a complex structure within a strictly limited
time rame, each component was computer modelled in three
dimensions. Digital production fles were then used to instruct
computer numerically controlled (cnc) milling machines operated
by Fraserwood Industries.
As a result o this pre-planning and precision manuacturing,
on-site assembly required only two cranes and a crew o our. Erection
o the structure proceeded quickly, with all the pieces o the puzzle
ftting together perectly.
Beore the advent o sophisticated 3D modelling sotware,
cnc timber notching machines and high-speed internet services,
a project as complex as the Squamish Adventure Centre would have
taken at least a year, and perhaps longer, to complete.
Instead, through a tightly coordinated team eort, Fraserwood
Industries, the Iredale Group and Timberhaven Developments were
able to model, engineer, manuacture and erect the timber rame
in under six months.
peter dickson, president fraserwood industries
structure
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The elliptical geometry o the roo structure posed challenges to the
architects, engineers and detailers, both in terms o calculating member
dimensions and in designing connections to join raming members set
at complex, compound intersecting angles.
In addition, in order to achieve the designs simple architectural
elegance, the exterior glass window wall had to ft perectly into rebeted
edges cut into the beams and columns o the timber rame without the
help o cover plates or intermediate mullions.
Finally, everythingincluding the steel connection castings, the
abricated steel ker plates and the primary and secondar y timber raming
membershad to be precision abricated o-site so that feld erection
could proceed quickly and economically.
To simpliy the timber-to-steel connections in the main roo trusses,
the structural engineers developed a pair o universal swivelling connector
brackets that join the tension rods to the kingposts and timber top chords.
This meant that the same connection detail could be applied to all
35 trusses, greatly speeding up the erection process, and enabling the
structure to be manuactured and erected in less than three months.
Nevertheless, a problem remained: the need to cut adjoining timber
members at complex, compound angles (complete with pre-drilled bolt
holes and pre-cut ker grooves), such that timbers would ft together
perectly throughout the structures elliptical topology. This precise work
included the laborious crosscutting o rebeted and mitred edges along the
length o each beam and column to receive the exterior glass curtain wall.
To create this level o precision, sophisticated cad detailing sotware
was employed to generate perect three-dimensional models o each
unique timber connection and timber member. Once developed, these
cad fles were entered into the control language o the precision milling
robots that fnal-cut each piece. The process took time, but in the end
each timber member ft perectly and feld erection proceeded smoothly.
geometriccomplexitymade simple
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Visitors are completely taken with the building . . . the dramatic
design perectly fts with our objective as a regional portal or business
and tourism.
brent leigh, former deputy administrator district of squamish
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project credits
client
District of Squamish
architect and structural engineer
Iredale Group Architecture
mechanical engineer
MCW Consultants Ltd.
civil engineer
CJ Anderson Civil Engineering Inc.
electrical engineer
MCW Consultants Ltd.
landscape architect
Senga Landscape Architecture Inc.
construction manager
Compass Management
geotechnical consultant
Thurber Engineering Ltd.
exhibits consultant
AldrichPears Associates Ltd.
photographers
KK Law, District of Squamish,
Andrew Doran
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Forestry Innovation Investment Ltd.
Suite 1200 1130 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6 E 4A4
Canada
Phone: 604-685-7507
Fax: 604-685-5373
Email: [email protected]
www.naturallywood.com
Published: May 2009