Family oriented, Village-like
The Crest
31 E 59th, Vancouver
Status: Complete
The Challenge
To create a family-oriented and village-like development with a commitment to sustainable design, targeting LEED Platinum Certification.
About this Project
The Crest is a five-storey, 18-home apartment building located just outside the Little Mountain rezoning area. Impressively, the project has achieved LEED Platinum Certified by reaching targets in reduced energy costs (26%), reduced water consumption, and efficient material and resource management, among others. The building is organized as an L-shape with a shared courtyard which creates a breezeway connection, linking the south lane to the street.
The shape of the building was intended to create more desirable corner units with multiple exposures and a greater access to natural light and ventilation. The 5th level is recessed in order to reduce the visual impact of the massing and to provide generous roof decks for the upper homes.
The material palette consists of durable metal panels with deep shadow reveals and corrugated vertical metal siding.
Red architectural fins frame smaller scale blocks giving a “village” like rhythm to primary street facing facades. The rhythm of the fins ascends to a grand celebration of the main corner with a four-storey frame intended to emphasize and address the street corner.
Natural light is prioritized throughout the building and considered as an enhancement to the residents daily journey. With daylit corridors, a narrow building depth and 78% corner units with multiple exposure, opportunities to connect directly with the outdoors are abundant. The homes are designed with 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms, ensuring a diversity of housing choice and ultimately a varied demographic which contributes to the “village” character. The scale of the development is well suited to promoting a cohesive social group. The building organizes four homes per floor creating a sub-cluster size well suited for neighbours to get to know each other and interact daily. At the shared courtyard, a gathering space is designed with built-in seating, a harvest table and an outdoor kitchen. Each home is provided a large roof or balcony for outdoor living while ground floor homes are situated with individual garden plots allowing for small scale urban agriculture. The landscape design prioritizes both edible and medicinal planting that is both beautiful and productive.
