Urban Life

Additional Info

Award Winner : Phoenix Modular Elevator

Architectural Excellence : The Urban Life modular elevator is a unique project. The building owner required an elevator that allowed access to 2nd floor offices, while showcasing spas in the showroom below and meeting accessibility codes. The result was a glass elevator placed in the middle of a new building structure.
The exterior is glass on two sides and wooden panels on the other two. The elevator car has side walls of glass, reclaimed wood and painted steel trim. The remaining walls and fixtures are stainless steel. The hoistway height including pit is 28’ - 6”, a width of 7’ - 6” and depth of 8’ - 2”. The car interior is 5’- 8” X 4’ - 3”. It was designed to be self-supporting and able to withstand a Manitoba winter while the rest of the building was constructed around it.
The elevator was central to the owner’s vision. By accommodating the 2nd story businesses and giving those riding the elevator a bird’s eye view of the various products he offers, the elevator exceeded all of the requirements of the job.

Cost Energy Effectiveness : This project reveals the cost-effectiveness of modular building verses the “stick built” method in 3 ways:
First, skilled labor is in short supply in Manitoba, driving up the cost of conventional elevators and increasing time for job completion.
Second, the elevator was delivered in December. The cold climate would hinder a stick-built shaft, which would have required wrapping and heating while being built to avoid expansion and contraction. Modular made it possible to ignore the weather.
Third, the horizontal process including the hoistway with all components installed is safer and faster as no one works at extreme heights and there are no open hatches or pits. Also, there is increased efficiency, reducing time as the car is and hoistway are fabricated concurrently.
The result for this project was a total manufacturing time of 3 weeks and 1 week of installation time. The cost for the modular unit installed, was half that of a similar stick built elevator.

Design Firm Name : Harbour Building Workshop

Engineering Firm Name : N/A

Installer Firm Name : N/A

Occupied Date : 5/1/2015

Owner Firm Name : Urban Life Pools and Spas

Production Start Date : 12/1/2014

Project Location City : Steinbach

Project Location State Name : Manitoba

Technical Innovation : The technical innovation that sets modular elevators apart is horizontal factory construction. The hoistway and car are manufactured separately then married together and shipped as one unit. The elevator is then trucked to a jobsite, craned to vertical and set into place. Once power is connected and all systems are tested and adjusted, the unit is ready for service.
In this project Phoenix used one of its 8 basic floor plans. Jigs were used to construct the hoistway, car and sling to ensure a perfect fit eliminating adjustment when brought together.
The special features such as a site-installed glass hoistway and glass panels and reclaimed wood in the car required coordination between PME designers and Urban Life. They specified their material layout which included factory-installed custom recessed studs for the cab interior and hoistway exterior finishes. There were also painting and priming specifications. These alterations were successfully integrated into the work flow.

Total Square Feet : 61