Steam Canoe

Steam Canoe
© Mark Tholen

STEAM CANOE

OCADU

ARCHITECTS
OCADU

PHOTOGRAPHS
Mark Tholen, Khristel Stecher, Curtis Ho, Shengjie Qiu

MANUFACTURERS
GRIP Metal, North American Oak, North American Solar Solutions, Spruce Pine Fir

OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Jaewon Kim, Jungyun Lee, Monifa Onca Charles, Reila Park, Hamid Shahi, Lambert St-Cyr, Jason Wong, Sanjana Chokshi, Aruvi Rajasingham, Supreetha Guntur, Rachel Sau, Nancy Le, Olayide Madamidola, Alejandro Rebollar Heres, Albert Bachli

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Curtis Ho, Mark Tholen

AREA
300 ft²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Toronto, Canada

CATEGORY
Installations & Structures, Small Scale

Text description provided by architect.

OCAD’s Steam Canoe was inspired by the canoe; The vessel that symbolizes the rich history of the indigenous first nations and early exploration of North America.

Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher
Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher

The shoreline shelter was built to cut through the harsh wind of the cold winter shoreline, reflecting the interior space created by overturned water vessels.

Solar hydronic components were installed within the structure, reflecting the underlying theme of freeze-thaw. Evacuated solar tubes heated a capture pan at the rear of the interior, melting snow and generating warm water, creating a fog halo that emerged from within the structure.

Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher

The Steam Canoe structure was achieved with a combination of computer assisted parametric geometry, manual cutting of the computer generated forms and innovative experimental production combining the traditional process of rolling Press Laminated Timber Panels with a new mechanical fastening technology called GRIP Metal, a type of “metal velcro,” applied in the form of continuous thin-gauge sheet metal layers, with grip hooks on both faces of the sheet.

Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher

GRIP Metal simplified the process of sandwiching two layers of 1/8 “Oak and one layer of 3/4" Spruce, eliminating the adhesives typically used for laminate panels.

This continuous steel sheet is pressed into the veneer and core lumber in this simple press rolling method. The results are strong and lightweight panels allowing an assembly into a pavilion without need for substructure, the external skin is the structure.

Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher
Steam Canoe
© Khristel Stecher

Different radii are made possible by adjusting the feeding angle of the assembled panels carefully into the roll press.

The panels have a stronger bond than traditional chemical adhesive methods; the components can be separated at the end of their lifetime into pure material origins of wood and metal, making this a perfect innovation in material, process, application, product and sustainability.

Steam Canoe
© Shengjie Qiu


Winter Stations 2016, OCADU Steam Canoe in collaboration with Nucap Industries / Grip Metal


Steam Canoe
© Mark Tholen
Steam Canoe
© Curtis Ho
Steam Canoe
© Curtis Ho


Steam Canoe
Building Detail and Elevations
Steam Canoe
Canoe Parts Diagram
Steam Canoe
Timber Panels Diagram
Steam Canoe
Timber Panel Detail