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Steps away from starchitect Moshe Safdie's Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, the Telus Garden Residential Tower is rising. Designed by Henriquez Partners Architects and developed by Westbank Project Corp., the 53-storey tower has reached its final height in Canada's third most populous metropolitan area.
A recent member photo update on our forum shows the building taking its final shape, with the structure of the third and final 14-storey protruding block currently being completed. Meanwhile, cladding installation is underway a few floors below, sealing off the 135-metre tower from the elements just in time for winter. Floor-to-ceiling windows will offer residents breath-taking views of the surrounding city and landscape. Although the building's vertical details are yet to be painted in their final brown tones, we can imagine that it will create an interesting contrast with the light blue, transparent glass used to wrap the tower.
The Telus Garden Residential Tower is part of a two-tower complex covering roughly half a block along Richards and Robson Streets. The Telus Garden Office Tower, 24 floors above the intersection of Richards and West Georgia Streets, was completed a few months ago and has already opened to the public, welcoming its first office workers to one of North America's greenest development.
Indeed, more than 100 solar panels have been installed on the rooftop garden to capture solar power. Telus’s existing data centre next door will provide heating and cooling for both towers as well as hot water, thanks to a technology that recovers waste heat from the building. In total, these initiatives will decrease energy demand by 80%.
While the residential component of the development will not be complete until 2016, you can check out our linked dataBase file for more images and information, or join the conversation in the associated Forum thread, linked below.
