ole scheeren designs twin residential towers with offset volumes to resemble vancouver's diverse streetscape

büro ole scheeren draws from the texture and scale of vancouver‘s west end for the design of barclay village, a pair of towers that merges a mix of residences with public amenities, communal spaces and green areas that extend to the building’s top floors. reflecting the heterogeneity of the urban context, which comprises a range of small and medium-scale structures, and a patchwork of green spaces, the design comprises cubic volumes of varying sizes that form the distinctive silhouettes of twin towers.

all images © büro ole scheeren

‘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,’ explains ole scheeren. multiple receding platforms, balconies and terraces reference the small-scale spaces of the street level, while the ‘permeable’ tower base is finished with various pockets of greenery that fuse the two structures into the surroundings. ‘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,”‘ scheeren notes.

the twin towers are conceived as separate entities, yet they are connected both with each other and with the urban spaces around them. physically, they are linked with a multi-layered bridge that creates a semi-internal courtyard, while the space between them is defined by various amenities including lobbies, a gym, retail and recreational facilities, and a daycare center. commissioned by bosa and kingswood properties, the project integrates 30% social housing along with market rental and condominiums for sale.