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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: info@naturallywood.com

www.naturallywood.com

Published: May 2009