A 6,000-unit residential development designed by Revery Architecture has been proposed by the Squamish First Nation for 12 acres of tribal lands located in the Vancouver area.
Because the development is being proposed for land that falls solely under the jurisdiction of the Squamish First Nation, it is being designed outside of conventional zoning and land-use regulatory structures. As a result, the project partners aim to have little to no parking associated with the development and are moving to offer all of the units as rental homes, an arrangement that will guarantee a long-term flow of revenue for the Nation, The Vancouver Sun reports.
Revery Architecture is designing the 11-tower development, which will feature a series of housing complexes grounded by pedestrian retail and shared public spaces. Renderings for the development depict a series of sculptural towers studded with colorful metal scrims and dotted with full-size trees. Unlike conventional tower developments, the proposed buildings rise straight out of the ground.
The project is intentionally being designed without parking podiums in an effort to better integrate the towers into the site. The development will stretch alongside the Burrard Bridge in the Kitsilano area just south from downtown Vancouver and will connect the areas beside the bridge via a series of walkways running below the span. Roughly 80 percent of the site will be left open for public use, according to the project team.
In addition, the project will be crowned by a 56-story tower that will rise as Vancouver's third tallest building if completed as planned, falling behind the 62-story Living Sangri-La tower designed by James K.M. Cheng Architects and the 63-story Trump International Hotel designed by Arthur Erickson, the city's two tallest towers.
As a result of the site's unique legal arrangement, the project will receive special status from the city that allows tribal leaders to consult with city agencies for advice on planning and building safety matters without actually binding the development team to the city's enforcement. “This is a government doing a project that has a particular history of injustice in the removal of our ancestors in 1913, who were evicted by the provincial government at the request of the Vancouver parks board and the City of Vancouver,” Squamish Nation Councillor Khelsilem tells The Vancouver Sun.
It is expected that the development will bring much-needed rental housing to the area.
I get your point NS, and am happy to not dwell on it. That said, I have seen all of the marginalization and pure racism directed at the native community first hand, and don't see any need to bring it into architecture, especially when it was never part of the conversation to begin with. The article was only talking about car parking and podiums after all...and as both articles point out, this is a market rate project that is able to do a few things with planning that normally would take more time or be impossible. It's still a $3 BN project, and a serious thing, in the heart of Vancouver. I have no idea why the discussion ever needed to be at any other level than that. As a final comment, I love the article you found highlights that many people in Vancouver assumed the Squamish nation would be offering lower than market rate housing because people in the city think the native community would be less greedy than the rest of the BC populace. Which of course is not the case. But still, that is a fantastic image problem to have. Who could have thought we would ever come to this?
^Agreed. Apologies for the dumpster fire distraction. As an aside, have they explained how they will address parking? It was always my understanding that the typical Vancouver podium "style" was because that was the most economical way to solve parking garages vs excavating.
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gosh, this looks terrible.
There's not an identifiable piece of architecture in this. It's a bunch of bullshit 3d shapes with textures on them, no mullions, slabs, frames, vents, windows, doors, etc.
+++ Also, plans. For a website ostensibly devoted to architecture, a conspicuous absence of THE most common representation type is very strange.
Shoot. I thought this was a post promoting my support group for the always-uneasy, Squeamish Nation.
Wow, thats fucking ugly!
not the most advanced example of architecture. But then, Vancouver is full of Junk anyway, and the urban planning concept at least sounds interesting. No parking and no podium is something kind of new. Making it available for rent in a place where nobody can afford to live is a nice move.
More interesting than the Junk architecture is that it is being developed on tribal lands and therefore won't be required to follow the city code. It would be more amazing if they were aiming to do more with that power. What are the things that would be fucking awesome but the city is holding up because it cant react fast enough? They should do THAT.
Instead they are doing a laundry list of superficial moves that I guess will make money but doesnt push things ahead too far...but let's see. These are sketch plans not much more, maybe it will get better.
So no requirements to follow code? Vancouver is a seismic clusterfuck... I'll like to see how they plan to build this shitty tower by relying on rain dance and prayer circles.
The local tribe (Shinnecock) has tried numerous times to develop a revenue source and has been blocked at every turn by government from town to state. Their latest effort is a 60’ tall vertical electronic billboard right on the edge of the sole access highway to Paradise. The politicos are freaking and issuing injunctions saying that it conflicts with the character of the area when 2 miles down the road the highway turns into one of the worst 4-lane 1950’s zoned commercial strips you’ve ever seen, complete with everything from OTB and minigolf to power boat showrooms, all with signs galore.
NS, that was over the line.
^We have to circumvent fire codes in gov buildings my area to accommodate first nation burning rituals, for example. There is no line to cross when superstition takes precedence over life-safety. Perhaps I'm just jaded/frustrated by the nonsense allowed as we tip-toe around cultural sensitivities, might have been a good thing to write up top as a preface.
