Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/109465
The new headquarters is actually three separate but related structures. Building A, the operations centre, is by far the largest at seven storeys above grade on a 100,000-square-foot floor plate. Building B is a post-disaster emergency operations centre, designed to withstand an earthquake and function as a stand-alone crisis centre for 72 hours without any outside utilities. Building C is a warehouse facility with workshops, garage and exhibit storage. Provision has been made for the optional future construction of a fourth building, which could house a forensics laboratory. ���The idea was to create a campus in a forest setting,��� says Michael McDonald, director of design and principal at Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. ���But we saw very quickly that the scale of the main building was so large that to fit it into the site was going to take careful choreography so that it would not only fit the site but the floor plates would be livable. Each of the different organizations within the 2,700 occupants would feel at home within the greater home.��� The other key consideration was the array of heritage trees at the front of the property that needed to be preserved as part of the architectural context. ���We set the main building, which breaks down into east, west and centre segments, on to a plinth of trees,��� McDonald continues. ���The first two floors have a masonry skin with reference to the tree trunks. We worked with the mason to develop an angled brick that could be placed to create the angled lines of the tree trunks. Then we have the three large forms that fold into each other, accentuated by a white frame. The north-south tree axis also goes RCMP E Division Headquarters p46-51RCMP.indd 49 out behind the entrance and forms a pedestrian link to the campus of buildings beyond that are not seen from the street.��� The heritage trees and mature cedars were a high priority for David Rose, principal at PD Group Landscape Architecture Ltd., but so were a large water feature near the main entrance and the need to accommodate parking for 1,800 vehicles. The water feature, a 2,400-cubic-metre pond, serves several roles. ���It collects all the stormwater from the site, with an irrigation function for the green roofs and the lawn in the rear courtyard,��� says Rose. ���It also provides a barrier to deter unwanted access. All the security measures on the front of the building have a deterrent value, but they���re also decorative in nature.��� His biggest challenge was ���dealing with the surface parking. It���s a huge area. It���s hard to make it look pleasant when you���re limited in terms of the soft landscaping you can get in, while maintaining view corridors for the CCTV cameras.��� David Woo, the engineer of record on this job for Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers, faced myriad challenges as well, because each component building called for a different structural design. ���The main office building is mostly reinforced concrete; we had to provide long spans that pushed the capability of reinforced concrete, and the floor loading is heavy in some areas because of filing,��� says Woo. ���The post-disaster building used a combination of structural steel and reinforced concrete; there we used post-tensioning cables in a selfcentering system whereby the building straightens itself out after an earthquake. Building C, the exhibit building, is a concrete tilt-up structure; they cast the walls on the ground and then tilt them upright.��� The electrical consultant, Stantec images: Kasian Architecture Interior Design / courtesy the government of canada february 2013��� ��� /49 13-01-22 3:24 PM