Why FSC Was Important to This Project
IColor and material selection for their new office was inspired by the firm’s palette of corporate colors, as well as by the desire to utilize locally produces, sustainable products and to introduce materials not normally associated with interior construction. One of the materials is wood, in its many varied forms. As a firm of designers and constructors, they love the warmth that wood provides as a building and finishing material, but don’t support the harmful side effects of main-stream forestry. They explored the alternatives available and discovered a wide variety of FSC-certified wood types accessible to them for their renovation requirements.
There are many compelling reasons why they chose to use FSC-certified wood in their office renovation. Wood is a renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic, energy efficient and recyclable product. Furthermore, with the FSC certification, they know that the wood products they chose align with the underlying philosophy of their firm and business practices – to develop sustainably and responsibly.
With the FSC chain-of-custody, there were able to track their wood products and verify that they were locally manufactured and extracted.
They used FSC certified wood for 99.7% of wood applications in the office renovation, including cladding, millwork/casework veneers, and framing. They received 1 LEED credit (MR 7) for use of at least 50% FSC certified wood in the project, and were almost eligible for an I&D credit for doubling the requirement.
The finished project is a healthy, workable place from which the firm generates creative solutions for their clients. Omicron views its studio as a sustainable design laboratory and a showcase of green building materials and technologies, and they hope to educate staff, clients and the broader building community to the merits and potential of green building – including a demonstration of how FSC wood products can be introduced in a cost effective way to replace main-stream wood products in even the most unusual and uncommon applications.
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Project Name: Omicron Head Office Tenant Improvement
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Building Type: Interior Renovation
Square Footage: 15,400
Owner: Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd.
Architect: Omicron Architecture Engineering Construction Ltd.
Use of FSC-certified Wood
Solid Douglas Fir: 100% FSC
Douglas Fir Plywood: 100% FSC
Maple Veneer: 99.5% FSC
Solid Maple: 100% FSC
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