Construction of the new five-story mass timber post-and-beam Terminus at District 56 has been completed in Langford, Vancouver. The Terminus is a building designed to serve people and companies through its mix of retail and commercial spaces. It has flexible floor layouts and lease space ranging from 680 square feet to 13,000 square feet. Structurlam‘s CrossLam CLT and GlulamPLUS products were used in conjunction with buckling-restrained bracing to create a warm, distinctive appearance. The five-story structure houses the first buckling-restrained bracing within a wood frame. The building site of Terminus, located on Vancouver Island, is one of the most seismically active areas in North America, necessitating a highly ductile lateral structure while allowing the wood to be exposed.
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The one-of-a-kind structure is one of two projects from Langford, B.C.-based Structurlam, Design-Build Services, and Aspect Structural Engineers. Structurlam produces mass timber, a sustainable category of building construction that includes structural laminated wood components for roofs, walls, floors, beams, and columns. The capacity to model, design, and prefabricate the structural parts of a project offsite is a fundamental economic benefit of mass wood, speeding on-site production timelines by up to 25% compared to typical on-site structures made of steel and concrete.
Commentary on the Terminus at District 56
“This structure is an excellent example of a structure that is motivated by both function and design.” The buckling-restrained braces, combined with the modern mass timber, result in a building that is high-performing without sacrificing architecture or appearance; in fact, the BRBs and wood are visually complementary, especially with the clean and modern detailing used for the mass timber connections,” said Ilana Danzig, associate principal at Aspect Structural Engineers. “The Terminus project establishes a high precedence for mass wood construction and satisfies a range of structural requirements, including fire ratings, structural performance, and seismic benchmarks, all while giving the desired appearance,” stated Structurlam CEO Hardy Wentzel.
