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The Waterfall Building is a mixed use development. The ground floor is entirely commercial. The rest of the development is a mixture of commercial and "live/work". The commercial space is for general office, retail or service use. The live/work space is legally more limited in application, although in practice many of the uses permitted in commercial space can also take place in live/work space, provided there is no conflict with residential occupancy. My first development of this style, 1529 West 6th Avenue, represents a cross section of small business and artistic applications. Artists, photographers, musicians and many types of designers are complimented by consultants, production studios and art galleries. The mix is lively, eclectic and stimulating. The Waterfall Building is different from this earlier building in several important ways. It is an effort to advance our understanding of better ways of accommodating the requirements of residential and commercial users, and is optimized for people with more intensive commercial requirements who wish to have their residential and commercial premises separated, but in the same building. The hallways are enclosed spaces, removed from the public atrium. This may better align the open daytime environment with some users expectations of residential privacy. The five building design and split elevator arrangement increase the possibility of partitioning access to the upper studios, allowing increased privacy to specific areas of the building. Versatility is a primary requirement of any substantial building. It is impossible to say what the future will bring, and so it makes sense to design and zone today's buildings for the broadest range of potential uses possible. This makes environmental and economic sense, preserving the value of the structure and the investment of its owners. The interior partitioning is mostly arbitrary. Walls between units are not structural, and can be readily moved or removed, to create different or much larger spaces. And the live/work zoning uniquely allows for such changes without the requirement of rezoning individual units for new applications, assuring future value. 1540 West Second was completed only a few months ago, but it is already a part of Vancouver's heritage. Aimed squarely at the future, it is one of the most important and beautiful buildings in the city. |
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