KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence

Set on the edge of Kelowna International Airport, the KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence pairs aviation heritage with contemporary mass-timber construction. A long-span Glulam roof arcs over a 60,000-square-foot exhibit hall — wide enough to shelter a fully restored DC-3 with wings unfolded, and warm enough to read as a public room rather than a hangar.

Kalesnikoff supplied the full timber package: 78 Glulam beams up to 32 metres, locally sourced Douglas-fir CLT decking, and prefabricated wall cassettes finished to architectural tolerance. The superstructure was erected in 9 weeks with zero on-site waste.

The result is an interior that reads as a single continuous gesture — daylight raking across exposed wood, steel tension elements lacing the curve, and a building that frames the aircraft inside it rather than competing with them.