Latest updates on new Fast + Epp home office build

February 9, 2021

Fast + Epp is making headway on the construction of its new home office in Vancouver.

The glazing is nearly complete  – featuring electrochromic glass, the building’s glazing technology enables automatic tinting of windows based on roof-mounted weather sensors, substantially reducing cooling loads during warm summer periods. Each windowpane also can be manually controlled via a -smartphone, and video imagery can be displayed on the inside face of the glass without obscuring the view from outside.

The superstructure installation was completed in this past summer, erected over a period of only four weeks. A single mobile crane and a crew of five carpenters were mobilized to install the mass timber structure on a site that had virtually no lay-down space and limited access, at a busy city intersection.

Many building elements were prefabricated to facilitate quick installation: The Tectonus elements were embedded in the CLT shear walls, moisture barriers and insulation were preinstalled on all CLT exterior walls, and service penetrations through glulam beams were CNC-cut in the shop. Additionally, a 3D clash detection model, including all structural and glazing components, was built in Rhino3D to reduce potential site conflicts and facilitate the high level of prefabrication.

To simplify construction and reduce costs, an aggressive approach to moisture management was adopted by preapplying a temporary moisture membrane to the roof panels only, with the understanding that the structure would only be exposed to rainy weather for a few short days during sunny summer weather. Some additional sanding and finishing will be required; however, this is often the case for exposed timber buildings.

Stay tuned for more construction updates! For more on the new Fast + Epp home office, click here.