Program: A five-story, 18,800-square-foot extended-stay hotel in Vancouver's historic Chinatown. Adapted from a 1910 masonry and timber warehouse that once housed the Vancouver Gas Company, the project includes a ground-floor restaurant and three full-floor suites in the existing shell, plus a newly constructed fifth-floor suite with an enclosed courtyard and a roof deck with a lap pool.
Design concept and solution: With an interest in urban densification, Gair Williamson aimed to preserve a part of Chinatown's heritage through a design that reveals each stage in the building's life. The architects retained the masonry shell and inserted three full-floor suites above the lobby. They shrank the width of the light well to gain floor space in the narrow building, using gray stucco for the new expanse of exterior wall. Clad in the same stucco and recessed from street, the new fifth floor forms a "T" with the new wall, so that these additions appear to rise from within the building and differentiate the new from the old. Inside the suites, Gair Williamson inserted balconies into the remaining light well. Sliding glass walls and doors allow guests to either open the balcony to the outdoors or open it to the kitchen, so that it functions as an exposed balcony in the summer and a usable dining area in the winter.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.