Cool and those workers and students are going to have to pay 100.00/month to park downtown! Bravo!

I thought this was supposed to be a wood building… I see alot of steel and conrete.

or it is a “we’ll use wood if is concveniences us” type of building.

Looks like wood to me. Obviously there is concrete for the ground floor…

You really need to get your eyes checked, bcracer …

Other than the steel connectors, most of which fall under the category of simple angle iron bolted into the wood, plus special connectors for column to column connections, there is no steel.

There is concrete for the foundation plus main floor slab, elevator pit, and an outside pony wall at the entrance.

The coloured wrap you see is to protect the column wood so it does not stain.

Look at the site web cams and enlarge the images, maybe you will be able to see more clearly.

They have gone out of their way to use wood in this building. It might not be the tallest in the world, but it has a very high wood content.

http://www.unbc.ca/engineering/watch-construction-future-home-engineering-live

And watch the Michael Green TED Talk. Quite nice architecture, and you will notice that yxs is shown on his presentation.

And watch the Michael Green TED Talk. Quite nice architecture, and you will notice that yxs is shown on his presentation.

The headline is actually stretching it a bit.

The “core” of a building like this, no matter what it is made of, is the shaft that carries the vertical service use elements such as elevators, two sets of exit stairways, shaft(s) for HVAC ducts, plumbing risers, electrical and communications cables. Immediately adjacent to that one typically finds the washrooms.

The open floor perimeter is then left for the working areas – offices, meeting rooms, storage, etc. which then are located next to or near windows.

The first floor of this building is two storeys high and includes a mezzanine level. Fr

The headline is actually stretching it a bit.

The “core” of a building like this, no matter what it is made of, is the shaft that carries the vertical service use elements such as elevators, two sets of exit stairways, shaft(s) for HVAC ducts, plumbing risers, electrical and communications cables. Immediately adjacent to that one typically finds the washrooms.

The open floor perimeter is then left for the working areas – offices, meeting rooms, storage, etc. which then are located next to or near windows.

The first floor of this building is two storeys high and includes a mezzanine level. Fr

Sorry, got cut off mid way.

The core has gone a level above that. So, there are 5 more regular height floors to go to reach the roof. Plus 5 more floors for the core if one included the penthouse which will sit on top of the core.

So, the core is not quite half way completed.

I think the expectation is that from here on they will be able to do a floor a week. The crew is likely totally new to this kind of construction. Putting vertical panels up for the core may actually be the most difficult part of the job. There are likely crew members that have worked on commercial heavy timber before, but I doubt they ever worked with vertical panels as structural elements.

Not connecting to the downtown heating system?

Yes…. I believe it is sitting in the laneway at the west side of the building ready for the connection, if they have not already done so.

Looks like if this form of construction catches on it will create job in other areas of the Province where the components are actually made. Doubtful anything in this building came from Prince George.

Who is responsible for the building?? UNBC, City, Province. Someone has to pick up the tab for operating and maintenance.

If Industry Organizations take up the office space, which business’s presently renting to them will lose?? Is the Government/University competing with private industry??

Oh my ….. how dare government compete with private industry!!!!!!

Tell you what Palopu ….. you really do not have the faintest understanding of what will hopefully be happening with this building.

The best I can tell from what has been said is that this building will be a microcosm of government teaching and research enterprise will be joining private research enterprise in close proximity to each other.

You know, those so-called “incubators” we have had around in this city for the last tow decades or so? ….. well, if this is going to work as it should, it will finally one that will be at the right level and working.

I cannot guarantee that, nor can anyone else. It will have a long uphill battle, but it will be the one that will have the best chance of anyone so far.

FPInnovation is one example. How this will relate to that will be interesting to see. when looking at the material used in that building, some of the composite wood in it was researched by them. Some of the systems of construction used was researched by private firms with some government funding in Europe (Austria to be specific). The fire performance of such a building was researched by Fire Physicists now headquartered in Ottawa, some of whom also worked with FPInnovations located on the UBC campus.

To me, it is an exciting things we will have in this community. If this will become more popular and the construction technique gets incorporated as an acceptable standard in the building code, more of these buildings will be built.

I doubt this will ever become the norm, but not a single one of us has the ability to predict that future.

One more thing, this kind of systems building, and that is what it is, will be able to be built a floor a week once workers get to have the experience of building them.

It is not the only building of tis kind, as was written in the local rag today. Far from it. But, it is one of the very few that has gone this far.

One, I believe in Austria, went up a floor a day ……but that was in a part of the world where systems buildings are much more the norm.

The Forte apartment building in Melbourne

8 storey load bearing wood panel construction working under a building code with similar consideration that the BC and Canadian National Code gives to alternate construction.

Put up by 6 workers in 38 days. I suspect that the 6 that are on he erection crew. Not counting supervisors and ground crew that keep the site relatively orderly and unload shipments from the factory, we have a similar small crew. The new small hammerhead cranes are controlled from the platform where the work is occurring, basically a three person operation to put structural wood in place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHpthNBiYqE

Of course, when one looks at other high rise systems buildings, one should not take their eyes off China.

30 storey building erected on site in 15 days (24 hour days).

Most elements, including finishing, were built under well controlled factory conditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdpf-MQM9vY