The multi-award winning Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in Wembley, Alberta has been featured as a Canadian Wood Council Case Study.

The project features cutting edge wood design. The innovative structural connections that were custom designed and fabricated for the project enabled the team to realize a unique and dramatic wood roof structure that defines an architectural style which is distinctly “Prairie”. The architecture, perfectly suited to the landscape and purpose of the building, is an intriguing form at the side of Highway 43 that beckons all passers-by to stop and visit.

The unique wooden connections, called nodes, are the structural highlight of the project. They are the result of a close collaboration between the structural engineers and fabricators. The architectural team undertook complex 3D modelling and detailing of the nodes at column intersections and worked with the fabricators to develop a system to slice the complex forms into workable, CNC-cut, 2D pieces that were laminated together to form the massive final pieces. Internal tensile steel hardware was inserted into the nodes during off-site fabrication and then attached to the columns on-site. The resulting structure is essential to the spatial expression of the Museum, and represents significant advancement in sustainable wood technology.

Read the full case study here.