Office Skydivers

Normally, we think we’re pretty lucky to have the great staff that we do. Occasionally, we’re lucky just to have them stay alive long enough over the weekend to show up again on Monday morning. 

The steadfastly responsible, somber and occasionally comically derisive Tom Jenson skydives far more frequently than anyone would expect. He started two years ago and had done it at least three time and has plans to go again. He says he skydives as a way to celebrate his nieces' and nephews' 18th birthdays, but we think he might start doing it for no reason at all.

His affection for skydiving has been infectious and this past weekend, Chris Fedyna joined him! 

Tom: loving the view of the Alberta plains.

Tom: loving the view of the Alberta plains.

Chris: calm and serene during his first dive ever. 

Chris: calm and serene during his first dive ever. 

Coffee

Some of us here at Inertia are fans of coffee. We are fairly indiscriminate about our modes of coffee making. Yes, we have a Keurig and a Nespresso machine. We also have a grinder and a French press. What we haven't had is a coffee shop that we can walk to.

Now, this was a deliberate decision. When we signed the lease on our Highfield office we were very busy. We contemplated renting an office with a more fashionable address. But Inertia has been through one downturn in it's history, and we've learned that the last thing you want when things get slow is high overhead. As well, our commitment to our staff is unwavering, and we didn't want to be faced with the prospect of eroding our team just to pay the rent.

Which brings me back to coffee. Early in 2014, we were watching an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (which we recommend for obvious reasons), and Jerry Seinfeld took Patton Oswalt to a Handsome Coffee, a shop in Los Angeles that was quite clearly in the middle of nowhere. 

Handsome Coffee as featured in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Handsome Coffee as featured in Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

We decided to check it out. Last year, when we were in Los Angeles for the Dwell Home Tour, we took a detour to the industrial wasteland south of Downtown Los Angeles. The coffee business was going strong (as was business at the taco truck outside that would deliver your tacos right to your seat in the coffee shop!). Bluebottle has since purchased the location (and the talent), and a restaurant has moved in across the street, but we still had to pass a number of crumbling brick warehouses and razor wired lots to get there from our parking spot.

We thought, if Angelenos can have a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere, why can't we! And yet we didn't ... until just a few months ago.

The latest Analog Coffee is in our 'hood!

The latest Analog Coffee is in our 'hood!

Fratello Coffee Roasters has been in the coffee business coming on thirty years. Their roastery on 9th Street SE has served a growing number of Analog Coffee locations in Calgary as well as a much broader network of shops that serve their beans. And, a few months ago. they decided to open their training counter up as a full service coffee shop!

Darcy manning the counter at Analog in Highfield

Darcy manning the counter at Analog in Highfield

We're thrilled to be able to walk to our local coffee shop. And it's not just any shop; it's arguably the best coffee in the city. We recommend to all of our clients (and everyone else) that you pay a visit when you're in the neighbourhood. And say 'Hi' to Darcy from us!

Garage Slab

Progress continues on our Bridgeland House. Just the other day the garage slab was poured. It may seem like a basic thing, but it was more complex than it looks. Our neighbours' grade became higher than expected during their redevelopment. To avoid the possibility of their drainage collecting in our backyard, we wanted to raise our rear grade as high as possible. The grade of the back lane is fixed though, so any change in grade had to be transitioned over the garage apron and slab. But of course no-one wants to have a steep slope in their garage. The team at Rusch Projects were able to twist the apron just enough to raise the slab and therefore the backyard grade.

Framing Complete

Framing complete!

Loading the basement stair

We were on site at our Bridgeland House yesterday for a final framing review and had a chance to see the framers load the basement stair. While it's not something you think about much when living in a house, it's a significant component that takes a lot of effort to load and install. However, we think the steel and timber stair that goes to the upper floor will be even more work.

Compliments to Rusch Projects and their framing team for an excellent framing job!

Roof Framing

Gary Campbell took another series of photos of the roof trusses being erected on the top of our Bridgeland House. I guess one can't be sure, but it seems as if the framers are posing in some of these shots...

Crane

Last Friday the tall walls were craned into position on the Bridgeland House. Then, just yesterday the crane came back to place the steel beam. This beam supports the upper floor so that the main floor is completely free of posts. But the real reason the beam is there is to show itself off. The beam will be exposed at the stair which will also be made using matching steel stringers.

Gary Campbell took all of these photos. When he first sent them, we thought we'd curate the best. But they make such a great slide show, we've included them all!

Mount Pleasant R-CG Redesignation

We were at City Hall last week for a public hearing on a couple of redesignations. We were happy to have council's support in redesignating a parcel in Mount Pleasant to R-CG for an eight unit townhouse development. 

Some community members thought that this was the thin edge of the wedge to allowing rowhouses in Mount Pleasant, and that the community is going a good job of maintaining their population with current development. As well, Councillor Cabot noted that this would allow the density to double compared to the current land use.

However, Councillor Carra thought it was a great townhouse form, and that this is exactly the kind of lot that the R-CG district was designed to address. Councillor Woolley commented that this project would make living in Mount Pleasant more affordable.

Councillor Farrell expressed that 20th Avenue is the perfect candidate for row housing. The communities of Capitol Hill identified this in their recent ARP. She said that Mount Pleasant has seen significant development of large single family infills and that they also welcomed multi-family on 17th Avenue. What they don't have is product in between the multi-residential and the single family homes (sometimes called the "missing middle"). She said that this street is the perfect candidate for this. She mentioned that Council even discussed this street when they introduced the R-CG land use district. 

