800 Yates Skylight

On the corner of Blanshard and Yates Street in the heart of Victoria’s central business district sits the seven-storey Atrium Building, with Class AA office and retail spaces for high-end tenants. The structure showcases forward-thinking architecture, a focus on green building practices and cutting-edge systems, as well as dynamic public spaces such as its large central atrium.

To make the most of natural light for a pleasant working atmosphere, the atrium features an extensive glass skylight, supported by a series of twelve 18m-long custom lenticular-shaped timber roof trusses (known as SpaceLam).

Fast + Epp worked with the architect and design builder StructureCraft to create a transparent design for these trusses, in an effort to create a unique aesthetic and also maintain a feeling of visual “lightness” as users look skyward.

Wood was chosen for the skylight to advance the building’s environmentally-conscious design; timber is a local and rapidly-renewable material with low embodied energy and carbon-sequestering capabilities.