General Vancouver Updates

[dleung]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

When they announced the tower would be clad with these, and then pulled them out of a cardboard box; it generated a clamor to see them. Needles to say, it really swung the tone of the proposal


Here's a super interesting industrial project at 5th and Columbia. The site is own by Pyrrha, a local home grown jewelry designer. Having purchased the site in 2009, they've now out-grown it. They were thinking about relocating to LA, which houses a retail location of theirs, or to a larger warehouse in the suburbs. They have instead chosen to remain in the Mount Pleasant area, and will retain their 26 employees in Vancouver. The total sqft of the project will be 8,800 sqft.

While the project originally envisioned tearing out the existing home, the heritage board demanded it be kept. There will be a height bonus applied instead, allowing the tower to reach 6 stories. The heritage house will have a design studio on the second floor, and a retail store on the ground level,. The retail store interior will have an archive of the works of the company.

The tower... is just, wow. I don't say that lightly. It will be constructed from 5 ply CLT wood, including the elevator core. There will also be a wood window system featuring tinted glass to help with solar gain.
The cladding of the tower is what stands out. The skin will be composed of free pour metal shingles. The team is still undecided on whether to go with shingles made from cast iron, patinaed aluminium, or a blackened aluminum. The tower itself has remarkably small floor plates, roughly the size of the town hall room at city hall (where UDP meetings are held). Also, as an experimental idea, the team is toying with the possibility of channeling the heat from the cladding to help power the operations.

Connecting the tower to the house will be two floors of underground space. There will be no vehicle parking on-site, but there will be space for bikes. Apparently plans are in the works to make 5th avenue more cycle friendly.
Above ground will be a small courtyard complete with plants native to the area, and metallic plants designed by the company.

Unsurprisingly, this sailed through the UDP despite having a remarkably thin package. The team presenting didn't even have a landscape architect on hand.

The consensus was roughly: That the building will be a unique benchmark for the area; That they would have liked to learn more about the landscape, and; That the panel would like to see many projects like this going forward. Continuing consensus was that it was great to see no proforma; That it will be a piece of jewelry, and; That under no circumstances should value engineering be allowed to scale this project back.

Oh, in case it wasn't clear, this passed without any recommendations.

Beautiful project!

[truenorth44]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Thanks for the photos. I lived in this complex with my father for a few years when I was a kid following my parents' breakup and divorce. The buildings were pretty run down but there was a lot of life there, lots of kids playing all the time. I have a lot of conflicted feelings about that time in my life but good memories of living there. As an adult, I realize how important it was for my father to have that option of affordable housing in the City of Vancouver (where my mom, school, and friends were) as he built a new life for us. The building in the center of this photo was our home and my bedroom was in the front left corner with the little window. Pretty damn surreal to see it like this, about to be knocked down.

I'm sure it's surreal to see - I too have conflicted thoughts about the development, but from a much less personal point of view. I ride by there every day on my commute, and it was always pleasant to see the kids out enjoying the treed play area. I hope that area will remain somewhat intact, and remain a lively playground.

And to confirm, the housing on the other side of the alley is still intact and occupied.

[officedweller]

6th & Fir

From City of Rain at SkyRise Cities:

Originally Posted by City Of Rain, post: 1254838, member: 70034

IMG_9162 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_9167 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_9173 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_9175 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_9178 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

[BodomReaper]

Thanks for the update. Disappointing that the ground level is mostly (or all?) residential. This is replacing a chunky 3-storey office building, the area has a really nice mix of commercial uses (spanning retail, light industrial, and office) + high-quality residential developments.

[Feathered Friend]

As I missed the UDP meeting for this project, the photos have been taken from the recently uploaded application on the city website.

http://development.vancouver.ca/138e8th/index.htm


http://development.vancouver.ca/138e8th/index.htm

Applicant’s Introductory Comments: The applicant noted the proposal as only the second stacked modular building in Vancouver. The design has been an exercise in making a stack module ‘work’.
The module has been made as three dimensional as possible. The entry has been celebrated by ‘carving’ a patio around it. The main lobby is supposed to be ‘activated’ and meant to provide emergency access. The amenity is more than what is typical but it is meant to be suited to the clientele. The major rooms are meant to have ‘seamless indoor outdoor space’. There are potted plants at the front, and planters are planned around the perimeters of decks. The applicant team then took questions from the panel.

Panel Consensus: Having reviewed the project it was moved by Mr. Wen and seconded by Ms.
Spoelstra and was the decision of the Urban Design Panel:
THAT the Panel SUPPORT the project with the following recommendations:

• Consider the sunken garden amenity with a cover over the hot tub area
• Consider the laneway and animating it with perhaps graphics or something else
• Re-consider the V column and the canopy over the entrance of the retail
• Look at bike storage for visitors to the retail
• Consider another entrance way other than the coffee shop for accessibility purposes

Related Commentary: Overall, the panel appreciated the innovative and ‘experimental’ design of the project. The composition and materiality is supported. A panel member had concerns for the laneway being ‘graffitied’, so recommended the applicant ‘take charge’ of the art in the laneway

This building was still generating some buzz at the UDP meeting I attended, two weeks after the project passed. As the UDP minutes report, this project is the second stack modular housing to be constructed in Vancouver. I believe the first one would be VAHA project at 220 Terminal Avenue. While there are some large blank spaces, it was expressed that those would provide a good opportunity for the project to work with the Vancouver Mural Festival.
Edit: Apparently the applicant team's memory was as good as mine with regards to the existing number of modular buildings in Vancouver.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Depends on your definition of modular. There's also the social housing near Oppenheimer Park that's made out of containers.

