Photo courtesy of NWCB Crews installed more than 157,000 square feet of coffered and barrel-vault ceilings at the Watermark.

The Watermark beach resort was recently completed on the shores of Lake Osoyoos in the Okanagan wine country. It has 30 beachfront residences and 153 vacation homes ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms. The facility also includes a convention area, children’s camp, health spa and wine tasting area.

Power Drywall installed and finished more than 1.33 million square feet of drywall for the resort. One of the most challenging aspects of the project was the construction of more than 157,000 square feet of coffered and barrel-vaulted ceilings.

The ceiling systems are suspended from the structure with precisely engineered sound isolators that support a light-gauge metal framework and four layers of wallboard to achieve a four-hour fire rating. All mechanical and electrical devices had to be independently anchored from the structure and items such as threaded rods, conduits, hangers and chains had to penetrate the four layers of drywall. In many cases, a single sheet of drywall had more than a dozen penetrations.

Judge’s comment: “Power Drywall did a wonderful job with the interior wall finishes, but the degree of difficulty that went into framing and finishing the barrel vaulted ceilings is quite remarkable.”