EQUILIBRIUM

Our very own Tom Place will be presenting on how to minimize carbon emissions of steel, concrete, and mass timber next week! Registration is open at the link below 👇

This week’s #tbt project highlight features the Outma Sqilx’w Cultural School – Completed in 2011 in Penticton, BC, Canada. The First Nation school, built for the Penticton Indian Band, is located in the semi-desertic hills near Penticton, BC with breathtaking views of Skaha Lake and Lake Okanagan. The expressive form, inspired by the surrounding landscape and traditional pit houses traditionally used by the Okanagan people, is achieved using a combination of light frame and glulam structure. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh describes, “The double curved gymnasium roof consists of curved glulam rigid frames, which also provide the lateral resistance for the gymnasium which incorporate generous clerestories on both sides. We’re proud to say the project won the World Architectural News Magazine: Top 25 Schools in the World in 2010.” Photos: Andrew Doran Photography Architect: Iredale Architecture #innovativeengineering #innovativearchitecture #firstnations #timberengineering #glulam #desertarchitecture #okanagan

This week’s #tbt project highlight features the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre – Completed in 2006 in Osoyoos, BC, Canada. Nk'mip Desert & Heritage Centre is located in the unusual Canadian desert found in the South Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos, British Columbia, adjacent to the remnant of the Great Basin Desert being preserved as a part of the band’s conservation efforts. The project’s programming features both indoor and outdoor exhibit spaces including a theatre, reconstructed pit houses, an outdoor amphitheater, and snake research demonstration area that celebrate the Nk’Mip band’s culture and history and shine a light onto their current work in the area. The 12,000 SF structure was designed with sustainability being top of mind. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh describes, “The project was designed with Hotson Bakker Boniface Hayden, now Dialog. At the time of construction (and to this day as far as we know) the structure boasted the largest insulated rammed earth wall in North America. The 80m long, 600mm thick wall of earth was dyed with dry powder pigments to match the colour pallet of the surrounding landscapes. The roof is another point of interest. In an effort to minimize the visual impact of the project, the structure’s roof blends seamlessly into the slope behind. If open for public access a person would be able to walk from the slope directly onto the roof without realizing.” The roof’s design allowed for a greater amount of the desert landscape habitat to be reestablished on site alongside its insulation benefits. Photos: Nic Lehoux Architect: DIALOG #innovativeengineering #innovativearchitecture #firstnations #rammedearth #rammedearthwall #timberengineering #desertarchitecture

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Last month, we spent the evening with A Better Life Foundation preparing and serving a three-course meal to the community in the downtown East Side of Vancouver. There was lots of laughter, great conversations, and it was a pleasure to work with the amazing team at A Better Life. They are doing amazing work through their Plenty of Plates program. This was definitely a highlight of 2024 for our team. Thank you for having us! Photos: Mark Anthony Roz

This week’s #tbt project highlight features the Roundhouse Turntable Plaza Crane – Completed in 2012 in Yaletown, Vancouver, BC, Canada. This project is a feature in a larger conservation rehabilitation of a historic train engine turntable converted into a public plaza at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre in the Yaletown neighborhood of Vancouver. The crane sits directly on the turntable and satisfies both sculptural and functional requirements, providing shade and shelter from sun or rain and a backdrop for events taking place in the plaza. Our team had to take in other considerations for the structure’s functionality as well. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh explains, “The plaza was going to be used for acrobatic and circus shows. The fabric structure was to be used as a roof but also as a functional circus apparatus that performers could hang from. Performances would vary in format, so the roof had to be adjustable. That’s why we mounted it on a crane.” The structure is now an iconic landmark in the Yaletown neighbourhood. Photos: Nick Milkovich Architects Inc. Architect: Nick Milkovich Architects Inc. West Coast Railway Association #innovativeengineering #innovativearchitecture #conservationarchitecture #steelengineering

