Vancouver House Breaks All the Rules

Rising to the Occasion

Vancouver House has already received many awards, from the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence 2015 to the World Architecture Festival Future Project of the Year, but step one in the project was finding the perfect location. The team sought a spot that encompassed smart growth principles while creating a dynamic sustainable hub in a residential community. And it had to be beautiful.

“We’ve designed this project with the mindset of ‘gesamtkunstwerk,’ a term that German opera composer Richard Wagner used to describe opera,” Christoffersen says. “It roughly translates to ‘a total work of art,’ referring to the act of combining all art forms into a single piece.” Adopting this philosophy, Vancouver House is designed from the smallest detail to the largest elevation.

But this also includes aiming for the epitome of “greenness,” with features like a passive envelope, triple glazing, deep balconies that shield units from harsh light, green roofs, and an extensive rainwater management system. Inside, Vancouver House will have highly efficient LED lighting, occupancy sensors, daylighting controls, and radiant ceiling heating and cooling in offices, among other sustainable attributes. Materials used during construction contain recycled and regional materials as well as those that promote a healthy indoor environment. More than 75% of materials will be kept out of the landfill.

In terms of energy and rainwater management, the Energy Use Intensities (EUI) have been set at 115kWh/m2 per year for the residential building and 121kWh/m2 per year for the office spaces at the podiums. Rainwater will be used for irrigation through a rainwater harvesting system for 100% of irrigation demands in addition to a 40% water reduction for potable use in all buildings. A water resource management plan is also being created for vegetated roofs and permeable spaces to reduce stormwater runoff.

Mechanical systems will use 100% fresh and UV-treated and carbon-filtered outdoor air with no recirculation. Similarly, all domestic water will pass through a reverse-osmosis filtration system, and residences will be served with a highly flexible and efficient top-end hydronic heating and cooling system.

A Living Sculpture

The building’s peculiar shape requires a unique structural system. Vancouver House will be the first project in the city to use vertical post-tensioning and a robust walking column system.

And rather than feel restricted in design by city regulations or obstacles like traffic, BIG uses those urban conditions to its advantage to create new opportunities.

“Vancouver House is a contemporary descendant of the Flatiron Building, one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks,” Christoffersen says, noting that its triangular site was considered unusable because of its shape until increased real estate prices and advanced technology in construction made it possible. “Similarly, Vancouver House’s form is a result of its circumstances: a trisected site, existing infrastructure, and concerns for neighboring buildings and parks. The sculptural silhouette is not the result of formal excess, but rather the consequence of design and real estate optimization; it appears different because it performs and responds differently.”