The project development manager was BentallGreenOak and Ventana Construction was the GC.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Triple bottom line<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I love about this project is its triple bottom line,\u201d said Dialog partner Martin Nielsen. \u201cIt\u2019s dealing with environmental, obviously, by using wood, sequestering carbon, all of those good things, avoiding the carbon associated with concrete, but it also supports the B.C. economy, with B.C.-grown wood.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, it\u2019s a beautiful workspace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hive is built with 106 Tectonus seismic damper connections as part of a perimeter braced structural system that allows the building to self-centre after an earthquake.<\/p>\n
The technology was originally developed in New Zealand in the wake of earthquakes there.<\/p>\n
Extensive testing was carried out at the University of Alberta including the use of large mockups. Glulam diagonal braces at the perimeter, paired with interior cross-laminated timber shear walls, contribute to the seismic resistance.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Vancouver\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DW-BC-dialog-hive-1web.png\")
FAST+EPP \u2014 Vancouver\u2019s The Hive was built with 106 Tectonus seismic damper connections as part of a perimeter braced structural system that allows the building to self-centre after an earthquake.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The designers received a total of $4 million in research funding from the federal and provincial governments. The assistance went towards mass timber destructive testing, constructability analysis, fire testing and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou had to actually do research that was going to drive the industry forward,\u201d explained Nielsen.<\/p>\n
The funding also supported reports to convince building inspectors the mass timber seismic scheme was effective, he added, and it also addressed insurance concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a seismic event, these joints actually move,\u201d said Nielsen. \u201cThey allow the whole building to move with the seismic event, to almost sway like a piece of grass in the wind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis building will actually take on those forces, dissipate them and return it to vertical. That\u2019s a powerful idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nielsen, with credentials as both an architect and mechanical engineer, described the collaborative process that led to the perimeter braced frame solution and the honeycomb design.<\/p>\n
He said the design team was pondering\u00a0what a building for an organic farmer \u2013 the Stephens family of Nature\u2019s Path, originally slated to occupy two floors \u2013 should look like. The designers spent eight months in schematic design wrestling with the issues.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0breakthrough\u00a0came at a design meeting with Paul Fast and Robert Jackson from\u00a0Fast+Epp\u00a0where they suggested that moving the shear resisting members to the perimeter would declutter the core and create a more efficient and flexible floorplan within the long narrow footprint.<\/p>\n
Fast began drawing diagonal braces that zigzagged vertically from the roof to the ground floor on a drawing of the south elevation.<\/p>\n
Minutes later Ryan McClanahan, an intern architect on the Dialog team, suggested flipping the orientation of one of the braces, creating a honeycomb pattern. The design would enable balconies, outdoor gardens and protection from the elements.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my god, that\u2019s our organic farmer,\u201d said Nielsen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really was a eureka kind of moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mass timber was considered early on, but it was only when UBC built an 18-storey mass timber student residence that Nature\u2019s Path fully bought in.<\/p>\n
The timber was sourced from a B.C. firm, Kalesnikoff. The Hive\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption levels have been calculated to be 80 per cent below the median for the building type, Dialog says.<\/p>\n
Other sustainability features include triple-glazed windows, which help block noise from the roadway, and a water system that has achieved salmon safe certification.<\/p>\n
Power is through electrification and the project is essentially zero carbon, Nielsen said. The design has been certified LEED Gold.<\/p>\n
Commented Nielsen, \u201cWhat I love about The Hive is that there\u2019s going to be a whole other generation of developers who are going to look at The Hive and say, \u2018Hey, can we do this,\u2019 as an inspiration for office buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 10 years of brainstorming, problem-solving and eureka moments, Vancouver\u2019s The Hive office building, the tallest mass timber…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-684169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}