The New Vancouver Special coincides with a cultural transition in living. Today greater emphasis must be placed upon accommodation for non-traditional professional households, single-parent families, renting singles and others, all demanding measures of privacy.
An effort has been made in this scheme to maximize both the rear yard, garden area and the use of an accessory building to house recreational and professional studio functions. This was achieved by building up rather than out; consequently engendering a more urban prototype reminiscent of San Franciscan and European row housing. An elegant undulating roofs-cape is a contextual response that, combined with vernacular references, blends into a sophisticated yet economical solution.
The privacy feature in the scheme, a large cloister-style courtyard surrounded by a split parti and connected by pergola, adds a lively new dimension of living. The design intent was thus to minimize site coverage, maximize building envelope and then, through
inflecting articulation, create a fluid and functional split parti prototype.
Exterior materials for the scheme are stucco and painted wood trim. Interior finishes are painted dry wall, carpet and vinyl tile.
The proposed modification of the zoning bylaw is:
Section 2. Definition "Half Storey " means the uppermost level of a building where the floor area existing or proposed and having a maximum ceiling height of5'0" does not exceed 50% of the storey below.
This aspect of the bylaw is restricting the owners' freedom of use of F.S.R. The City is policing would-be by-law violators at the expense of liveability. Accommodating this rule often has gymnastic and unsightly consequences on the exterior of the building as one attempts to jog up from4'0" to6'8"
(National Building Code requirement Article 9.5.2.1).
(From official publication)
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- Plan
- Plan
- Axonometric Drawing
- Axonometric Drawing
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