First use of cross-laminated timber for tilt-up balloon construction wins award
March 17, 2015
By CCE
Other winners in the B.C. Wood Design Awards include the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George.
Ronald McDonald House, Vancouver by Michael Green Architecture, with Equilibrium as structural engineers. Photo: WoodWORKS! BC.
The 2015 Wood Design Awards for B.C. event were held on March 2 in Vancouver, with more than 360 people attending.
The awards are sponsored by the Canadian Wood Council and Wood Works! BC to support innovation and provide leadership on the use of wood and wood products.
Among the winners was Eric Karsh, principal of Equilbrium Consulting in Vancouver, who won the Engineer Award and had three award-winning structures.
These included the Ronald McDonald House, which is the first in North America to be built using tilt-up “balloon” construction with cross-laminated timber, and the UBCO Fitness and Wellness Centre in Kelowna which uses organic shapes cut from sheets of three-ply cross-laminated timber to form elegant roof and column elements. Karsh is also the structural engineer of record for the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, B.C., which “represents a milestone in the future of tall wood buildings” and is the tallest contemporary wood structure in
Wood Innovation and Design Centre, Prince George, B.C. Michael Green Architecture with Equilibrium Consulting as structural engineer. Photograph: Ema Peter Photography, N. Vancouver. Courtesy Wood WORKS!, BC Wood Design Awards.
Southern Okanagan Secondary School expansion, Oliver, B.C. Photography: Ed White Photographics, Vancouver. Courtesy: Wood WORKS!
BC/Wood Design Awards
North America.
The Architect Award was presented to Vancouver-based Michael Green Architecture who was the architect of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre.
The Environmental Performance Award went to Matheo Durfeld for the BC Passive House Plant in Pemberton.
The building projects that won design awards were:
– Kicking Horse Residence, Golden by HR Pacific Construction Management, with ISL Engineering as structural engineers (residential);
– Sail Multi-Unit Residence, Vancouver by Adera Development, with Darryl Bowers of Weiler Smith Bowers as structural engineers (multi-unit residential);
– Mountain Equipment Co-op Head Office, Vancouver by Proscenium Architecture, with Fast + Epp as structural engineers (commercial);
– Southern Okanagan Secondary School Expansion, Oliver, by CEI Architecture with CWMM as structural engineers (interior beauty);
– UBCO Fitness and Wellness Centre, Kelowna by McFarland Marceau Architects, with Equilibrium Consulting as structural engineers (institutional – small);
– Ronald McDonald House, Vancouver by Michael Green Architecture, with Equilibrium as structural engineers (institutional – large);
– Environmental Learning Centre, North Vancouver Outdoor School, Brackendale by McFarland Marceau Architects, with Equilibrium as structural engineers (Western Red Cedar category).
Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director of Wood WORKS! BC, said: “We are proud to bring together leading designers and project teams with BC’s world class wood products industry to celebrate what has been achieved together: excellence in wood building and design that has made BC a national and international leader. We look forward to this second decade of celebrating outstanding wood building and design in B.C.”
Thomas Leung of Thomas Leung Structural Engineering won one of two Jury’s Choice Awards for three projects and Steve McFarlane won the second.
