Evoking natural forms within the historic human scale of urban fabric on the west coast.
As part of a collaboration with Christian Foyd, Cascadia Architects prepared this design study for TenFold Projects Inc.
The Apex site is located at the triangular corner of Humboldt Street and Douglas Street in downtown Victoria, and the podium of the building interfaces the physical public realm with the tower gesturing to the cultural and aesthetic public space.
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The podium, crafted with warm natural historic materials such as heavy timber Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and West Coast Granite, literally displays the public and institutional functions to the street as precious artifacts that, in their physical integration, allow residents and visitors to experience the intertwined history of cultures that have created our city of Victoria.
In particular, one oversized ‘art box’ protruding at the podium’s façade is showcasing large objects from contemporary media art to large scale Songhees artifacts like whaling canoes or similar. A landscaped outdoor level at the top of the podium adds a vertical component to the public realm and extends the urban tree canopy and natural landscape through the site.
The façade of the art hotel above the podium shows soft lines, shaped by the external forces of context. Fritted glass, laser cut panels and soft shimmering integrated LED lighting will evoke a sense of the organic, artistic impulse. At the top floor the hotel restaurant and viewing areas will provide public access to panoramic views of the Inner Harbour, Beacon Hill, and the Humboldt Valley.
