Büro Ole Scheeren Unveils Design for Residential Twin Towers in Vancouver
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‘Barclay Village’ in Vancouver’s vibrant West End is a sensitive insertion into an existing neighborhood and marks Buro Ole Scheeren’s ongoing engagement in creating new architectural typologies that promote social cohesiveness in dense urban contextsBüro Ole Scheeren Unveils Design for Residential Twin Towers in Vancouver
‘Barclay Village’ in Vancouver’s vibrant West End is a sensitive insertion into an existing neighborhood and marks Buro Ole Scheeren’s ongoing engagement in creating new architectural typologies that promote social cohesiveness in dense urban contexts.Located at the midpoint between Vancouver’s bustling Davie and Robson Villages, Ole Scheeren’s design draws inspiration from the texture and scale of the surrounding urban fabric and folds the typologies of the two historic villages from the horizontal into the vertical, creating carefully articulated twin towers that integrate into the local neighborhood. Dubbed ‘Barclay Village’, the project merges a diverse mix of residences with public amenities, communal spaces and a network of green areas that extend to the building’s top floors.Commissioned by Bosa and Kingswood Properties, the development uniquely integrates social housing, market rental and condominiums for sale in a residential complex that goes beyond the stratified apartment block and offers a multitude of shared spaces for social interaction.Ole Scheeren says: “Whereas tower typologies by default reinforce isolation and division, ‘Barclay Village’ proposes a design that becomes an extension of the local neighborhood and community and that opens up the confines of the tower to reconnect architecture with its natural and social environment.”The twin towers are not conceived as separate entities but are closely connected with each other and the natural and urban spaces around them. Above the ground levels, a multi-layered bridge physically joins the two structures and creates a semi-internal courtyard that is both protected whilst remaining open to the street.In contrast to the typical tower base with hard street edges and limited access, the design for ‘Barclay Village’ proposes a softer, permeable approach with a series of receding plateaus that allow the surrounding greenery to overgrow and fuse the structures into the streetscape.“Through the integration of nature on the various terraced spaces of the twin towers, we are extending the typology of the ‘tower in the park’ defined by Vancouver’s West End Plan through the idea of bringing the ‘park into the tower,’” says Ole Scheeren.‘Barclay Village’ will mark Buro Ole Scheeren’s second project in Vancouver after the unveiling of 1500 West Georgia in 2015, now rebranded as ‘Fifteen Fifteen’ — a residential tower in a pivotal location of the city whose distinctive design reaches out to engage the surrounding city and nature. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more