Natural Inspiration
by Jonathan McGaha | 29 November 2012 12:00 am
Inspired by the images of orchids made by German photographer Karl Blossfeldt, the designers of the
VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, created a roof whose organic, undulating shape fits perfectly with the natural environment.
The inspiration extended to the judges, who marveled at the design. Harley Grusko, IA-AAA, LEED BD+C, was the lead project designer and a designer at Perkins+Will Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia. His team used CADD software to create the petal-like roof system. “In many ways the building has a very ‘raw’ aesthetic,” he says. “This is largely due to an unusual synthesis of being modern and natural at the same time, which was done quite intentionally. We selected most materials with as little finish as possible in order to express the material as close as possible to its raw, natural state. In the specific case of the aluminum, its natural sheen works exceptional well to highlight the roof edge as well as tolerant enough to accept the curving profile.”
The structure of the roof is wood and covered with Alucobond naturAL Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) from 3A Composites USA Inc., Statesville, N.C. The total size of the roof is more than 12,000 square feet and includes multiple petals that radiate out from a central skylight. “The undulation of the roof was crafted to be bold yet elegant in scale and proportion so as to feel appropriate given the activity it covers below,” says Grusko. “We had minimum and maximum elevations to respect, as well as limitations in radii imposed by the Glulam wood structure. We designed various valleys to occur at roof edges or at supports to aid in capturing or diverting rainwater and mounds to highlight the entries and induce stack effect.”
The design was incredibly complicated and Grusko employed several 3-D digital tools to produce all the design work and documentation.
Keith Panel Systems, Vancouver, fabricated and installed the ACM panels, using a custom 
attachment system. “Our challenge,” says Doug Dalzell, general manager, “was not to make art out of metal, but to cover [the building] with metal and maintain its shape. … The material had to go up and down and sideways at the same time to achieve the undulating roof lines. There are both positive and negative curves in this design.”
At one point, the roof dives down into wall form and terminates at the ground. The effect of this is to connect the roof and building to the landscape. “We imagined a roof that would feel as an extension of the surrounding gardens,” says Grusko. “When we imaged a building as a landscape, we started to break the barriers of traditional construction, intentionally blurring what is roof and what are walls.”
The effect is a visitor centre that is on target to achieve the stated goal of increasing traffic at the world-renowned gardens.
VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Compled: October 2011
Total square footage: 19,000 square feet
Building owner: Board of Parks and Recreation, Vancouver
Architect: Perkins+Will Canada, Vancouver, www.perkinswill.com
General contractor: Ledcor Group of Companies, Vancouver, www.ledcor.com
Metal roof fabricator/installer: Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd., Vancouver, www.keithpanel.com
Metal roof panels: 3A Composites USA Inc., Statesville, N.C., www.alucobondusa.com
Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/natural-inspiration/