Exterior view of Squamish Adventure Centre showing building’s signature curved wing-like roof represents the eagles in the Squamish Valley

Squamish Adventure Centre

Location: Squamish, B.C.
Completion: 2005
Photo credit: KK Law

Size
536 square metres

Structural Engineer
Iredale Architecture

Construction Manager
Compass Management

Mechanical, Electrical, Sustainability Consultant
MCW Consultants Ltd.

Structural systems
Hybrid / Other
Low rise
Post + beam

Project materials
Solid-sawn heavy timber

Organic form reflects the local alpine geography

Wood craftsmanship and technology converge in this combined visitor centre, sports museum and economic development office. The wood structure was designed, detailed, fabricated and built in just three months to meet a tight timeline of eight months for the entire project.

Butterfly-like roof made from 35 unique steel-and-timber roof trusses

Craftsmanship and technology converge in this combined visitor centre, sports museum and economic development office. Thirty-five different composite steel-and-timber roof trusses, each with a unique geometry, comprise the curved, butterfly-like roofs that perch lightly on a supporting structure of exposed timber columns, brackets and beams.

The elliptical plan and expansive glazing ensures the building is highly visible from British Columbia’s Sea-to-Sky Highway. The organic form reflects the local alpine geography, and inspires the more than two million visitors who pass by it each year on their way between Vancouver and Whistler.

Computer-aided design and manufacturing software technology was critical to the success of the project, with over one thousand uniquely shaped heavy-timber members—few, if any, containing right angles—made from locally grown Douglas-fir harvested from a sustainably managed forest operated by the Squamish Nation.

The low rise Squamish Adventure Centre, complete with curved wing-like roof and complex geometries, was built with solid-sawn heavy timbers and glows warmly in this exterior evening view
Photo credit: KK Law

Case study: Squamish Adventure Centre

Learn more about the Squamish Adventure Centre.

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