China-based architecture studio Büro Ole Scheeren (led by the architect responsible for Beijing's CCTV) has envisioned a mixed-use highrise for Vancouver, Canada. The firm aims to make 1500 West Georgia stand out from what Scheeren dismisses as the city's "generic" existing towers, with a novel form that features a series of extruding horizontal and vertical boxes.
Assuming the project goes ahead, 1500 West Georgia will be located on a 4,020 sq m (43,270 sq ft) plot in the city's West End, and rise to a height of 48 floors, in addition to six basement floors. The tower will comprise a floorspace of roughly 30,600 sq m (329,400 sq ft), and a total of 235 apartments. A public plaza and retail spaces will also be situated at ground level.
Büro Ole Scheeren says that the tower's unusual design will enable large terrace areas and larger horizontal spaces than most highrises. The firm also reckons that surrounding views will be less impacted than with a standard tower design.
"Vancouver possesses a unique balance of urban conditions surrounded by spectacular nature that provides fertile ground for envisioning new possibilities for future living in a cosmopolitan and environmentally-friendly city" says architect Ole Scheeren. "The design for this building exemplifies our ambition to reconnect architecture with the natural and civic environment and go beyond the hermetic confines of towers that increasingly inscribe our lives."
Büro Ole Scheeren aims to seek LEED Platinum approval (a green building certification), if the project goes ahead, and says that "sustainable technologies" will provide all required energy for ground-level public amenities, but does not explain exactly what this means. Judging from the firm's images, we'd guess that it will involve solar power, but have reached out to Büro Ole Scheeren for clarification and will update this article when we hear back.
The proposal was commissioned by developers Bosa Properties and the first step toward obtaining planning permission has been taken, but as yet no expected completion date has been announced.
Source: Büro Ole Scheeren