CONNECT | Multi-Family Dwelling

Qingqing (APRIL) LIU + Xinyu (Jenny) Ye

Located in the Mountain Pleasant Neighborhood, this project explores the possibility of converting a single-family home to a multi-family dwelling under the pressure of the housing crisis within the Vancouver context. The design principle revolves around the concept “Doing Things Together”, promoting indoor dialogues between the residents. The building evolved from a single volume mass, divided in two and pulled apart to add in a third component, the central atrium. As the third volume, the atrium acts as the spine that both connects and separates the two-building mass. The design layout follows the public to private rubric, radiating from the most public area in the center to private spaces to the ends. To distinguish between the public and private area, the space height of all public areas are elevated by 0.5 meters, forming split levels. With a large opening in the center of the house, the atrium enhances the everyday experience by creating an open interconnected space from the rooftop to the basement. The basement of the house has a separate unit available for future rent.