UBCO stretches out ‘vertical’ campus plan
The new vertical campus planned by UBC Okanagan for downtown Kelowna could rise 46 storeys, significantly higher than initially planned. It would be the tallest building in the city.
Terms of a proposed comprehensive development zone for the downtown campus are now under review by city planners.
“The purpose is to provide a zone for the development of a comprehensively planned downtown university campus; to allow the full range of academic, research and other supporting land uses essential to a leading-edge university program and campus,” the document states.
The proposed CD-28 zone stipulates a maximum building height of 46 storeys, or 160 metres, and lists 11 permitted land uses: housing, education, office, cultural and recreational, child care, indoor recreation, retail, religious assemblies, health services, professional services, and a liquor-primary business.
Plans considered late last year by city planners for the downtown campus, at 550 Doyle Ave., showed a tower of 124 metres, consisting of eight storeys of academic space and 24 floors of student housing with a total of 352 units.
“The development permit has continued to evolve since the application in December,” top city planner Ryan Smith said Monday in an email. “The current proposal is for 46 storeys and 155 metres.”
“Therefore, the comprehensive development zone has been crafted to allow a little flexibility in the final overall height, including mechanical equipment,” Smith said.
Plans show the School of Nursing will have a major presence in the new campus, along with the School of Social Work and the School of Health and Exercise Science.
“The design of a vertical campus is something quite new in the history of architecture,” the December submission by the university to the city stated, saying the downtown Kelowna building would reference other highrise universities such as Ryerson in Toronto and Columbia University in New York.
For the project to proceed, city council will have to approve the comprehensive development zone. There is currently no date for when that will occur.
At 46 storeys or 155 metres, the UBC Okanagan downtown campus would be the tallest building between Vancouver and Calgary.
Currently, the highest building is the 119 metre (36 storey) One Water Street West tower. City council has approved plans for a 135 metre (42 storey) tall tower as part of the Water Street by the Park project on Lawrence Avenue, but construction is not planned by the developer until 2025.