My guess is Native American's will still sue the shirt off your back if you don't comply with municipal codes. What's the legal framework for an architect working in this kind of jurisdiction?
NS, I'm not making any quantitative statements about you, I simply feel the comment was over the line.
^I don't disagree with you Pete. Just adding context in case anyone cares.
Yeah, second that. Jaded or not... that comment was unnecessary.
dude, wtf? seriously. what kind of problem do you have to have to write shit like that? That wasn't merely racist, it was personal. What context are you talking about except your own issues with native culture? Who in the hell said the buildings would be built without seismic codes and rely on rituals that you think are full of shit instead? I don't know the regulations in Vancouver but I would guess you cant build anything that doesn't meet basic standards. The stuff the city adds on is what I imagine they can set aside. Just my guess. No dancing involved. Jesus wept.
dude, you're the one who said..."it is being developed on tribal lands and therefore won't be required to follow the city code" Are you saying the city code doesn't include life safety? Be clear.
I’ve seen quite a few projects choose superstition over basic life safety... and given the dire state of the native reserves, choosing to spend money on this while the rest live in shacks. Folks need to step down a little here. As harsh as my criticism appears, it’s not from some hatred of native culture but from years of observations.
I think Obama said something about this 'woke' phenomenon.
Thayer, crawl back under your rock.
Calm down champ. It’s a very diverse world. Learn some tolerance.
Tolerance is about accepting other ideas, and points of view, not about leaving room for plainspoken hate. I grew up in the native community when I was a kid and I can appreciate the nuances NS, but that is not how you framed it at all, and in any case entirely off topic and out of the blue for no reason at all except your personal issues with native culture (why the hell are you working on buildings with/for natives if you think their culture is so wrong anyway?). As for your question, Thayer-D nope I aint got no clue what they can set aside and what they have to include, but my GUESS is they have to follow prov incial codes and can set aside local requirements, like the podiums that are all over the city, etc. They work as intended more or less, but create a lack of variety that is worth challenging. My main interest is in learning what the potential is with this special situation. It sounds like they didn't do very much other than leave out parking requirements, which is cool but not a big change in terms of urban strategy. If you know more would be interested to hear it. No need to say the native community are idiots for their beliefs nor suggest they are going to rely on magic.
If you ain’t got no clue about what they can set aside or not, why did you say they won’t be required to follow the city code? As for tolerance, thanks for the lesson, but I’ll stick with Barry
You've misunderstood or simply exaggerated beyond the misplaced snark of my post. I don't particularly want to drag this on, but you can't ignore the history of fraud and mismanagement of gov aid on behalf of a few select first nation choice people when reading about a project on this scale. As for my own projects, no, I don't currently have active projects connected to any native folks and agree with you that my impatience with any religious claims places me at odds, but I've seen first hand, when left unchecked, where these "nuances" come back against established codes and basic life-safety reqs. Likely a subject for a different time and place but I know of projects where magic was chosen, by the architect, over reality and basic life/safety. But enough about that and I'll recant the earlier snark and avoid further remarks without established and reasonable context. Point taken, is what I'm trying to say... which is far easier now that I have a proper keyboard instead of my phone.
Keyboard and browsing skills on hand, it's a shame this news pieces uses a shitty journal (Sun) with even shittier images. Antonio, for future Canadian news references... keep in mind that the SUN (of any province) lies near the bottom of the pile when looking at daily news media. A better selection of images including a master plan and previous concepts can be found here. Current tower still looks terrible thou.
Thayer, you never cease to amaze me with your lack of subtlety. For someone who puts so much effort into being clever, you're really thick.
I get your point NS, and am happy to not dwell on it. That said, I have seen all of the marginalization and pure racism directed at the native community first hand, and don't see any need to bring it into architecture, especially when it was never part of the conversation to begin with. The article was only talking about car parking and podiums after all...and as both articles point out, this is a market rate project that is able to do a few things with planning that normally would take more time or be impossible. It's still a $3 BN project, and a serious thing, in the heart of Vancouver. I have no idea why the discussion ever needed to be at any other level than that. As a final comment, I love the article you found highlights that many people in Vancouver assumed the Squamish nation would be offering lower than market rate housing because people in the city think the native community would be less greedy than the rest of the BC populace. Which of course is not the case. But still, that is a fantastic image problem to have. Who could have thought we would ever come to this?
^Agreed. Apologies for the dumpster fire distraction. As an aside, have they explained how they will address parking? It was always my understanding that the typical Vancouver podium "style" was because that was the most economical way to solve parking garages vs excavating.
I thought the Native American rites at the opening of the Chicago Architecture Biennial were quite nice. Compared to the evangelical Christians, most people I've met with animistic or traditional native beliefs tend to take them much less literally.
Don't mind me:
It's strange... I don't think this looks that much different than lots of "starchitect" tower proposals you see nowadays... which most archigentsia tend to drool over.
Correct. The whole thing is a farce.
Great property for foreign investors.
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