Now, you may be thinking, Isn’t this project… old? Well, you’re right. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in St. Hubert, Quebec was installed in 1993—Skyfold’s third project ever. Today, the four Skyfold Classic walls at the CSA are still in great condition. During a recent regular maintenance service, we had the opportunity to catch-up with the CSA.
The Skyfold walls in the CSA can be found in one of their many conference rooms, which functions more as a multipurpose room that gets reconfigured for training, events and conferences. Four walls in one space allows for the room to be set-up in five different configurations, depending on their needs. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, addressed a group of high school students about the Junior Astronaut program in this very room. For extra acoustic performance, the permanent walls are covered in acoustic fiberglass panels; the pockets for the intersecting Skyfold walls are covered in the same paneling.
The CSA’s Skyfold walls differ in many ways from the current version of the Skyfold product line. At the time these walls were produced, the fiberglass insulation was yellow in color (these are now painted black for less a cumbersome look)—a detail that becomes apparent when the walls are in operation. The end seals run on rods and linkages from a separate motor in the plenum instead of the current system of small individual motors. The way in which we assemble panels, lips and apply finishes has also changed drastically since this project. The CSA is also one of the few projects that were handled in-house simply because Skyfold was just a product, and not an incorporated, international manufacturing company with an extensive distributor network. Looking back on one of our first projects, we can see how much Skyfold has grown as a product and a company.
Benoit Haché, Architecture and Facility Operations Manager for the CSA, credits the longevity of these walls to the care his Facilities team give to them and to periodic servicing. Nonetheless, Haché continues to be impressed with the performance of these Skyfold walls, which, he says, they continue to use regularly, even after all these years.