WOOD DESIGN BY REBECCA MELNYK
A NEW HOME FOR FIRST RESPONDERS IN DELTA, B.C.
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Boundary Bay Fire Hall brings innovative wood design to growing industrial area.
Delta, B.C. is a wide-open landscape of quiet neighbourhoods and sprawling farms and migrating birds that gather near the coast of Boundary Bay. A network of three communities, combined with a population of about 100,000 people, the city is also home to one of the largest, developing industrial lands in the Greater Vancouver Area.
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ith this g r o w i n g market near an airport and two provincial highways, a small, aging fire hall couldn’t keep up with the community’s emergency response needs. Also lacking was a proper emergency operations centre (EOC). During an event, such as a flood, rooms in city hall were cleared into makeshift workspace for 30 to 40 people overseeing different functions. “When you’re dealing with disasters and emergencies, tensions are running high,” says Michel Latendresse, Delta deputy fire chief.
“That doesn’t serve a one-room model where phones are ringing and people are trying to have private conversations.” In 2019, the Boundary Bay Fire Hall was unveiled. Led by west coast firm Johnston Davidson Architecture, the facility blends wood design with human-centric, functional spaces. It brings together a multi-purpose satellite fire station, a live-fire training building, and a municipal EOC that flips into a corporate training facility, depending on the needs of the day. When not being used for emergency purposes, city staff reserve the rooms through a centralized booking system for training or meetings.
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DISASTER READY
For Kimberley Johnston, principal at Johnston Davidson Architecture, function transcends into the structural elements, from controlling storm water run-off on a former greenfield site to choosing wood (80 per cent above grade) as a primary building material. Using plywood sheeting and woodto-wood connections, the resilience of the design permits the facility to remain operational during a catastrophic event. More than aesthetic, large Glulam beams and post-disaster wood frames are visible in the structure throughout the interior millwork. Since the facility had to comply with post-disaster standards, withstanding 1.5 times the seismic forces of a regular building, the soil presented a challenge. “Because of the liquefied soil on site, we had to create a really interesting raft slab foundation,” says Johnston. “If there was an earthquake and the soil liquified, the whole building would move. The thick slab allows for subtle movements found in seismic conditions, but it is also revealed on the main floor as a final finish throughout.” Through her experience with wood design—more than 50 fire halls across Canada—Johnston found that integrating similar materials makes for good seismic conditions. “Wood walls with wood roofs is a good combination; the building moves at the same rate during an earthquake,” she notes. “The tricky part is the way it’s put together; unlike your average house framing, post-disaster framing is much more intense. Getting people around that mind-set is always a challenge.” Outside its durable qualities, Johnston says she really wants occupants to “feel the wood” because of its great health benefits. Research has long shown that
