CNL SITE ENTRANCE BUILDING

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is Canada’s national nuclear science and technology organization. Known for its rich history as a research leader, the organization’s 3,700 ha Chalk River campus encompasses more than 300 buildings in a picturesque setting along the Ottawa River. As many of the facilities date to the campus’s inception in the 1940s, dozens of its buildings are slated for demolition in the coming decade.

This long-term perspective has led CNL to adopt a carbon-literate outlook for the gradual replacement of its aging facilities. By committing to building three major new buildings in mass timber, CNL has repositioned itself as a leader in both energy research and sustainable building practices.

The three new mass timber buildings – the Main Gatehouse and Logistics Warehouse, Support Facility, and forthcoming Science Collaboration Centre – were conceived in parallel by a single, cohesive Integrated Project Delivery team. Though programmatically diverse, the three buildings share a progressive, incremental approach to sustainable campus-building and show a strong commitment to the use of mass timber. In addition to their carbon-sequestering structures, all three of the buildings are designed to meet FSTII requirements for net-zero carbon-ready facilities.

The 5,060-sq.m mass timber Main Gatehouse and Logistics Warehouse includes site security functions, shipping and receiving, offices, and a conference center. The building plays a key support role for CNL by providing procurement, warehousing, and logistics services across the entire Chalk River site.

In addition to its infrastructural role, the building acts as a gateway to the larger campus. Since it occupies a site close to the adjacent Chalk River community, the Logistics Warehouse presents a public face for the organization, its western elevation greeting visitors with an elegant, minimal glass-and-terracotta skin. A bespoke system of brise-soleil and a custom gradient frit help to define the building’s various functions while highlighting the glulam and CLT structure.
While the wood-filled entry lobby and conference center are a key focal point of the project, the building’s mass timber warehouse plays an equally important role by providing a practical demonstration of wood’s ability to support a complex system of industrial requirements. By proving wood’s worth in both a technical and an aesthetic capacity, the Logistics Warehouse makes a compelling first step in CNL’s ongoing process of campus regeneration.