The Centre for Youth Excellence in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, has an intriguing design. Its main feature is a Kalzip copper colored curved roof that arches its way down the wall to the busy street below. Built in 2011 and operated by Youth for Christ, the 53,000-square-foot facility offers recreational and support activities for all teenagers, many of whom are disadvantaged. Youth for Christ is a Christian youth social-service organization operating in Winnipeg for more than 60 years.
The Centre provides an indoor skateboard park, a fitness center, a year-round camping program, a counseling center, a pre-employment program, an indoor and outdoor rock climbing facility, floor hockey, volleyball, basketball, football, soccer, and performing arts studios.
Kalzip was chosen for this challenging architectural concept because of its ability to accurately bring into reality the complex design of a metal roof with multiple curves that continue downward to form the building’s façade. Design architect for the project was Raymond S. C. Wan Architects, general contractor was Concord Projects, and the metal installer was Flynn Canada Ltd. All are located in Winnipeg.
From a logistics standpoint, the Installers had to work in an extremely tight area with limited access since the site is a busy intersection with sidewalks on two sides of the building, adjacent parking lots and a narrow roadway onanother side.
These were secondary, however, to ensuring the accuracy, technical competence and tight curvatures necessary to carry out the design.
Tyler Tomlinson, metal products manager, for Flynn Canada Ltd. notes: “During the installation we had to block off the busy intersection while we hoisted the 90-foot-long Kalzip sheets by crane from the street up to the roof. But meeting the tight five-foot radiuses in certain spots was our most important challenge. We used two different gauges of Kalzip material to allow us to make these radiuses. The curves start at the roof and go down the wall away from the building about 12-to-15 feet with another elbow turning into the wall. We also had to get a good seal on the end of the wall while allowing for expansion and contraction. The flexibility of the material and Kalzip’s technical expertise also played a role in achieving this.”
The building features Kalzip 65/400 in 1.0 mm and 1.2 mm. The roof size is 12,000 square feet and the façade is 10,000 square feet. The project used 230 squares of flat and 38 squares of curved Kalzip material in a copper penny color with a PVDF 3-coat finish. All the sheets were roll formed onsite.