Other Projects

(1) Arbutus Centre Redevelopment (2013)
(2) False Creek Towers (2009)
(3) CBC Building (2009)

In all our work, we strive to create buildings that are connected to their surrounding community, making the neighbourhood a more vibrant and enjoyable place to live. Each project provides a unique opportunity to enhance this connectivity through thoughtful design at all scales.

Projects like the Arbutus Centre Redevelopment, False Creek Towers, and CBC Building all showcase this interplay with the public realm and careful attention to the public/private transition.

Thurlow

This project presents a rare opportunity to deliver 287 secured rental units and 24 social housing units combined on a parcel on the downtown peninsula, located close to rapid transit and bicycle networks which lead to less than 15-minute commutes to the downtown employment hub. The form of development contemplates one 34-storey residential ‘Tower in the Park’.

The proposal will fit well into the existing neighbourhood as well as the proposed future vision of this area, by providing the much-needed modern rental and social housing units to the West End Burrard Corridor.

Fraser Mills

Designed as an 82-acre mixed-use development, the design focused on a mix of uses including major employment nodes and light industry as well as up to 5 million sq. ft. of mixed residential uses, highlighted by a three-block Main Street leading to a waterfront pier at the Fraser River Edge.

Flood mitigation and river edge rehabilitation is a major part of this design. The project was focused on two kilometres of continuous publicly accessible waterfront, and a two-acre park. Design work was led by Alan Boniface while at HBBH.

Planning Projects

(1) Cowichan First Nation
(2) Diamond Ave
(3) Bowen Island Seymour Landing
(4) Leq’á:mel First Nation Deroche
(5) Westbank First Nation Kelowna

Urban design and planning are essential to the creation of healthy vibrant cities. Because of this, we believe in focusing our practice on the large and small city-making undertakings that truly make a difference. We combine this with our core architectural practice to continue our goal of creating locally focused vibrant communities. In our work we have also found that smaller oftentimes forgotten, communities, especially some First Nations communities, benefit greatly from this wholistic approach.

We believe that the best urban environments are vibrant, sustainable, walkable, and designed to grow with the community itself. We work closely with our clients and partners to bring their vision to life, creating joyful, livable neighbourhoods and connected communities.

Dow Avenue

6465 Dow Ave is designed around activating all street edges, in particular Dow and Beresford with multiple uses and access points. Pedestrian scale design characterizes the retail and low-rise residential edges. The tower lobbies also engage with the pedestrian realm with gracious and protected entries. Building edges are set back creating spaces for patios and a generous landscaped boulevard.

The dynamic and active treatment continues up the façade where generous horizontal residential decks weave against the vertical forms, providing ample outdoor utilization for residents while also providing dramatic architectural colour, shape, and shadow to the towers. The overall feel of the project is welcoming and urban. The towers themselves are elegant and simple silhouettes that will contribute to the character of the emerging Maywood and Metrotown neighbourhood.

Mission Master Plan

We had the opportunity to collaborate with O2 Planning and Design on the Waterfront Revitalization Master Plan for City of Mission. Bound by the Fraser River to the south and Lane Creek, Highway 11, and the CPR mainline to the north, the project area spans over 3.5km of river frontage and 296 acres of land. The design process placed emphasis on ensuring that the Master Plan is viable and implementable while still presenting a visionary future for the Waterfront. This Master Plan will create a place for new jobs, establish the City’s vibrant urban heartbeat, and build a renewed cultural and ecological connection with Downtown and nature on the Waterfront.

Intentionally complementing Mission’s historic downtown, the Waterfront brings a new identity and urban energy to the City without compromising the parts residents already love most. The Master Plan will preserve and enhance the natural elements of the Waterfront and improve the ecological integrity of areas where it has been diminished, creating opportunities for everyone to touch the water on naturalized shorelines and experience the region’s stunning nature from a more protected and ecologically integrated vantage point.

Vanness

Located near Joyce-Collingwood Skytrain Station, this mixed-use project aims to provide 679 secured rental units (including 35% family housing), a public daycare, vibrant local retail along Vanness Avenue, and a mid-block connection through the site to enhance the neighbourhood’s connectivity.

The architectural expression draws on local features and landmarks to inform the massing and character of the building, with the tapered profile of the twin-tower form invoking a valley opening to the sky as a nod to the way the Expo Skytrain line cuts through the city. Inspired by the public art at Joyce-Collingwood Station, the joyful use of colour throughout the project draws the ground plane elements across Vanness Avenue and into the site to animate the public realm.

The Green House

Tucked into a grove of trees, along a stream, at the end of a field on a small farm in Gibsons ‘The Green House’ strikes a familiar and modest architectural profile. This small family home is oriented to enjoy the views of the forest and field surrounding it. Entering from the west, the double-height entrance corridor divides the public and private areas of the home.

The private areas to the north enjoy intimate views of the trees and nearby creek while the main gathering and living space on the south has generous glazing and doors out onto the south-facing outdoor patio. Overlooking the living space is a mezzanine with an office and peek-a-boo tree top views from a pair of windows.

Strathcona VPL/YWCA

The necá?mat ct Strathcona VPL/YWCA ‘Cause we Care House’ Project is a joint project of the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Public Library and the YWCA. The building integrates three component parts: a new Library Branch, 21 affordable family housing units, and program space for single mothers and their children operated by the YWCA.

The new Library Branch serves the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona, and Chinatown areas. It provides full library services including a book collection, computers, a children’s programming space, a teen programming space, multipurpose meeting spaces, maker-space, reading areas, and library staff workspace. The project achieved LEED™ Gold Certification.

The architecture was conceived to present a welcoming, double-storey ‘living-room’ open to Hastings Street. The striking faceted glazed library frontage stands out on the block of commercial storefronts to signal its intention to engage with the neighbourhood. A second storey meeting room that is shared by all uses and can be rented by the public is cantilevered over the sidewalk and main entrance to be seen and to project its public function into the street. A neon VPL sign celebrates the local retail signage and character of East Hastings street and its landmarks like the Astoria and Ted Harris Paints. Robust but refined materials, brightly coloured balcony elements and outdoor amenities on the laneway side help to add vibrancy to the area and distinguish the building as a local landmark and community amenity.

Southlands Residence

The Southlands residence began as a renovation and became a complete reimagining of a house on stilts straddling a ravine in South Vancouver. Divisions between inside and outside dissolve through an open plan that expands outwards through slide-away glass walls, extended eaves, bridges, and decks that all hover above and extend into the landscape. From the main living space above, a glass-enclosed steel stair descends to additional living space suspended over the creek and finally touches down to a water-side platform below a soaring concrete buttress that anchors the home to the site.