The Vancouver Residences was designed to be a highly efficient, dense residential development in the heart of the city. The project was designed to support a series of sustainable objectives in line with Vancouver’s Ecodensity Charter. It aims to greatly improve the city’s “eco-footprint” and encourage residents to live more sustainably.

The low-rise development features residential units, each with high-end, sustainable finishes. Each unit features an outdoor terrace, with views to the community gardens and green landscape surrounding the building. A central garden space provides an outdoor lobby entrance to the building and includes water features and lush landscaped spaces. Other community amenities include a pool, fitness center, multi-purpose activity room and working rooftop gardens for residents.

The natural Vancouver environment is incorporated throughout the project; green walls and permeable paving surround the complex. Deciduous trees are used to maximize natural shading and horizontal shading elements were incorporated on the south facades. The wall system incorporates vertical shading and minimizes direct heat gain on the east and west elevations.

To achieve a reduced eco-footprint for this mixed-use residential development, AS+GG defined a series of goals for the project. These goals included:

•    Reducing travel impact through density and access to public transport as well as an on-site car-share location

•    Reducing food choice impact by offering working gardens for on-site food production, composting and recycling

•    Reducing domestic water use through integration of water reducing fixtures, systems for rainwater collection and on-site water treatment

•    Reducing energy consumption through integration of geothermal systems, thermal massing, solar hot water, passive shading, radiant heat and cooling systems and energy-efficient appliances and lighting

The Vancouver project also is investigating use of biomass fuel and is designed to take full advantage of natural light.