b'MASS TIMBER CONSTRUCTIONThe idea of assembling large struc- EMBRACING MASS TIMBERtural building components from smallerSmoke is not alone in recognizing the pieces of wood is a similar concep- potential of mass timber. Over the past tion to the precontact practice of bent- decade, architects have embraced it, and wood construction. This entailedgovernmentshave using small members out of thebeen modifying legis-understory of forests and intro- lation and introducing ducing strength into those smallincentive programs members by pre-tensioning to encourage it. For bending them, explains Smoke.example, in the spring Those were our teaching lodges,of 2024, the Province dwellings, sweat lodges, cere- of Ontario announced monial buildings. The removalthat it would be modi-fying its building code to allow encapsulated INDIGENOUS PROJECTS mass timber construc-Smoke has a lot of experience withtion buildings to be masstimberprojects.Beforesheup to 18 storeys tall founded her own practice 10 years(up from 12 storeys).ago, she worked with Prairie Architects Inc. in Winnipeg on Migizii Agamik (BaldEagleLodge),adedicated space for Indigenous students at the University of Manitoba, which achieved LEED Gold certification for its green building strategy.Smoke Architecture also created an Indigenous students gathering place at Queens University in Kingston,Indigenous Gathering Place at Queens Ontario, using mass timber with cedar- University: mass timber construction shake cladding. Smoke calls it a reallywith cedar-shake claddinglovely little outdoor classroom. British Columbias fully developed Mass Timber Action Plan estimates that PartneringwithDIALOG,Smokecompared to milling logs for lumber, Architecture designed an expansion tomass timber can deliver up to seven the existing A-Building at Centennialtimes the economic value. The prov-College in Scarborough, Ontario. Theinces Mass Timber Demonstration project, which called for the incor- Program and its CleanBC Building poration of Indigenous principles inInnovation Fund both support mass the design, won recognition from thetimber projects. The Action Plan specif-Canadian Interiors Best of Canadaically highlights collaboration with Awards, the Ontario Association ofIndigenous Peoples to advance mass Architects Design Excellence Awardtimber development.and the Architizer A+ Awards. A LEEDof the smaller trees had minimal impact Gold-certified building, it uses masson the health of the forest. It is not surprising that by late 2020, timber glulam posts and beams thatB.C. already had 285 mass timber build-support CLT floor panels.Smoke notes, however, that even massings, many of which were showcases Currently,SmokeArchitectureistimber production uses some unsus- for Indigenous principles in architec-working on another mass timber project,tainable practices, like planting mono- ture. These included the Tsawwassen the Makwa Waakaaigan Indigenouscultures, clearcutting and the use ofYouth Centre, which uses prefabricated Centre of Cultural Excellence at Algomaherbicides, so there is still room forcedar logs, spruce-pine-fir (SPF) DLT University, with Moriyama Teshimaimprovement. We have a long way toand steel beams; the First Nations Architects. It has already been recog- go to make our forestry practices moreHealth Authority in Vancouver, built nized with a Canadian Architect Awardsustainable and to enhance forest resil- with glulam beams and CLT floor and of Excellence, a World Architectureience, she says. The way we will doroof panels; and the Squamish Lilwat Festival WAFX Award and an Architizerbetter is if we, more and more, passCultural Centre in Whistler, which uses A+ Popular Choice Award. Mass timbermanagement on to the First Nations.post-andbeam glulam design with is definitely near and dear to my heart,First Nations love wood, and we reallyprefabricated cedar cladding along says Smoke.want to do it like nobody else! with carved cedar doors.34A CCIB PUBLICATIONSummer 2024'