A new five-storey laneway apartment building in Vancouver’s Commercial Drive neighbourhood offers a glimpse into the future of density in the city, while also raising questions about who exactly density is for in Vancouver.
The development, designed by Cornerstone Architecture, is around a month from completion and soon to go on the rental market. Its uniqueness lies in its height and location at the backend of a larger property, much like a laneway house, which architect Scott Kennedy quipped about on Twitter.
This is our 5 storey version of a laneway house on a 33’ corner lot. 8 suites. Heritage building in front preserved. Unfortunately not a passive house pic.twitter.com/Ycxb3mtVad
— Scott Kennedy (@ScottMKennedy) May 12, 2020
The infill development has four one-bedroom units and four two-bedroom units spread over four floors, in addition to a ground floor serving as a lobby area. The building was also developed under heritage requirements, which necessitated preserving the heritage building at the front end of the property. Cornerstone architect Luke Han, who worked closely on the project, says he had to get creative with the tight property lines in order to fit all eight units on the 9,560-square-foot site, although they were able to receive a slight exemption to the height limit.