Heatherwick Studio has shared plans for a pair of residential towers in Vancouver, Canada. The "curvaceous" skyscrapers were designed for Kingswood Properties and Bosa Properties in the city's West End neighborhood. Inspired by tree-like forms, the towers aspire to create a "new level of global design excellence" that emerges from a ground level plaza. The two towers would rise between 30 and 34 stories tall in height, and would feature views across the city and Vancouver Harbor.
The new development would include 401 condominium units replacing two mid-1980s-era apartment towers. Though in the early stages, the project is designed to be made from concrete, timber and glass, as well as glazed bronze-colored panels. They would share a five-story podium with amenities like shops and restaurants.
The studio noted that, "It’s difficult to have a positive emotional connection with a huge flat building. Our curving structure breaks-down the mass of the building into a human scale, dividing its long facades vertically into segments that provide more punctuation at street level." The tower units will include a mix of studios, one, two and three bedroom-plus residences; lower units will also feature a series of built-in terraces and planters.
Heatherwick Studio goes on to state that, "Too often towers are monolithic and cut-off from the street life, which is the lifeblood of the West End. Our aim was to create towers that intersect with the ground-level at a human scale, inviting interaction with the wider city community, creating a vibrant social hub for residents and visitors alike. By creating our scheme for the towers from the ground up, not tower down, we saw an opportunity to engage the ground-level as active social spaces by carving out some of the mass at the base of the towers."
News via urbanYVR