This year, EQUILIBRIUM’s annual Summer Summit was in Victoria! It was so fun to be joined by our US team and the lead of our Paris office for the weekend’s festivities. Our team toured the University of Victoria’s First People’s House (a gem in EQ’s history) and the Royal BC Museum’s Provincial Archives, Research and Collections facility in Colwood (still in construction), and we all got to see the sites in a city-wide scavenger hunt. A big thank you to 10 Acres Restaurant Group for hosting our team dinner and Frankie's Modern Diner for a fantastic brunch! Now onto colder weather and a strong finish to the year. 🍁 MGA | Michael Green Architecture - RBCM photo credit

This week’s #tbt project highlight features the Capilano University Centre for Film & Animation – Completed in 2011 in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. The 43,000 SF Film Centre provides an iconic presence on the university’s campus. The building is a four-storey structure that includes three world class film studios. On the ground floor there are costume design labs, a lecture theatre, and standard classroom and office spaces. The fourth level is dedicated to computer labs supporting the film studies program. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh says, “The structure includes a combination of tilt-up construction, mass timber, concrete, and masonry. Tilt-up construction and structural steel were used for the full-size film studios. The lobbies and office spaces are mass timber. The fourth level which floats above the main building structure is a 400-foot-long bridge structure supported at only three points. The three concrete cores used to support the two massive steel trusses each have a footing so large that you could walk around inside with rebar underfoot and overhead. When a truss set for installation the following day was left on the ground overnight, CapU students jumped the fence and penned their signatures on the metal. The signatures are still there.” Photos: Ema Peter Architect: CannonDesign #bridgeengineering #innovativeengineering #innovativearchitecture #masstimber #tiltup

This week’s #tbt project highlight features Ronald McDonald House BC – Completed in 2014 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. This LEED Gold certified community project with Ronald McDonald House Charities provides a “home away from home” for out-of-town families with children receiving medical treatment at BC Children's and Women's Hospital and Health Centre. The structure consists of four separate residential units, each housing approximately 16-18 families. These four houses are connected by communal link spaces such as dining and kitchen facilities and living spaces. The project also includes fitness facilities, library resources, office areas, educational space, and outdoor play areas. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh says, “The structural strategy was to develop a tilt-up system using 3-ply CLT for the walls and a light-frame floor and roof. CLT walls were chosen as a structurally stable backup for the brick envelope selected by the architect to allow for the building’s a 100-year lifespan. The light-frame floor and roof were chosen for flexible integration of mechanical and electrical services and for their economy. To learn more about this project, visit our website! Also, check out “MGA Alpenglow + Ronald McDonald House” on YouTube for more information about the RMH charities and the organizational principles of the house architecture. Photos: Ema Peter and Ed White Architect: MGA | Michael Green Architecture (initiated by mcfarlane green biggar architecture + design) #clt #innovativeengineering #innovativearchitecture #innovation #brickarchitecture #rmh #rmhbc

This week’s #tbt project highlight features Nicola Valley Institute of Technology – Completed in 2001 in Merritt, BC, Canada. As Design Architect, Alfred Waugh, FRAIC led the design process involving intensive user group interaction, and numerous visits with the native elders. The 3-storey 120m long structure emerges from the sloped site with a semi-circular form, which is a meaningful and recurring Native theme. To reflect its Northern location, the building is designed as a cold climate green building. EQUILIBRIUM’s Eric Karsh explains, “The driving architectural strategy was to develop a passive design using thermal mass and the integration of the slope around the structure as a green roof to the lower level. The 3-storey open atrium provides a natural ventilation system inspired by the traditional pit house concept used by the bands in the area for centuries. Structurally, we chose to use concrete floor slabs for their thermal mass and for the ease of creating a curved floor plate. The 256 glulam columns used to support the concrete floor slabs are a reference to traditional First Nations timber construction. Arrowhead inspired steel castings, shaped by the architect and designed by EQUILIBRIUM, connect the columns to the slabs. Each column was lifted into place after the slabs were stripped to avoid damage. Each only took 20 minutes to install. To our knowledge, this project was the first use of glulam columns supporting concrete slabs in North America.” To learn more about this project, visit our website! Photos: Nic Lehoux Architect: PERKINS & WILL ARCHITECTS, INC. (previously Busby Perkins + Will), led by Formline Architecture + Urbanism‘s Alfred Waugh #glulam #timberengineering #innovativeengineering #nvit #nativedesign