Institutional Buildings

Modern building with people walking on a garden pathway, trees on the left, and a sleek architectural design.

Beatty BioDiversity Centre

Public Architecture + Communication with UBC Properties Trust

The Beaty Biodiversity Centre is expanding its research centre and museum space to seamlessly tie into the existing award winning building. The Research Centre will incorporate more offices, dry labs, theory labs, meeting rooms, storage for field equipment and social/flex spaces. The Museum will receive new storage facilities, wet labs and fossil repository. The six-story, 4,249-square-meter addition is designed to meet LEED Gold standards.

Modern multi-story building with large windows and a parking lot in the foreground.

Vancouver Island University Student Housing

HCMA Architecture + Design with Vancouver Island University 

The Vancouver Island University Student Housing Building will be a ten-storey mass timber building located at the VIU Nanaimo Campus. The building will house student dorms with a total of 266 beds on levels four to ten. Levels two and three consists of academic facilities including study rooms, dining hall, staff rooms, and multi-purpose room. 

This project is the first project to be processed through the newly created CP stream in the City of Nanaimo.  We worked with both the city and university to allow for a two stage building permit submission as well as expedited reviews to meet the project schedule. The building incorporates encapsulated mass timber construction on levels 4 - 10 in compliance with the BCBC and required a number of alternative solutions to address the centralized mechanical system, interconnected floor space within the podium areas and the use of exposed wood finishes in areas of the building. 

Architectural rendering of Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre with people on steps and modern building design

Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre Expansion

SHAPE Architecture with City of Surrey 

The Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre expansion with a new community centre program, including a childcare facility, and a significant enlargement of the existing building. The two-story addition will feature a mass timber roof structure and is designed to achieve passive house certification and low embodied carbon construction. 

Modern architectural building with glass and concrete facade, surrounded by trees and people walking on the sidewalk.

Little Flower Academy - New Academic Wing

Acton Ostry Architects Inc. with Westbourne Projects Limited 

The project will replace portions of the existing building with a new academic wing and multipurpose space which will be located on north side of the property. The new three-storey building will tie into the existing complex that was completed in 2007. This new wing, designed for a capacity of 480 students, includes classrooms, science labs, foods room, art room, music room, rehearsal and a multipurpose space. The project will highlight the use of mass timber construction on an alternative solution basis.

Modern circular building with vertical slats, large windows, surrounded by winter tree branches, black and white.

Arts Student Centre

Leckie Studio Architecture + Design with UBC Properties Trust 

The Arts Student Centre is a three-storey mixed-use building located at the corner of Walter Gage Road and East Mall at UBC. Designed as an efficient, multi-purpose facility, it features common public spaces for studying and socializing on the first level. Levels two and three house meeting rooms, multi-purpose rooms, and offices, all organized around a central two-story atrium. 

McAuley Consulting worked with the architect from the initial phases of design to develop the building code compliance approach and alternative solutions where required to achieve the design objectives for the building. 

Modern house in the woods surrounded by tall trees, featuring large windows and a minimalist design.

Hornby Island Arts Centre

D’Arcy Jones Architects Inc. with Hornby Island Arts Council 

The Hornby Island Arts Centre is a community-based building that will replace the existing island gallery. It will provide much needed community rooms, a flexible arts space, as will as production studio for resident artists.  The building was designed to be modest and efficient while highlighting the idyllic setting within the forest clearing.   

McAuley Consulting was able to work with the architect from the initial phases of the design to minimize code implications and achieve an efficient simple solution tailored for the building. 

Architectural rendering of tall, modern apartment buildings with glass facades, surrounded by trees and people holding umbrellas in the foreground.

Brock Commons

HCMA Architecture + Design with UBC Properties Trust 

The Brock Commons 2 is an eighteen-storey mixed-use building located at the corner of Walter Gage Road and East Mall in UBC.  Designed primarily for student housing, it features 128 units including private and up to four bed units. Levels one and two consists of academic facilities including study rooms, staff rooms, and a fitness facilities. The building is constructed to meet a LEED gold certification. 

Exterior of a modern secondary school building with students walking and cycling, and a car in the parking area.

Quw’utsun Secondary School

HCMA Architecture + Design with Urban One Builders 

Quw’utsun Secondary School is a design-build project to construct a replacement high school, an affiliated Neighbourhood Learning Centre and an Indigenous Language and Cultural Centre. The program area is approximately 12,000 m², designed for a capacity of 1,100 students and staff. The project highlights the use of mass timber construction and features collaborative learning breakout spaces and circulation areas. 

Black and white architectural rendering of an elementary school building with a modern design. Trees and shrubs are in the foreground, with bicycles parked nearby. People, including adults and children, are walking or sitting in front of the entrance.

Henry Hudson Elementary

HCMA Architecture + Design with Vancouver School Board 

Henry Hudson Elementary School is a 3-storey building including a preschool and affiliated Neighbourhood Learning Centre. The new school will include classrooms for elementary and kindergarten students, and dedicated spaces for the Neighbourhood Learning Centre.  On the third level a city operated childcare facility is designed for a capacity of 100 children and includes associated multipurpose rooms and outdoor play areas. The project is designed to meet LEED Gold standards. 

Modern curved building with large windows, set against a winter landscape with snow on the ground and a partly cloudy sky.

Wii Gyemsiga Siwilaawksat Student Housing

HCMA Architecture + Design with IDL Projects 

Coast Mountain College student housing is a 3-storey student residence building sits on the traditional territory of the Kitsumkalum people in Terrace, BC. Because of the remote location, the building consists of prefabricated construction for the east and west wings, connected to a site-built core circulation and building amenity space.  The project was constructed to meet British Columbia Energy Step Code 4, ensuring high energy efficiency and sustainability. 

Modern fire station building with fire trucks parked in front, featuring large windows and a slanted roof.

Cowichan Bay Volunteer Firehall

HCMA Architecture + Design  

Cowichan Bay Firehall is a new two-storey building to replace the existing building on the same site. The building includes eight apparatus bays and firefighter support spaces, as well as a fitness room, and meeting rooms available to the local community. 

Black and white photo of a modern industrial building with large glass windows, surrounded by paved walkways, trees, and a bench. A multi-story parking structure is adjacent, and signs mark street directions.

Food & Beverage Innovation Centre

UBC Properties Trust with Human Studio | Architecture + Urban Design 

The Food & Beverage Innovation Centre (FBIC) is a two-storey facility located at Hospital Lane, UBC. The 8,100 square-foot building includes food processing labs equipped with coolers, freezers, and fermentation rooms, along with office suites. The facility was located on a narrow property between an existing parkade and road where detailed spatial separation calculations and alternative solutions were required in order to justify the proposed combustible exterior wall construction.