Challenging start
Award Winning Finish
The Audian Art Museum in Whistler, BC is a stunning showcase of British Columbia art, offering breathtaking works from the province’s First Peoples through to its contemporary masters. It was established by Vancouver home builder and philanthropist Michael Audain over four years, beginning with an agreement in 2012 to construct a 25,000-square-foot museum to house Michael and Yoshiko Audain’s BC art collection—the area doubled to 56,000 square feet later in 2013.
NOVA Drywall was responsible for the building’s interior and exterior steel stud framing, insulation, and interior and exterior drywall.
THE CHALLENGE
ORIGINAL DESIGN DEMANDING LOCATION
The building was unique because it is a 56,000-square-foot, two-storey art museum built on the Fitzsimmons Creek food plain. The building is designed to withstand a 500-year flood of Fitzsimmons Creek by being build 15 feet off the ground.
A significant amount of structural design was required to assure the performance of the exterior steel stud framing to ensure protection from not only flood and seismic events, but the extreme weather conditions that occur at a ski resort.
Hard Work
A significant amount of structural design was required
THE RESULT
BEST INTERIOR PROJECT AWARD
To achieve this, the foundation is concrete and the lower floor is suspended on five concrete piers. All of the work to the exterior and underside of the project had to be performed on scissor and boom lifts. When it rained this was not an easy task. The builder was also required to remove the fewest number of trees possible, so working between the trees and building was often a challenge.
In the end NOVA’s work on the Audain Art Museum earned the company the BC Wall and Ceiling Association’s 2016 Best Interior Project award.
Quality