Habitat
Habitat moves off the podium tower construct in two new directions. First, towards a permeable block whose idiosyncrasies encourage exploration. Second, towards not just a sustainable structure, but by providing agricultural infrastructure, towards a self-sufficient lifestyle.
Habitat is has been configured to reflect the natural environment. In the same way that one is tempted to explore trails that lead through a forest, the paths through the project weave around the arcs of the buildings. The buildings' green roofs kneel down to street level, enticing passers by to gardens on various elevations; deconstructing pre-existing hierarchies of height. The derelict and purely functional alley is replaced by an narrow street-way that winds diagonally through the lot. The narrowness of the street-way is embraced as pedestrians are funneled into narrow areas creating both economic opportunity through retail and cultural activity through the proximity of people.
Habitat presupposes the viability of green roofs and pushes the concept further towards urban agriculture. The project encourages self-sufficiency by encouraging residents to grow produce on semi-private rooftops and community gardens. Habitat embraces the lower mainland's abundant rainfall, channeling it through semi-vertical streams and leading to gardens where it serves as irrigation.
Furthermore, Habitat provides the developer with a significant market differentiator The substance of agricultural infrastructure and the self-sufficient lifestyle stands in for the vapidity rife in existing promotional campaigns.
(From competitor's text)
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