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AUGUST 2019 | 37 Vancouver House PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAWN BUKHARI/COURTESY DIALOG Vancouver House by NATALIE BRUCKNER I t's impossible not to get excited about the new Vancouver House project that is currently under construction in downtown Vancouver, B.C. Not only does the slender triangu- lar base tower, which opens up in the sky to a rectangle, cleverly reinvent the Vancouver high-rise tower typology, but it is an engineering and construc- tion marvel that seems to defy gravity. It's fair to say that Vancouver House, and its three complementary buildings ris- ing between the Granville Street Bridge and ramps, along with the creation of a brand new public realm around the project, will give us a glimpse of the architecture of the future. "If 'gesamtkunstwerk' [trans- lated from German as total work of art] was our first defining philosophy, then Vancouver House is its manifes- tation," explains a spokesperson from Westbank Corp. "Since we were intro- duced to the concept and began its creation, Vancouver House has become one of the most watched and stud- ied urban development projects in the world. Seven years in the making, we brought together everything that we learned through dozens of complex projects, with the best design and con- sultant team that could be assembled. It is now apparent that this cumula- tive effort has resulted in a giant leap forward – not only from a technical and environmental perspective but by bringing to our country a degree of art- istry and of beauty that is unparalleled." At its base, the tower's floorplate is only 6,000 square feet, but archi- tect Bjarke Ingels Group designed the building in direct response to the site's constraints, maximizing both space and views by creating a building that gently opens, blossoming as it rises above the Granville Street Bridge to a 12,000-square-foot floorplate at its height. Vance Harris at Dialog, the local architect of record, notes that while the tower draws the lion's share of atten- tion, there are actually four buildings on the site. "The podium that the tower rises out of has three triangular retail, office and amenity complexes as well as a generous public realm that was designed as a total work of art." The site itself posed the usual chal- lenges associated with a brownfield site in a central location, however, during excavation there were some additional surprises. "We dug up some interesting things including railroad tracks that were the start of a bridge that went across False Creek before Granville Street Bridge was built," explains Garth Gloag, project manager, ICON West Construction Corp. New roads have also been built around the site that link to the city's cycling path network, to help create a diverse and activated public realm sur- rounding the project. A seven-storey underground park- ing lot has been constructed beneath buildings one and two with additional parking for both commercial and res- idential uses. Before building of the tower could begin, Gloag says extensive re-shoring was required that used a lot of steel beams. "A lot of engineering went into both that and monitoring due to the size of the excavation," explains Gloag. The ground level public realm com- plements the forward-thinking attitude of this project, with its granite pavers and inlays, and in-ground lighting that give the sense you are in a new neigh- bourhood. In fact Westbank has coined the area surrounding Vancouver House as the Beach District, in recognition of its emergence as a new community by Sunset Beach, between Vancouver's West End and Yaletown. Even looking down from the bridge you get the sense you are witnessing something spectacular. "The green roofs on the podium buildings are unique to Vancouver not only because they are triangular in shape as well as sloped, with some being quite steep, but because they are at eye level to vehicles and pedestrians crossing the Granville Street Bridge. This means they will be seen by thousands of people every day of the year," says Ronald Schwenger, principal at Architek Sustainable. "These engineered green roofs are among the most important green roof installations we have been involved in during our 12 year history as they are

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