There’s general recognition that as Vancouver densifies outside the downtown, we will have to do so with more mid-rise forms, rather than the ‘traditional’ point-and-podium highrise. Now would be a good time for designers to check out Brisbane and other Australian cities for examples and lessons. They seem to have surer hand when it comes to working with buildings up to about eight stories, using a more modernist vocabulary than we have been comfortable with.
Here are a couple of West End apartment buildings the community has been comfortable with:
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Note the spacious balconies on this one:
Without lane access at the back, though, the underground parking has required a driveway that interrupts the continuity of the pathway.
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Notching up a few stories, here is some fine work at Hamilton, a new development area along the Brisbane River:
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Even at Chermside, in deepest Motordom, residential midrises are emerging to add some density to an otherwise car-dominated landscape – much to the surprise of some who question whether Brisbaners are prepared to live along arterials.
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Brisbane has been introducing the podium-based tower, though they seem more comfortable with the block than the point, probably to keep the density up but the height down.
Gordon – thank you for these images. There s a certain Miami Vice airiness and character to some of the buildings due, one assumes, to similar climatic conditions and perhaps mid- century modernist design influences.
Do you know what these buildings are made of, structurally? I’m guessing not wood, but is it concrete, steel or a combination?