Condo project with shifting floor plates in Cambie Village gets support from Vancouver city planners

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      A condo development with a unique design on Cambie Street has been endorsed by planners with the City of Vancouver.

      The proposed project features shifting floor plates, making for a distinctive look.

      “By shifting each floor plate in an opposite direction over alternating floors, covered outdoor space is provided for residential units,” according to open house boards for the development at 3220 Cambie Street.

      The project is a six-storey condo development with 48 housing units above commercial spaces on the ground floor.

      According to the developer’s presentation material, the “façade design uses variation in geometry to bridge the scale gap between the commercial building along Cambie Street and the low rise residential blocks adjacent to it”.

      The building’s massing is “separated into several vertical modules that break up what would otherwise be a…continuous façade, providing more variation along Cambie Street”.

      “The facade ‘shift’ breaks down the mass of the building; the expression and scale of the shifted units relates to the residential neighborhood to the east, while the overall height and the dynamic and open retail spaces on the ground level engage the lively rhythms of Cambie Street,” according to the presentation boards.

      An application was filed by Wesgroup Properties on behalf of West 16th Avenue & Cambie Street Investments Ltd. to change the zoning of the site, currently a community garden, from commercial to comprehensive.

      Theresa O’Donnell, deputy director of current planning with the City of Vancouver, prepared a report to council about the rezoning application.

      “Based on the prominent location of the site, unique building design and minimal shadowing on the neighbouring properties, staff are generally supportive of the height and density…,” O’Donnell wrote.

      O’Donnell noted that the site is at the southeast corner of Cambie Street and West 16th Avenue.

      “This proposal is the first rezoning application under the Cambie Corridor Plan in the Cambie Village area,” O’Donnell stated.

      The city’s Cambie Corridor Plan covers areas along and near Cambie Street, from 16th Avenue in the north to the Fraser River in the south.

      The plan includes four Canada Line stations.

      The corridor has been divided into five neighbourhoods in recognition that a one-size-fits-all does not work.

      Cambie Village includes areas on and around Cambie Street from West 16th Avenue to King Edward Avenue.

      “The Cambie Village will be strengthened and enhanced as a walkable, mixed-use urban village with local-serving shops and services, and a mix of housing types and tenures,” according to the Cambie Corridor Plan.

      The plan provides that new mid-rise buildings along Cambie Street will have “small-scale store fronts to provide local serving retail and interesting pedestrian streetscapes”.

      According to O’Donnell’s report to council, there will be four ground-level commercial and retail units at the 3220 Cambie Street project.

      “Staff conclude that the proposed form of development is an appropriate urban design response to the site and its context, and that the application, along with the recommended conditions of approval, is consistent with the Cambie Corridor Plan with regards to land use, density, height and form,” O’Donnell wrote. 

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