Lazaridis School of Business & Economics - Wilfrid Laurier University

VanBoxmeer & Stranges Engineering Ltd.

Waterloo, Ontario 

Wilfrid Laurier University commissioned Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc to design this building and to serve as the university’s gateway. The structural consulting firm, VanBoxmeer & Stranges Engineering Ltd., designed this iconic LEED Gold building as a predominantly cast in place concrete building. Complex areas, such as the two-storey cantilevered floors over the large lecture theatre, were framed by integrating a series of cantilevered girder trusses into the architecture. Three large main floor lecture theatres demanded long, clear spans. This required an innovative hybrid structure consisting of cast-in-place concrete upper floors and columns bearing on second floor structural steel framing. The building also features a floating drum-shaped lecture theatre constructed using a series of complex transfer girders and steel trusses.

Press release
Canadian Consulting Engineer article