Wooden Skyscraper

Located on a large forested peninsula on the west side of Vancouver, the University of British Columbia is at the forefront of the global movement to revitalize mass-timber construction and be innovative in the use of engineered wood products in tall buildings. Among the large wood buildings already on campus are the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, the Earth Sciences Building, and the Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility. The newest addition to the portfolio is the 53-m-high (18-storey) Brock Commons Phase 1 Building, featuring the first North American use of mass-timber products in a residential high-rise.

Brock Commons is one of the University’s five high-rise, mixed-use, residential complexes that provide housing for students while acting as academic and recreational hubs for the campus community.

The hubs are all of similar programming and urban design; however the Brock Commons Phase 1 Building is unique in the use of a hybrid mass timber structure.

Full content of this issue you can read here

The full version of the article can be read in our printed issue, also you can subscribe to the web-version of the magazine

Materials provided by Acton Ostry Architects
Visuals and illustrations are courtesy of Action Ostry Architects Inc. & the University of British Columbia