STRIKING SPACES
Homes at The Morrison will have an eye-catching look, inside and out
Architect Alec Smith took an immediate shine to the site for The Morrison, where he has designed a boutique collection of 40 townhouses and condos in the fast developing Moodyville area of North Vancouver.
“I was really excited,” said Smith, whose firm SHAPE Architecture was commissioned to design the group of buildings on the contoured property. “No. 1 is that it’s a sloping site that offers incredible views towards the city (of Vancouver) and also past Stanley Park to Lions Gate Bridge. A sloped site like that allows you to step the massing of the buildings and open up views for a number of different units around the complex.”
He also noted that the property, part of a community plan that envisions the construction of about 2,000 multi-family homes stretched along several blocks of Third Street, provided apartment zoning that permitted generously sized townhomes averaging between 1,900 and 2,100 square feet.
Smith said he and his partner’s time in London, England, played a major influence on the final design of The Morrison. His West London neighbourhood featured “mews”— rows or streets of houses or apartments that have been converted from stables or built to look like former stables, typically with rooms above and built along an alley or courtyard. The Morrison’s layout features inner courtyards with front doors opening on to the interior space on some homes, while others have front doors with stoops like the brownstones of New York City. The final result is an pleasing blend of the traditional whitewashed brick and front stairs and simple modern lines.
“We’re using a kind of townhouse model where people can sit on their stoops and meet their neighbours,” he said. “It’s that kind of notion, a kind of social glue that holds this thing together that I’m most excited about.”
The slope of the site also allowed Smith to incorporate another design element — the light well — to address the classic problem of the lack of light available for townhomes in the middle of a building with no windows on each side.
Some of the units also have what Smith described as an inverted plan: the ground-level entry leads into a foyer between bedrooms on the first level, up stairs to the kitchen, dining and living spaces above, maximizing the potential views of the city. It also drew a stronger connection between those second-level amenities and the rooftop patio.
Andrea Sinow, who with husband Harald established CREO Developments to build their first multi-family development, said their goal was to create a place where homeowners would be encouraged by design to socialize with each other.
“We really wanted to create a community space where people get to know their neighbours,” she said. “With condos, you go up the elevator and into your place, and you sometimes don’t even know who is on either side of you.”
“With everybody having a front door when you come in off the courtyard, you’re going to get to know your neighbours. I think that is very special. Everyone has their own personal front door, creating that sense of home, and that lends itself to meeting your neighbours.”
The site also represented an opportunity to increase the inventory of townhomes, which are filling a need for affordable, but flexible housing. “I personally believe the townhomes are a great addition at a time when we don’t have enough of them,” she said.
“People can’t quite afford a single-family home, but they don’t want a condo, so this is middle ground.”
The Morrison, named after a North Shore builder who constructed homes from Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay, is being built to LEED (gold) standards, a green rating system that measures a building’s overall sustainability performance in eight categories.
For instance, its in-floor heating, guided by efficient Nest learning thermostats, will be fed by the Lonsdale Energy Corp.’s district energy utility, which supplies hot water circulated through underground piping and mini-plants and optional air conditioning.
The Morrison also provides another district-mandated amenity, put in place because of low local vacancy rates. Built into some of the townhomes are “lock-off suites” with separate entrances, which can either be legally rented out or used as additional family spaces.
The spacious floor plans feature over-height ceilings on the main levels and wide-plank engineered white-oak flooring. The bedrooms and flex rooms have wool blend broadloom carpeting.
In the kitchen are premium Bosch stainless steel appliances, including a gas cooktop, built-in dishwasher and a 36-inch french door fridge. Also included is a stainless steel built-in microwave and LG washer and dryer, with side-byside models in many homes.
Dominating the kitchen is an eight- or nine-foot-long quartz island counter that comfortably seats four people. Overhead is pendant lighting or recessed pot lighting. Cabinetry is sleek flatpanel style in dark oak or white with soft-close doors and drawers. Pantry storage is provided in some select units and USB charging outlets are available in all units.
In the bathroom are large-format porcelain tiles in marble and matte grey finishes with Nu Heat in-floor heating, while countertops are crafted in quartz.
We’re using a kind of townhouse model where people can sit on their stoops and meet their neighbours.
The floating vanity has flat-panel cabinet doors and porcelain undermount sinks. Master bathroom showers are the frameless glass variety, complemented by a soaker tub and a water-efficient toilet.
The rooftop gardens, a feature in 25 of the 40 homes, are plumbed for water and gas and equipped with electrical outlets, said Sinow. The parking below has a dog-wash station and a bicycle repair bench, which are conveniences that fit well with the nearby Moodyville Park and the Spirit Trail, which leads to Lonsdale Quay shopping and the 12-minute SeaBus ride to downtown Vancouver.
The Morrison turned out to be the perfect living formula for digital web marketer Samantha Ellis and her fiancé, Eddy Gudewill, a financial analyst with a downtown Vancouver firm.
They currently live in a 700-square-foot apartment in Kitsilano and look forward to moving up to a 1,200-square-foot, twobedroom townhome with a rooftop garden when the development is completed in 2019.
“I spend a lot of time on the North Shore for work. I run a digital marketing agency and so I’m always heading over there to see clients. I became more familiar with the Lonsdale community and fell in love with it.
“It’s neighbourly, and it’s a little quieter than being on the outskirts of downtown Vancouver.”
The couple want to start a family and face the same dilemma a lot of people their age encounter: do they move out to places such White Rock or Langley to find space enough for raising a family or stay closer to the city?
They chose the North Shore, Ellis said, because it has good schools, excellent workout facilities and great restaurants, and is close to nature with the wilderness trails nearby for their pet Labrador.