Steam Canoe

Toronto, Canada

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Steam Canoe

Toronto, Canada

Firm

OCAD UNIVERSITY

Type

Cultural › Pavilion

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2016

Inspired by the canoe; The vessel that symbolizes the rich history of the indigenous first nations and early exploration of North America, the shelter was built to cut through the harsh wind of the cold winter. Historically a boat has always created an interior space when turned upside down. Solar Hydronic components were installed within the Winter Station project at the Toronto beach, initiating the underlying theme of freeze-thaw. Evacuated solar tubes were heating a tank at the rear of the volume, melting snow and generating warm water, creating a fog halo that emerged from within the upside down boat structure.
The Steam Canoe structure was achieved with a combination of computer assisted parametric geometry, manual cutting of the computer generated forms and innovative experimental production by using a traditional process of rolling the Press Laminated Timber Panels that make up the pavilion. The process of sandwiching two layers of 1/8 “Oak and one layer of 3/4" Spruce was made possible by the mechanical fastening of two Grip Metal™ layers, a type of metal Velcro™ developed by Nucap Technologies. A thin continuous steel sheet with grip hooks on both faces of the sheet is pressed into the veneer and core lumber in this press rolling method. Different radii are made possible by adjusting the feeding angle of the assembled panels carefully into the roll press. The results are strong, lightweight panels allowing an assembly into a pavilion without need for substructure, the external skin is the structure. The panels are assembled without the use of any glue. Even though they have a stronger bond than traditional chemical adhesive methods, the components can be separated at the end of their lifetime into pure material origins of wood and metal, making this a perfect innovation in material, process, application, product and sustainability.

Products Used:
Canadian Lumber SPF / Oak Veneer and Grip Metal TM

Collaborating Firms:
OCAD University
Nucap Industries
TYYZ Architecture and Design

Team:
Curtis Ho, Jaewon Kim, Jungyun Lee, Monifa Onca Charles, Reila Park, Hamid Shahi, Lambert St-Cyr, Jason Wong

+ Mark Tholen, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Design, OCAD University