How could a city not be overwhelmed by surroundings so immense and seemingly unconquerable? Can urban design shift Vancouverites' attention from a common understanding of the city's undeniably striking physical setting to an immediate connection with their local, manufactured environment? Is it possible to quicken the pulse of Vancouver's street life with buildings that create a new scenery of human activity?
The proposal
Informed from the economic success of the podium tower model, the proposal accommodates the city's need for density, while promoting a streetscape that expresses the diversity of its inhabitants. Imagine, downtown, the growth of an alternative, high density platform that collapses the glassy condominium tower and elevates the young working class from Vancouver's equally prolific basement suite. Aspiring to bring a sense of propriety typical of non-strata home ownership, every opportunity for air and light is exploited to support individual gardens--informal spaces that bring life and spontaneity to a modern planning/construction template, in which dwellings make their way up from the street via a park-like commercial mound and exterior walkways. Specific site conditions and public-oriented amenities influence the massing of the mound and dwellings above, giving each development its own unique identity.
Now truly claimed by the continual precipitation of downtown-bound residentsL these newly sprouting blocks serve as viewing platforms from which to survey the flowering community taking shape all around. These increasingly prevalent forms weave their way through the existing landscape of towers to create new connections between homes and places of work and leisure.
(From competitor's text)
14 scanned / 12 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph of Model
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Section
- Section
- Elevation
