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A 35-storey residential tower has received approval and is now set to join the urban mountain of condominiums on Vancouver's skyline. To be built at the corner of Richards and Helmcken Streets in Yaletown, one of the city's densest neighbourhoods, the GBL Architects-designed tower combines three distinct architectural aesthetics into one united form.
The centre of the 8X Tower is defined by a recessed spine running up its full height, reducing the bulk of the tower by splitting it into two more manageable volumes. The side closest to Emery Barnes Park is stepped down by two storeys, lessening the project's shadow impact while reserving the resulting rooftop for a garden area. Pursuing LEED Gold certification, the 365,000-square-foot building will contain 278 market residential units, 110 rental apartments and roughly 8,000 square feet of commercial space.
An eight-storey base features a facade decorated with high-quality glazing, stone panels, and an apparently random vertical arrangement of aluminum fins. Designed to be set back from Helmcken Street, the area around the base will feature a bike share station and two rows of trees. A 24-storey volume, clad in curtain wall glass and a diamond-shaped lattice, rises from this section. It will be separated from the base, opening up an expanse that will provide the development with another rooftop garden area overlooking Richards Street. The final aesthetic is expressed on the opposite side with 32 storeys of balconies and a Montessori school on the ground floor. While the two other zones contextually respond to the base and park, this section references the Yaletown skyline as a whole.
The project will replace the old Jubilee House — a brick-clad affordable housing complex of 87 units — though the facility is being relocated just across the street in a splashy new building, nearly doubling the number of units in the process. While that development nears completion, nearby residents will have to endure more construction as 8X Tower is scheduled to begin work sometime in the fall of 2016.
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