Canada’s Earth Tower
Delta Land Development approached us to reimagine what a building can do to make a positive impact on human health and the planet. With a sky-is-the-limit mindset, we developed a design concept that could “revolutionize the industry” and advance green building in an unprecedented way.
Using a mass timber hybrid technique, we designed a concept for a 40-storey mixed-use tower that—if built—would be the tallest of its kind in the world. With the intention to meet third party best-in-class standards, the concept employs Passive House principles and targets zero-emissions, refraining from consuming fossil fuels in its operation. Designed to improve livability in tall urban buildings, we integrated generous social spaces and gardens that offer an immediate connection to nature.
Although there are no current plans to build, we explored this concept further through studies on balconies in mid- to high-rise mass timber buildings. Constructing a two-storey mock-up, we were able to test and analyze solutions that would overcome barriers to using timber as a competitive structural system.
By using BC wood from sustainably managed forests as its primary structure, the development could advance the industry by altering market perceptions, providing choice, and putting the performance and environmental implications of construction at the forefront. We incorporated locally manufactured mass timber into the design and a hybrid technique that would use reinforced concrete elevator cores to provide lateral stability to the structure, while engineered wood columns and composite floors would comprise the structure of the occupied spaces. Together, this concept helps set a new benchmark for sustainable building performance and wood construction.
Balconies pose significant challenges that are amplified in mass timber construction. The requirements to connect balconies to the structure and related building enclosures are relatively new and evolving. As part of our studies for Canada’s Earth Tower, we built a two-storey balcony structure to analyze, document, and better understand its performance in a real-world setting—testing and analyzing solutions to structure, durability, and constructability. Our studies included thermally broken structural connection detailing, off-site timber prefabrication, and weather protection.
Bruce Langereis, President, Delta Land Development
We believe that living closely together in cities demands considered design to encourage positive social interaction, and we developed a tower concept that delivers a superior indoor environment for its office and residential inhabitants. By integrating three-storey south facing winter gardens, inhabitants would be given interconnected social spaces that offer an immediate connection with nature. A rooftop terrace—complete with a greenhouse—offers an unprecedented 360 view of the surrounding landscape.
