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In the three months since our last update, progress has been moving along at the site of the Bjarke Ingels-designed Vancouver House. The soon-to-be iconic 49-storey mixed-use tower by Westbank is beginning to rise above grade in the heart of downtown Vancouver's up-and-coming Beach District. Designed in conjunction with Canadian firms Dialog Architects and James KM Cheng Architects, Vancouver House has been described as a "living sculpture," and the tower's signature twist will soon become a staple of the newly minted Beach District neighbourhood.
While it will still be some time until the build site begins to resemble the rendering, the following construction photos provide a glimpse of the progress made to date, with the site just beginning to poke above grade. Below, the first image reveals an overhead view of the site, with work crews busy at the task of setting rebar into place and pouring cement.
Built as a mixed-use tower, Vancouver House will eventually be home to 600 residential units, 80,000 square feet of office space, and 60,000 square feet of retail, along with a smattering of restaurants, cafes, and shops which will populate the bottom of the tower at street level. In the image below, the depth of the build site can be appreciated, as the lower levels are currently still exposed within the excavation.
A challenging build site, the irregular plot is constrained on all sides by the surrounding road infrastructure. The most obvious obstacle is the elevated roadway which abuts the length of the site from one end to the other, thus necessitating a careful management of all operations related to construction. Below, the site's unique layout and inherent challenges can be appreciated, the view captured from the other side of the site revealing the scope of the project in its entirety.
Once complete, Vancouver House will be a welcome addition to the local skyline and Beach District, a relatively new neighbourhood made possible by the city's recent development boom. Set to bring a flood of new residents, office workers, shoppers, and diners to the area, Vancouver House will be a major contributor to the rise of one of Vancouver's newest neighbourhoods, a symbol of the city's meteoric growth.
SkyriseCities will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
