Crosstown, Vancouver, Canada
Campos Leckie Studio
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
A hip young couple living in Vancouver’s
Yaletown entertainment district gets married and decides to start a family. Requiring more space than they can afford in Yaletown, but deliberately wanting to avoid the typical retreat to the suburbs, the couple purchases a run-down loft space a few blocks away in Crosstown – i.e. on the edge of Vancouver’s ‘undesirable’
Lower East Side neighborhood. With modest means and a tight timeline (baby on the way) a former after-hours party venue was converted into a home for a growing family.
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
The existing building at 550 Beatty St was Vancouver’s first ‘New York style
open plan loft’ – a 1907 warehouse that was originally retrofitted into residential open-plan
lofts in 1981. In this new third iteration of the life of the building, the two-floor dwelling is programmed with 1000sf of living and entertaining ‘public’ space upstairs and 1000sf of convertible sleeping and play ‘private’ space downstairs.
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
The lower floor plan employs a series of sliding partitions that convert the layout from a single open plan space during the day, into a two bedroom plus nursery layout at night.
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
Points of Interest
This project presents an alternative to suburban living for young families. The decisions of individual families to collectively reclaim neglected parts of the urban fabric presents a compelling model for urban revitalization and adaptive re-use. The design demonstrates a creative architectural response to the challenges of creating ‘rooms’ in generic loft spaces – which typically only have access to light and air at one end of an extremely deep floor plan.
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
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| Photo © Courtesy of John Sinal |
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| upper floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Campos Leckie Studio |
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| lower floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Campos Leckie Studio |
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| section--drawing Courtesy of Campos Leckie Studio |
The people
Architects: Campos Leckie Studio
Location: Crosstown, Vancouver, Canada
Site characteristics: Urban split-level loft
Program: Convertible spaces – 2 bdrm, nursery, 1.5 bath, kitchen, living, dining, roof deck
Project area: 2,000 sq. ft.
Project year: 2009
Photographs: John Sinal
via:archdaily
