The Vancouver skyline will change very soon with two new residential skyscrapers that will compete head to head to see which will be the most iconic.
We can’t always choose where to live, but if we could… What would our preferences be? Would we live near the sea? From the mountains? In a big city where we can easily supply our social, technological or cultural cravings? In a luxurious property with impressive views? Vancouver and its skyscrapers meet all of these conditions.
We are talking about a coastal city surrounded by mountains and vegetation. An urban entity defined as a polycultural society that also has another incentive: two incredible residential buildings facing the sea, Fifteen Fifteen and Alberni By Kuma. These do not belong to the same promotion, but they do share the same street, number 1515 and 1550 of Alberni.
Vancouver’s Fifteen Fifteen Skyscraper
The Fifteen Fifteen residential skyscraper has been designed by the architect Büro Ole Scheeren, and its main characteristic is to have a non-uniform silhouette. It is characterized by being dotted with incoming and outgoing volumes, like stacked boxes, which seek to challenge the void. This allows a great variability of residential shapes in its 42-storey height, shapes that translate into 202 apartments.
The authorities approved the project in 2018, and construction is expected to begin shortly. The 18 most attractive residential units are those that protrude from the building. These have 270-degree views and two-story rooms, although the four luxurious three-story penthouses with terraces on each have their own.
270 degree views of the city
The designer has placed glass walls in the walls to connect with the exterior in an intuitive way, thus the architect seeks «an immersive three-dimensional connection between nature, urban life and personal space» or, in other words, views of the ciborium . In addition, for all users to enjoy them between the 29th and 30th floors, there will be a huge lounge with 270-degree views.
Of course, the luxury building will have a range of leisure areas, such as a state-of-the-art gym, a yoga studio or a cafeteria on the fourth floor. Also a private dining room and a bar area to be reserved by the owners of the skyscraper on the 29th floor. If you dare you can even customize the rooms with a palette of materials defined by the designer to reflect the natural environment of the city.
The Alberni By Kuma skyscraper
Now, as much as you love the skyscraper, if you’re in a hurry to move to Vancouver, you don’t have to wait for construction to be finished in four or five years. Right in front is the Alberni By Kuma, the other iconic and modern skyscraper, about to be finished. A spectacular building that bears the name of the most popular Japanese architect in the history of his country: Kengo Kuma.
It will be Kuma’s first skyscraper in North America, a 43-story tower that faces Stanley Park, one of the largest parks in the US and Canada. The skyscraper has a very oriental aesthetic, as it has two huge concave cuts, at the front and at the back, which gives it a very science fiction air. The sensation is as if they had bitten into the building and left its interior exposed.
A total of 181 luxury apartments
The tower will have residential apartments in a multitude of shapes. And it is that as the plant is changing in height, it would be an impossible feat to be able to replicate houses. Interestingly, the architect also stresses the connection between Vancouver and its surroundings: «I always wanted to have a project in Canada because of its closeness to nature,» he told an architecture magazine a few years ago.
The façade is covered by anodized aluminum and glass, forming different shades, but superimposed, generating a sensation of discontinuity, as if they were scales or something similar. And it is that Eastern philosophy pervades everything, from the base of the skyscraper, where a generous garden of trees and moss connects the interior and exterior, to the interior wooden walls, widely used by the architect.
The tower has 181 apartments on the real estate market, including everything from studios to three-bedroom homes. Of course, the best is at the top, three penthouses with the best views of Vancouver, large terraces and even their own garden and, very important, a private elevator landing. Confess that you are already considering which tower to stay in.