TELUS Spark, The New Science Centre

Project Description

Exposed steel was a natural for the TELUS Spark, the New Calgary Science Centre. Since the building is a centre for learning, it made sense that visitors would be able to see the building’s structural components. Steel was also the ideal material for the centre’s large open main atrium for architectural reasons: the large spanning trusses provide a clear space with no interfering columns.

The atrium is capped with five trusses intersecting at varying angles, and ranging up to 200 feet in length. Shipping pieces this long with web members welded to chords would have been nearly impossible and field fabrication was not efficient. Triangle Steel came up with a bolted web-to-chord solution that was efficient, while providing significant cost savings.

Bolted connections were used throughout, says Larry Dunsmore, Project Superintendent with CANA Construction. “That provided a huge time advantage.” CANA also saved considerable time by doing its own concrete work through CANA Own Forces services.

The complex geometry of the facility’s Dome Theatre presented its own challenges. It features a roof slanting in two directions and a wall line sloping in two directions, all tying into a half-moon shaped concrete wall. The effect resembles a cube resting on one of its bottom corners. The structure is comprised of 2,057 individual pieces, no two alike, and had to be erected in a very small footprint. CANA used Building Information Modeling (BIM) 3D software to ensure that the steel components did not interfere with the mechanical, electrical and acoustical systems in the theatre and that the screen – which was installed last – would fit.

“We did a lot of going back and forth with the screen company,” Dunsmore says. “The catwalks for accessing the acoustical and other systems are a very complex part of the building, and we had to make sure that they were not in the way of the screen. In the end the screen fit perfectly. I think we came within just 50 millimetres of the screen with one of the catwalks.”

Given the project’s proximity to Nose Creek, environmental concerns were paramount, Dunsmore says. “We had to write an extensive ECO plan and maintain it throughout the project.

“We had to think outside the box on this. We dug temporary holding ponds and used rainwater and recycled water for dust control and temporary toilets. We never dropped a teaspoon of water into Nose Creek. We’re very proud of that. We pretty well recycled everything on the property.”

The project is pending LEED Gold Certification for its environmental performance.