Alliance Française

The Alliance Française Vancouver’s new facility, is a visually stunning, low carbon building that is a testament to mass timber’s ability to create a community friendly building that serves as a hub for Francophone culture in Vancouver. The elegant Francophone centre is a sleek four-storey mass timber and steel hybrid structure that showcases the beauty of exposed mass timber.

Kalesnikoff supplied the mass timber for the Alliance Française iconic new home in the Oakridge neighbourhood. This building features a mass timber superstructure built on a concrete parking podium and consists of cross-laminated timber (CLT) wall and roof panels, as well as glulam (GLT) columns and beams, offering an inviting and warm interior throughout the building. The hybrid structure was built on a tight, urban site with minimal space during the construction stages. Construction time efficiencies were realized by the specification of prefabricated CLT floor and roof panels and pre-cut and prefinished GLT beams and columns. Many of the mass timber components arrived with the structural steel elements attached, designed so that the mass timber elements could be lifted and placed directly from the delivery truck.

Natural Fire Resistance

The building design recognizes the natural fire resistance of mass timber and extra thickness has been allowed to extend the timber’s protective char layer. This project is an illustrative example of how unencapsulated and exposed timber can amplify the warm atmosphere of interior spaces. By leaving wood exposed to the interior, the design team created a natural and inviting space with daylight that is comfortable and welcoming to visitors.

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Exterior photo: Ed White Photography courtesy of Naturally Wood