CASES STUDIES OF PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGN FOR MID-RISE WOOD CONSTRUCTIONS IN QUEBEC (Canada)

摘要

In Canada, wood constructions have historically been confined to low-rise buildings (up to 4-storeys) and to relatively small areas. With the adoption of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) in 2005, an objective-based code, wood-use in mid-rise buildings is now possible. Compliance with NBCC can now be achieved by using the acceptable solutions (prescriptive design) or by the use of alternative solutions (objective/performance-based design). This paper is a look at some projects built in the province of Quebec that made use of the objective-based code to include wood in new and innovative ways outside the traditional NBCC acceptable solutions. The design process of these 4 case studies revealed that the lack of precise performance criteria in an objective-based code makes it very difficult for designers and authorities having jurisdictions to compare the alternative solution to the prescriptive design.