Waterloo, ontario: nrc pavilion

Preliminary Pavilion Build, at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture Campus, Cambridge, ON

October 3, 2018 - The first day of on-site construction and assembly of the NRC, pavilion took off under the supervision of architect Reuben Grin and with the help of various members of SGConstruction and University of Waterloo students Shabaan Khokhar (MA) and Tobias Feltham (BAS). Despite a rainy week, the weather stayed dry as we put the first two floats in the water. We were able to get the second floats in not too long after, and by the end of the day the floor-components of the pavilion were mounted.

October 5, 2018 - On day two of the NRC pavilion construction, we mounted and assembled the entire roof structure. It was a day of heavy lifting, and a bit of confusion about the assembly process, but the roof was fully constructed by an early end of the day for the holiday weekend. The on-site construction is almost complete!

October 11, 2018 - After three days of on-site construction, we are pleased to say that the NRC buoyant pavilion is ready to take on the winter and the coming freeze! The railings and the cross-bracing, shown below, were the final components to attach. We find the pavilion to be an attractive structure to experience, and it has been quite a unique experience for all involved to build! It was hard work to finish, between the financing and the construction, but it was all worth it.

The next step is to outfit the pavilion with the necessary sensor equipment to monitor the behaviour of the pavilion’s buoyancy elements as the winter freeze comes and goes. Stay tuned for that news, and look through the project gallery to see photos documenting the build process!

Construction of NRC Pavilion is Completed at the University of Waterloo, Main Campus Waterloo, ON

NRC Pavilion Completed and Floating

Pavilion in the Winter

Pavilion in the Spring

Building a Flood Resilient Housing for Canada

Through a National Research Council of Canada funded project, the Buoyant Foundation Project is completing preliminary prototyping and testing to develop flood-resilient housing for Canada. The project is being carried out in three phases.

Phase one involves the design, construction and installation of a floating research pavilion on a  storm water  retention pond at the University of Waterloo to monitor and evaluate the performance of various buoyant materials under freeze-thaw cycles.

Phase two involves the design and construction of a retrofit prototype.

Phase three involves the drafting of design guidelines for amphibious retrofit construction in Canada as a preliminary step toward having amphibious retrofit construction included in the national building code.

In the face of climate change, the NRC pavilion is a valuable endeavour to study effective means of flood-resiliency for vulnerable First Nation communities. Buoyant foundation retrofits have the potential to empower communities to avoid displacement by reducing recovery time and costs.