Brock Commons Tallwood House
| Brock Commons Tallwood House | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Address | 6088 Walter Gage Road |
| Town or city | Vancouver |
| Country | Canada |
| Coordinates | 49°16′10″N 123°15′4″W / 49.26944°N 123.25111°W |
| Construction started | November 2015 |
| Topped-out | August 2016 |
| Opened | July 2017 |
| Cost | $51.5 million |
| Owner | University of British Columbia |
| Height | 53 metres (174 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 18 |
| Floor area | 15,120 square metres (162,800 sq ft) |
| Lifts/elevators | 2 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Acton Ostry Architects |
| Structural engineer | Fast + Epp |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 305 |
| Website | |
| vancouver | |
Brock Commons Tallwood House is an 18-storey student residence at the
It is the first phase of a complex at Brock Commons.[2] The Brock Hall Annex located at the site will be demolished to make way for a building in phase 2.[3] The 1958 mosaic mural "Symbols of Education" by Lionel and Patricia Thomas, commissioned by the university's 1958 graduating class, will be moved as a result.[3]
Construction
It was built via the Tall Wood Building Demonstration Initiative (TWBDI) of Natural Resources Canada[4] that in October 2017 led to the establishment of the Green Construction Through Wood (GCWood) program.[5] Acton Ostry Architects designed the building with structural engineering firm Fast + Epp, which received consultation services from Architekten Hermann Kaufmann of Vorarlberg, Austria, for tall-wood construction.[6] Before raising the building, a two-storey 8-by-12-metre (26 ft × 39 ft) mock-up was built[7] on site to test wood-to-wood connections and the stability of the structure.[8]
Site construction began in November 2015, and topped out in August 2016.[9] Construction of the structure and facade began in June 2016[7] and was completed by a work crew of nine individuals in 57 days,[10] rising at a rate of about 2 floors per week.[9] The construction team described the assembly procedure to be "like Lego".[9]
The building was subject to the 2012 British Columbia Building Code, which limits wood buildings to six storeys.[7] This necessitated a special approval, as well as two structural reviews.[7] The first review, completed by Merz Kley Partner ZT GmbH of Dornbirn, Austria, focussed on the timber structure. The second was a seismic review conducted by Read Jones Christoffersen Consulting Engineers of Vancouver.[7]
The project cost $51.5 million to complete,
Description
The 53-metre-tall (174 ft) building has a capacity to house 404 students, primarily for graduate and upper-year undergraduate students, with a floor space of 15,120 square metres (162,800 sq ft).[6] It consists of 33 four-bedroom units, 272 studios, study spaces, and lounges.[6] The top floor is devoted to a lounge.[8]
The frame is built of pre-fabricated engineered timber
The wood structure is panelled with
Legacy
As a result of TWBDI and the structure's construction, amendments to the 2020 and 2025 National Building Code of Canada were proposed to permit the construction of tall wood buildings.[5] The British Columbia building code was amended in March 2019 to allow the construction of mass timber frame buildings of up to 12 storeys.[10]
The building is fitted with accelerometers, inclinometers, moisture meters, and vertical shortening string potentiometers.[7] The data collected will be analyzed by a research team at UBC to determine the building's performance relative to its design.[7]
References
- ^ "Wood highrises to shoot up thanks to new building codes". CBC News. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Brock Commons Tallwood House". Think Wood. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b Castaneda, Camila (20 January 2020). ""Symbols for Education" mural to be removed and restored". The Ubyssey. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ "Greening our built environments with wood". Natural Resources Canada. 24 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b "New Mass Timber Construction Program Positions Canada's Forest Industry as a Source of Clean Growth in the Low-Carbon Economy" (Press release). Natural Resources Canada. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Lau, Wanda (16 September 2016). "The University of British Columbia's Brock Commons takes the title of tallest wood tower". Architect Magazine. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fast, Paul A.; Jackson, Robert (June 2017). "Brock Commons". Structure Magazine. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c Gul Hasan, Zoya (18 September 2017). "Inside Vancouver's Brock Commons, the world's tallest mass timber building". ArchDaily. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d Crockett, Lauren (1 September 2016). ""World's tallest timber tower" tops out in Vancouver". ArchDaily. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ a b Mitham, Peter (8 January 2020). "Mass timber adoption rises as B.C. builders look for speed and sustainability". Vancouver Courier. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
- ^ Bellefontaine, Michelle (31 January 2020). "Firefighters raise concerns about safety of proposed 12-storey wood buildings". CBC News. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
External links
- Living at Brock Commons - Tallwood House at the University of British Columbia
- Brock Commons Tallwood House at University of British Columbia Sustainability
- Brock Commons Tallwood House at Naturally Wood