2150 Keith Drive is an innovative 10-storey mass timber building targeting high-performance environmental standards and will regenerate an emerging industrial neighbourhood. A cellular exoskeleton gives the building its striking appearance and provides a direct expression of its unique braced frame structural system. It will be the tallest braced frame mass timber project in North America. Features include office space, flexible meeting areas, wellness and social spaces, and a rooftop deck.
- Location
- Vancouver, BC
- Size
- 167,492 sq ft
- Client
- BentallGreenOak
- Completion
- 2025
- Sustainability Targeting LEED® Gold certification
- DIALOG Services
- Collaborators
AME Consulting Group
AES Engineering
Bentall Green Oak
EXP
Fast + Epp
GHL Consultants
Ventana Construction
Architecture
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Sustainability + Building Performance Consulting
The building will feature a nine-storey mass timber structure. Glulam beams, columns, and braces with cross-laminated timber (CLT) walls and floor panels, are all used in the design.
The building sits on a major crossroads and the entrance to the False Creek Flats. It will welcome people to this newly revitalized neighbourhood.
Occupants will enjoy the building’s large windows, as well as balconies with gardens, and plenty of exposed mass timber. The result is a light, warm, inviting space on each floor.
A perimeter timber braced frame structural system is traced by a series of balconies as architecture and structure combine to create a striking façade. This has led to the building being known as “The Hive”.
The building combines the best of contemporary office design with mass timber. That means large floor plates, generous column spacing, and tall floor to floor heights.
The building is designed for flexibility and could be occupied by a sole company as a headquarters or divided for multiple tenants. Distribution of services such as mechanical, electrical and communications, and lighting have been designed to accommodate both scenarios.
The major elements of the building are all prefabricated. The mass timber structure, building enclosure, and hybrid steel and cross laminated timber (CLT) balconies are all constructed off-site and lifted into place and installed.
Keith Drive’s open, airy main lobby provides a glimpse of what employees and visitors will find in the office spaces. Natural materials are used throughout the building.
Building occupants will have amazing views to the west, south, and east. The team made sure to respect the symbolic importance of the East Van Cross when laying out the site.
Setbacks, right-of-ways, and a 12 metre elevation gain determine the shape and location of the building on site. The landscaping ties in to a major east-west ecological corridor.
In 2022, the building began construction with the first prefabricated mass timber structure beginning on site in Spring 2024. Construction is currently underway.
The Team
Martin Nielsen, DIALOG Principal-in-ChargeMass timber is comparable to conventional steel and concrete construction in terms of function, layout and constructability, but is more sustainable and creates a beautiful workplace.
The wood structure of Keith Drive rises between the trees of east Vancouver.
Through collaboration with Fast+Epp structural engineers, a seismically resilient mass timber structure was designed: perimeter timber braced frames are paired with nine-storey tall cross laminated timber (CLT) shear walls. A major project milestone, the first CLT shear walls installed on site were 3 stories tall, 5.5 metres wide and 12 metres tall.
Construction progress as of June 2024.
The building has been contributing valuable information to the design community for future tall wood projects through technical studies, conference presentations, and publications. The project was featured in the Centre for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat exhibition “REFRAMED: The Future of Cities in Wood” at the Chicago Architecture Centre in 2023.