[SFUVancouver]

MONAD on the westside featured the same design and construction approach as this one, if I'm not mistaken.

http://lwpac.net/news/news/projects/residential/monad/

Monad is a first to bring multi story off-site prefabrication to Vancouver, using fully engineered woodframe modular construction.

[Feathered Friend]

My photos - September 16th 2017





















This will be my last update on this little project, as I'm fairly sure its now complete. Hopefully everyone hasn't grown sick of seeing pictures of it.

[Feathered Friend]

My photos - September 16th 2017





So this is clearly not a skyscraper, low-rise or even a townhouse. That said, bare with me, as I felt this is rather impressive given the size of the home.
While on my photo walk of the area yesterday, I went down Laurier and just had to stop and take a couple photos. In hindsight, I should have gone back down the alley to grab a shot of the rear too. The asking price for this property was 3.5m back in 2008. The current assessment has the land alone valued at 9.604m, while the house itself is only valued at 10k.

Listing information from 2008:
http://www.jackdempsey.ca/RecentSales.ph...aurier-avenue-vancouver-british-columbia

[skylinegazer]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

This will be my last update on this little project, as I'm fairly sure its now complete. Hopefully everyone hasn't grown sick of seeing pictures of it.

Thank you I enjoyed the look :-)

here's the building back in 2009 - https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.2588456,-...ZPpPjf3R7Eu_sWhl5mPiw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Marshal]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

My photos - September 16th 2017

. . .

This will be my last update on this little project, as I'm fairly sure its now complete. Hopefully everyone hasn't grown sick of seeing pictures of it.

I certainly haven't. You have a good eye for taking nice photos that total up to a very good record of a project. This set is just that on its own. We pay professionals to take sets like this to accompany the as-built drawing set at the close of a project. Few do as good a job as you (and a few others on this forum).

So, thanks very much indeed.

[Feathered Friend]

Thank you for the kind words-- being compared to the great photographers on this forum is a complement indeed.

I didn't mean to sound so melancholy, rather I wasn't sure if I had perhaps overdone the updates on this small project. Good to hear that wasn't the case. One of the aspects I love about our forum is how we all pool knowledge, photos, and rumors with each other, so I'm more than happy to contribute what I can.

[VarBreStr18]

Originally Posted by mr. snazzy pants

Thank you I enjoyed the look :-)

here's the building back in 2009 - https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.2588456,-...ZPpPjf3R7Eu_sWhl5mPiw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

thank you for your historical input..... never knew it looked like that.some one pls put them side by side for a nostalgic comparason would be nice ???

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

Thank you for the kind words-- being compared to the great photographers on this forum is a complement indeed.

I didn't mean to sound so melancholy, rather I wasn't sure if I had perhaps overdone the updates on this small project. Good to hear that wasn't the case. One of the aspects I love about our forum is how we all pool knowledge, photos, and rumors with each other, so I'm more than happy to contribute what I can.

Never worry about overdoing it... it's really easy to hit PgDn if you're uninterested, but for those of us who are it's great to see frequent updates!

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Proposal to replace a church across from Oakridge (on 41st) with new church with social housing - and retail space!

http://www.vancourier.com/community/oakr...al-includes-affordable-housing-1.2181338


http://www.vancourier.com/community/oakr...al-includes-affordable-housing-1.2181338


Image Courtesy of Francl Architecture
http://catalystcommdev.org/our-projects/oakridge-lutheran-church/

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Here's a look at the site.


March 10 '16, my pic

The church has just been torn down.



Sept.21 '17, my pic

[Feathered Friend]

July 15th, 2017


September 23rd, 2017

[SFUVancouver]

^ Wow, the addition of solar shading is a fairly extensive set of modifications. I bet that's being undertaken in tandem with HVAC upgades/modernization for the building. The brise soleil should help lower solar heat gain if there are vertical fins a la The Spot.

Out of curiosity, how is the Fairmont Medical Building's new paint job holding up?

[officedweller]

Looks great, thanks.
So far the slats do not cover the windows, though, so not sure how much sun shading would occur (but maybe the concrete panels wouldn't heat up as much?).

[Feathered Friend]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

The base was covered in square granite tiles from the 80's or 90's, when originally built in 1961 it had mosaic glass tiles in dark shades of purple and grey, must have been eye catching originally. On the far corner of the parkade entrance one of the squares was broken off and you could see the tiles beneath the granite.

Are these the tiles you were talking about?

June 18th Exterior photo


September 11th Interior and exterior photos

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

Are these the tiles you were talking about?

June 18th Exterior photo


September 11th Interior and exterior photos

Yes exactly! I was there one Saturday when they were chipping off the old tiles and I was able to pick off some of the original purple and light grey glass tiles that were beneath the 80's granite. I took some pics too and I was gonna upload them in one of the history threads Thank you!