This award-winning four storey apartment is part of the River District master planned development for 15,000 people on previous industrial land fronting the Fraser River in Vancouver. The building is the entry to a new community on the edge of the city.
The building is the first in an area named Pier Point. The wider area will include shops, schools, daycare, parks and a community center. The master plan is based on large rectangular blocks running in a east-west direction, giving the long sides a north-south orientation.
This building covers the entire block and maximizes development opportunity. The block is U-shaped, with the wings having double loaded apartments accessed via an internal corridor. Apartments are all single level with either one and two (and a small number of three) bedroom units. Apartment at ground floor level are all access from the footpath and street (in addition to an internal corridor route), and have small patio spaces raised about 1m above street level. The horizontal and vertical separation from the street provides a sufficient distinction between the public and private realms.
The U-shaped building wraps around a courtyard space, open to a rear walk and cycle way. This courtyard is accessible to residents for recreation use, vegetable gardening, and via a booking system, for events. The design meets the BuiltGreen rating LEED GOLD standard, derived from materials used in the construction, energy saving devices with hot water and heating supplied by the developer owned local District Energy Utility. One parking space per apartment is provided in a basement garage, accessed via a driveway on the east side of the building. Each building also includes a car share vehicle to promote travel share.