Councillor Carra doesn't agree with members of the community that Mount Pleasant should hold their population steady. He believes that inner city populations should be increased and sometimes significantly. Carra declared that "twentieth Avenue is the poster child for the R-CG land use". He said that the missing middle is a very important housing type to introduce to the inner city, and that even semi-detached houses are now out of the price range of normal families.

Councillor Chabot noted that there are a lot of single detached homes on 20th Avenue that haven't been converted to semi-detached. He's concerned that the City is trying to densify the city too quickly. He said that he appreciates where the applicant is going with this, but that he doesn't feel comfortable with doubling the current density that is allowed on the site or quadrupling the existing density. He said "It's going a little to much too quickly."

Woolley noted that Council approved the multi-residential infill guidelines and that this lot fits within those guidelines. He said that "It's a prime candidate for our infill guidelines" and it's a very good location. He said "I'm very supportive of this application."

Councillor Sutherland said that this was a perfect location. He noted that the density was reduced from what was originally proposed.

Councillor Farrell reiterated that this is appropriate development. She concluded that "this is a traditional land form that once developed will fit in very nicely with the community."

After discussion, Council gave three reading to the Bylaw amendments and approved the redesignation.

Unfortunately, on another item, a redesignation to allow a secondary suite in Wildwood will not be going ahead.

Foundation

Over the last week, our Bridgeland House has had it's foundation poured. The following shots show the formwork in place, the pumper truck pouring the foundation, the stripped foundation, and the main floor plate almost complete. Thanks to Gary Campbell for the photos!

Cribbing in progress.

Pumping concrete into the foundation wall cribbing.

The formwork is stripped and loaded, ready to be craned away.

 

The floor plate is almost complete.

 

Vancouver Housing Tour 2015

A few months ago, Inertia went on a housing tour of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. The area is in the middle of a housing boom, and we were able to see a wide range of product over the two day tour.

Balance

Microsuites are becoming popular in the area, but not where we expected to find them. Tien Sher's Balance project isn't in downtown Vancouver, but rather in Surrey. Many of the units were less than 400 square feet. Because it was hard for people to visualize how to use this tiny space, the smallest units were fitted out with murphy beds from Resource Furniture.

The elevation demonstrates that it is still possible to achieve something engaging while still using basic finishes.

Freemont

One of our favourite projects from the tour were Mosaic Homes' Freemont Indigo and Freemont Green in Port Coquitlam. These are mid-rise and townhouse developments respectively that are on the Pitt River near the Lougheed Highway. We were impressed by the layouts, landscaping, finishes and attention to detail. They also reminded us of comprehensive developments we've seen in Southern California, both in terms of design and presentation. Like such southern projects, Freemont shares a common private club house that features a lounge, fitness studio, meeting room, community garden, dogwash, gymnasium and a pool.

Exchange

Hayer's Exchange Townhouses in Willoughby are unexpectedly urban for being almost an hour out of Downtown Vancouver on the Trans-Canada Highway. The back-to-back layout presents the challenge of how to accommodate an attached garage, amenity space, enough bedrooms and bringing enough light into the units. The solution was to sling two storey units overtop of the garage, put a deck on the roof, limit the interior units to two bedrooms and locate the three bedroom units on the corners.

The Amazing Brentwood

We've joked about the absurdly named Amazing Brentwood project, but its the one project name that we remember without fail. Amazing is an urban development project on a massive scale. In the previously vast parking lot that surrounded a suburban mall, an increasing number of 50+ storey residential towers are being built. In combination with the nearby Skytrain station, Brentwood is quickly becoming a dense urban hub for North Burnaby.

At the time of our visit, the first tower was still just a hole in the ground. That said, at the time of this post, the first two towers are sold out and the third tower is 75% sold.

Ambleside

In West Vancouver, Grosvenor's Ambleside demonstrates what move-down living can look like when money isn't an object. This urban project is aimed at those who are simplifying their lives and who want a lock-and leave-alternative to their West Vancouver house but who don't want to leave their neighbourhood or their furniture.

This James Cheng designed building has units that range in size from about 1,000 SF to over 2,500 SF. Each unit also features private underground parking.

There wasn't much to see of the actual project yet, but their model and sales centre were spectacular.

And Many More

We toured eighteen projects in two days. Most of them were interesting, but there were certainly too many to fit into this post. After visitings a few new developents near UBC as well as the Shannon Wall Centre on Granville, we finished the second day up at the Residences at the Georgia Hotel. There we were treated to spectacular views of Downtown Vancouver and surroundings.

Clearly there is a lot of choice in the Vancouver housing market whether you want to live 50 storeys in the sky or in under 500 square feet. Issues of a housing bubble or foreign investment aside, we were able to bring back some great ideas that we continue to incorporate into our new designs.

Ten Years of Inertia!

Ten years ago today, Trent Letwiniuk, Stephen Barnecut and Paul Shannon met for breakfast and decided to go to the registry office before the end of the day and start a partnership. It didn't take long for us to become incorporated and grow out of working from our homes. We joined forces for a while with a number of small design firms including Casola Koppe Architects (where Paul is currently plying his skills).

More recently, Inertia has doubled the size of our office, increased our staff to eight, and started a sister company called Gravity Architecture which specializes in multi-residential and mixed use projects.

We're looking forward to the next ten years!

Holiday Hours

Inertia's office will be closed from December 23rd through to December 27th, and then again from December 30th through to January 3rd, 2016. Our office is open on December 28th and 29th, and we are open and back to our regular schedule on January 4th, 2016.

For urgent after-hours matters, please call Trent at (403) 464-7721 or Stephen at (403) 617-2724.