UBC Okanagan Fitness Centre

This 8,800 SF Fitness Centre is located on the UBC Okanagan Campus in Kelowna, BC. The two-storey structure includes a gym and multiple exercise studios accommodating a cardio exercise area, resistance training area, various studio spaces for yoga, combat sports, spin bikes, pilates and dancing, and will eventually include an interior climbing wall. The FWC pavilion (known as “The Hangar”), is a light-filled curvaceous form attached to the north side of the existing gymnasium complex, preserving a view of the landscape down University Walk.

The structure presents an innovative use of CLT panels and glulam beams as the main structural components, resulting in the use of as much as 150,000 board feet of BC wood. An innovative grid made of intersecting CLT beams and column elements cut from CLT panels were used to create the honeycomb roof structure inspired by the timber airplane construction of yesteryears. The floor structure consists of wood-concrete composite glulam beams and decking, providing an economical, architecturally interesting and vibration resistant structure. The Fitness Centre was designed to meet LEED Gold building rating.