The city of Vancouver approved a developer’s plan for the construction of Canada’s tallest buildings west of Toronto.
At the centre of Holborn Group’s proposal for four new buildings is a hotel which may potentially reach 315 meters (1,033 feet) high.
If it is ultimately built to that height, it would be Vancouver’s first project above the 300-meter threshold deemed by urbanists as “super-tall.”
However, Canada’s civil aviation agency has indicated to the developer that a reduction of 27 meters may be required. That would take the hotel out of the super-tall category, but it would still count as western Canada’s tallest building.
The design by Henriquez Partners Architects envisions a diagonal grid exoskeleton, which Holborn says is inspired by the “skeletal lattice” of glass sea sponges, a deep-sea creature found off the coast of British Columbia. They say the design allows for more column-free interiors. The hotel would be topped with an observation deck.
Altogether, the developer says its plan — a cluster of three towers and a separate building several blocks away in downtown Vancouver — would add 1,783 housing units, including 237 for social housing.
There would be 920 hotel rooms and 70,000 square feet of conference and meeting space.
Although Vancouver is known for its striking glass-and-steel skyline, it’s been undergoing a real estate slowdown amid macroeconomic pressures, higher interest rates, lower immigration levels and restrictions on foreign investment. Other tower proposals have fallen through in recent years.
Canada’s tallest building is Toronto’s CN Tower, which is 553 meters and once held the title of the world’s largest freestanding structure. The country’s tallest habitable structure will soon be the Pinnacle One Yonge SkyTower in the same city. The condo project, which is around 350 meters, is approaching completion.
In April, Vancouver also approved a floating 250-room hotel — or “floatel” — in its scenic Coal Harbour area.