From last week’s post we’re going to walk just a few steps to the project next door, and BIG’s next apartment building. With one successful project under their belt, the (same) developer was willing to loosen the reins a bit. So, naturally, they built a mountain.
Named just that, the idea was to tweak the usual concept of parking below/apartments above by skewing the whole thing into a giant slope, and where this slope is made up of overlapping units. Never thicker than one overlap, this arrangement allows each unit to be a balcony garden for the unit one level up. In other words, starting at ground level, each unit has its own yard as the building slides upward towards the sky. With each yard ringed by planters, it’s become a lush green hillside.
Just as nice, both the parking underneath and the pathways to the apartments are not rough afterthoughts. The sides of the building are covered in giant metal scrims that follow the apartment’s stacking and onto which are etched a giant photo of a mountain. Access to the apartments themselves are from the back of the units in a series of glazed hallways that open to the equally angled parking ramps, each hallway a unique beacon of colour. (Which is also visible from the exterior and very impressive at night!) Most niftily, since a regular elevator wouldn’t work, an angular funicular-like car connects the levels together.
Plus, as a bonus, you get this mural as you enter the garage!
Another great project idea, executed with aplomb. It takes the programmatic requirements (a parking garage, a stack of apartments) and re-mixes them in a way that makes each one better and allows for that unique thing: the spacious gardens. I also appreciate how, despite it could be considered a “Phase 2” of apartments for the same developer on a site right adjacent the first, it became its own thing, providing variety for both the inhabitants and the cityscape. Sweet indeed.
Lynx Thoughts 