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Case Studies

L’Espace Philippe Boucher Ice Rink

Municipalities know that the cheapest way to get the most from the ice hockey and figure skating season is to cover their outdoor ice rinks with steel roofs. But the community of Saint-Apollinaire, located just south of Quebec City, challenged their design team to create something more distinctive.

L’Espace Philippe Boucher Ice Rink / Stéphane Groleau

The result is a beautiful wood-steel hybrid canopy that seemingly floats over the ice sheet below. The structure met the community’s aesthetic goals and budget by combining hybrid wood-steel trusses with glue-laminated timber beams (glulam) and decking (GLT), and round glulam columns. The structure is composed of 11 hybrid trusses, each made with glulam top chords and a steel sub-tensioning system. The depth (or cross- section) of the wood truss chords varies along the length of the girders, based on loading requirements. The hybrid trusses span 98-feet-5-inches despite a relatively low depth, leaving a clear height under the structure of 19 feet.

Download the case study to read more about the round columns, unique V- column lines, and how the team collaborated to make this civic project a reality.

Project Details

Location: Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec

Stories: One story

Size: 23,412 square feet

Completed: 2022

Project Team

Owner: Municipalité de Saint-Apollinaire

Architect: ABCP Architecture

Structural Engineer: L2C Experts – Conseils en Structure

General Contractor: Ronam Constructions Inc.

Mass Timber Engineer & Installer: Construction les Charpentistes

Mass Timber Producer: HASSLACHER Group

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project team on the WoodWorks Innovation Network (WIN)

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