Construction is Underway on the University of British Columbia’s Mass Timber Gateway Building

Construction is underway at the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) $180 million (CAD) Gateway Building, which was Designed by Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen. The six-story, 267,000 square-foot mass timber building is intended to be the “principal point of entry” to the UBC campus and seeks to balance sustainability, personal well-being, and Indigenous collaboration.

The Gateway Building will be comprised of two five-story wings connected by a central naturally lit six-story atrium, which will include a large interconnecting staircase and lounging spaces. The building’s mass timber construction is fully expressed in the interior; a decision driven by the importance of timber to the Indigenous Musqueam people on whose territory the UBC campus sits.

When completed in 2024, the Gateway building will become a center for the university’s health department. UBC’s director of planning and design Gerry McGeough said the timber interior of the Gateway has the potential to reinforce a sense of warmth and wellness, as does the importance of nature and landscape emphasized in the team’s discussion with the Musqueam people.