New project update - BC Children’s and Women’s Hospital Canopies
StructureCraft is proud to be participating in this project of such importance for the Vancouverite community.
The overall project consists of a 640,000 sqft eight-story facility that will include medical/surgical inpatient units, an emergency department, medical imaging and procedural suites, hematology/oncology department, a pediatric intensive care unit for BC Children’s and a high-risk birthing center together with a new neonatal intensive care unit for BC Women’s.
Mass timber panels form a soffit supported by a varied array of glulam beams and columns splaying in different directions. All the connections are concealed, and their geometrical complexity required an extensive exercise in both modeling and engineering, not to mention in manufacturing.
While the two lower canopies have NLT (nail-laminated timber) panels built from laminations of the same size, jointed with a staggered pattern to reach the needed length, the higher canopy gives additional complexity with a fluted board layup.
This is the first time we have done a completely randomized fluted NLT pattern, and it incorporates (and conceals) the sprinkler pipes, electrical, lighting fixtures, and speakers. (We have done similar hidden incorporation of services in projects such as VanDusen, Richmond Olympic Oval, Guildford Aquatic Centre, etc.)
Stay tuned for further updates on this project in the next months, and see our project page for other pictures and details.
