It seems like just last week we were writing about construction beginning on a new dormitory and now it’s finishing up. The world’s tallest wood building installed the last wood panel last week, wrapping up this stage of construction in an impressive 66 days. After this milestone, focus will turn to completing the interior and preparing the building for the 404 University of British Columbia students that will soon call the dormitory home. Construction is expected to be fully completed in 2017.
(The last wood panels being installed on Brock Commons. Photo credit: Unknown)
Acton Ostry Architects, the firm that designed Brock Commons, posted on Twitter a time lapse of the construction process. REMI Network details the project, saying the building is made up of 1302 glulam columns and 464 CLT panels.
#Wood structure finished in just 66 days at Brock Commons tall wood @CdnArch @JOC_Canada @ArchDaily @ConstructCanMag pic.twitter.com/ueTMqQTu29
— Acton Ostry (@actonostry) August 11, 2016
Construction on Brock Commons wouldn’t be possible without a team of experts. The engineered wood products were provided by Structurlam and made from locally harvested trees. The structural engineering firm, Fast + Epp, used the nature of wood to produce the 18 story building. Paul Fast, founder of Fast + Epp, said of Brock Commons, “We pushed ourselves relentlessly over months of work with the design team and the CLT manufacturer to simplify the structure — think LEGO. The building blends the simplicity and modularity of LEGO with the concrete-like strength of cross laminated timber to help ensure structural efficiency which in the past has been one of the major barriers to building tall with wood. Our solutions effectively address that concern.”
As if being the tallest wood building isn’t enough, Brock Commons also comes with a great view.
#UBC alumna @c_mille admiring the view from the tallest wood building in the world. https://t.co/trd8unALAC pic.twitter.com/0pyswjNX5u
— UBC (@UBC) August 15, 2016
To read more about Brock Commons, check out our other blog posts, “Construction on UBC’s new wood dormitory begins” and “Construction on UBC dorm continues.”