Multiple Fire-Rated Glazing Assemblies Enhance Canadian School Design

2026-02-09 10:06:31

Eric Hanber High School in Vancouver has replaced old buildings from the 1960s with modern fire and life safety as its core goals. The fire-resistant glass system from Technical Glass Products (TGP) has become a key support, ensuring the building's natural lighting and visual connectivity while meeting strict safety regulations, helping to create a safer, student-centered campus environment.

This building, covering an area of over 193750 square feet, is an important step in the school district's efforts to promote student safety goals. The original building is 60 years old, equivalent to the average age of most school buildings in the United States, and has long lacked major repairs. However, current building codes have become increasingly strict in terms of fire safety requirements. TGP's fire-resistant glass system is perfectly suited to this demand, meeting both fire safety regulations and responding to design demands for enhancing students' learning experience, such as utilizing sunlight and broadening horizons.

In the design, the TGP Fireproof glass system is widely used on the school facade and interior, achieving a balance between safety and design. The project team adopts the Firewrames SG Curtain wall series, paired with Pyroston fire-resistant and impact resistant safety glass, to maximize the glass span and create an overall structural glass appearance, allowing external light to penetrate into the interior of the building and form multiple bright public areas. At the same time, the internal fire-resistant curtain wall adopts a narrow outline frame to ensure the coherence of the building design, which not only meets the requirements of fire barrier regulations, but also supports zoning planning and intuitive pathfinding.

The fully lightweight fire-resistant door components are another highlight, with some equipped with expandable fire-resistant glass side windows and beams, and some paired with adjacent glass curtain wall panels. Among them, the curtain wall panels, side windows, and beams have a fire resistance rating of 60 minutes, and the fire door has a fire resistance rating of 45 minutes, effectively protecting the exit route without sacrificing open design. The application of Fireframes Designer series doors and aluminum series crossbeams and side beams further optimizes the visibility and provides convenient pathfinding support for students.

During the project progress, the temporary change in the hardware of the fire door tested the adaptability of the team. The school board has changed the concealed top stop design to the Glynn Johnson 90 series surface mounted door stop system, and the new door closer needs to be reworked. TGP's engineering and manufacturing team responded quickly, collaborated across departments to adjust production specifications, and ensured that fire doors were manufactured, shipped, and installed on time, meeting fire safety requirements without affecting the overall project schedule.

The success of this project demonstrates the diverse adaptability of TGP fireproof glass system and the collaborative ability of the team. From large-span fire-resistant curtain walls to all glass fire-resistant doors, their products always take into account the health and comfort of students while meeting multiple fire safety regulations. The efficient collaboration and flexible response of all parties involved in the project during the construction phase not only ensured the smooth implementation of the fire-resistant glass system and supporting facilities, but also helped the new school building exceed its expected goals, becoming a model of combining fire-resistant design with adaptive engineering.