We dropped by Alliance Française Vancouver, a centre for French culture by McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd In this project, the design team pushed for an exposed mass timber structure when the codes didn’t allow it. They demonstrated the fire risk compared favourably to a compliant design, and it was approved. This set a new precedent for mass assembly buildings over two storeys in Vancouver and shows how codes are having to adapt to accomodate new timber construction technologies. Engineering