Abbotsford Christian School Entrance

An Eye-Catching Entryway

This canopy is the crowning jewel of the Abbotsford Christian School renovation. Located directly over the front entrance, it combines fire-coated glulam and custom pipe columns atop a circular concrete pedestal.

The single-pedestal design sprang from our desire to craft something truly eye-catching for a local school. Initial designs called for an all-steel canopy, supported by multiple columns. Our President Gerald Epp challenged the design team to coalesce all supports into a single podium, topped by a single oblique roof plane. Keeping with this elegant approach, our team also created seamless connections, without visible bolt heads or screws to upset the clean lines of the structure.

Our shop and site teams acted as true craftsmen, hand fabricating both the glulam purlins and beams in our shop, with each of the three beams receiving a pre-camber as they were glued together. Onsite erection was challenging: the six pipe columns had to be set with a high degree of accuracy so the incoming beams would fit. The roof purlins were then lifted in pre-fabricated sections and placed atop the beams.

Our hope is that this canopy and its warm wood atmosphere will provide a pleasant welcome to students for years to come.