Fast + Epp’s four-storey home office building serves as a ‘living laboratory’ with new ideas and technologies being tested both during construction and throughout the life of the building. Hybrid mass timber and steel were used as the structure’s fundamental building blocks to demonstrate material efficiency and sustainable construction.
Located on the ground floor and half of the second floor, Concept Lab is Fast + Epp’s R&D space focused on advancing structural design. The space includes a full shop to fabricate models, prototypes, and mock-ups, a 100,000lb loading frame for structural testing, and digital suites to develop design visualizations, software, and design tools.
Tobias Fast is an Associate at Fast + Epp and will be leading the site tour of their living laboratory, “Concept Lab: on October 12th, 2022. This Tour is part of Building Transformations’ Industry Summit on Timber: Timber in the Digital Environment: Spotlight on DFMA.
We spoke with Tobias to get a preview of what’s to come in the world of timber fabrication:
Building Transformations (BT): Why do you think Timber is such an important topic today?
Tobias Fast (TF): Timber is the current darling of the AEC community as we consider more carefully the materials with which we build our buildings. Within all the fanfare it's important to paint an accurate picture of the materials strengths and weaknesses to better understand where it's best suited. We've done this for concrete and steel which have been used in large-scale buildings for decades, timber at this scale is new and so the time for this conversation is now.
BT: Can you speak to one of your proudest achievements that came from Fast + Epp's Concept Lab?
TF: Getting our first paid commission! This is a venture into the unknown for us as a company, and having clients see the value is very rewarding (and relieving).
BT: How do new digitalization tools transform the philosophy around design and fabrication within the Concept Lab?
TF: The Concept Lab is about exploring new concepts in construction and one of the biggest opportunities in the built environment is the use of digital tools to do better analysis, design, and fabrication. To this end the space features a 3D printer, a 6-axis robot, VR and computational design software to test out how these tools can be used to improve our industry.
BT: What is one of the most exciting Timber projects in North America under construction? Why?
TF: 2105 Keith Drive (in partnership with Bentall GreenOak and Dialog Architecture) is currently in the ground in East Vancouver. This will be a gem of a building with mass timber gravity and lateral systems over 11 storeys. Flat soffit long-span floorplates, mass timber lateral system with resilient energy dissipating seismic dampers - very exciting!
BT: Digital tools have catalyzed the construction industry in countless ways; what do you think is next for Timber in the Digital environment?
TF: Automation of manual design tasks, artificial intelligence in the quality control process at lumber mills, robotic assembly lines in pre-fabricated housing... lots of fun to be had!
Tobias is an intelligent engineer with a strong international resume, having worked at the New York office of SOM and in London with Expedition Engineering. He also spent time living in Germany and working at Fast + Epp’s Frankfurt office. Through his work in four different countries, he has gained experience through a wide range of projects, including skyscrapers in Manhattan, tension structures at the London Zoo, and prefabricated egg-shaped timber cabins destined for the BC wilderness.
Fast + Epp’s four-storey home office building serves as a ‘living laboratory’ with new ideas and technologies being tested both during construction and throughout the life of the building. Hybrid mass timber and steel were used as the structure’s fundamental building blocks to demonstrate material efficiency and sustainable construction.
Located on the ground floor and half of the second floor, Concept Lab is Fast + Epp’s R&D space focused on advancing structural design. The space includes a full shop to fabricate models, prototypes, and mock-ups, a 100,000lb loading frame for structural testing, and digital suites to develop design visualizations, software, and design tools.
Tobias Fast is an Associate at Fast + Epp and will be leading the site tour of their living laboratory, “Concept Lab: on October 12th, 2022. This Tour is part of Building Transformations’ Industry Summit on Timber: Timber in the Digital Environment: Spotlight on DFMA.
We spoke with Tobias to get a preview of what’s to come in the world of timber fabrication:
Building Transformations (BT): Why do you think Timber is such an important topic today?
Tobias Fast (TF): Timber is the current darling of the AEC community as we consider more carefully the materials with which we build our buildings. Within all the fanfare it's important to paint an accurate picture of the materials strengths and weaknesses to better understand where it's best suited. We've done this for concrete and steel which have been used in large-scale buildings for decades, timber at this scale is new and so the time for this conversation is now.
BT: Can you speak to one of your proudest achievements that came from Fast + Epp's Concept Lab?
TF: Getting our first paid commission! This is a venture into the unknown for us as a company, and having clients see the value is very rewarding (and relieving).
BT: How do new digitalization tools transform the philosophy around design and fabrication within the Concept Lab?
TF: The Concept Lab is about exploring new concepts in construction and one of the biggest opportunities in the built environment is the use of digital tools to do better analysis, design, and fabrication. To this end the space features a 3D printer, a 6-axis robot, VR and computational design software to test out how these tools can be used to improve our industry.
BT: What is one of the most exciting Timber projects in North America under construction? Why?
TF: 2105 Keith Drive (in partnership with Bentall GreenOak and Dialog Architecture) is currently in the ground in East Vancouver. This will be a gem of a building with mass timber gravity and lateral systems over 11 storeys. Flat soffit long-span floorplates, mass timber lateral system with resilient energy dissipating seismic dampers - very exciting!
BT: Digital tools have catalyzed the construction industry in countless ways; what do you think is next for Timber in the Digital environment?
TF: Automation of manual design tasks, artificial intelligence in the quality control process at lumber mills, robotic assembly lines in pre-fabricated housing... lots of fun to be had!
