The use of architecturally expressed mass timber is not only exotic in China, it is considered a coup by the contest's judges, who were impressed with the building team's ability to work with the owner and the strict Chinese authority to dispel concerns about combustibility, durability and more.
StructureCraft devised a method to work on two continents to produce the 28,000-sq-ft visitors center's free-form, curved-wood plate-and-cable structure. All design work and prefabrication of the complex components—into a kit of parts for assembly by Chinese workers in Qingdao—took place in Canada. There, 93 glue-laminated wood columns of varying length were individually tapered, milled and fitted with custom universal connectors.