urban design brief - waterloo, ontario · an urban design brief is required as part of a complete...

Urban Design Brief

40 Blue Springs Drive

Club Willowells

City of Waterloo Official Plan Amendment Zoning By-law Amendment December 2017

Contents

1. Background ............................................................................1

Proposal ...................................................................................1

Application ...............................................................................1

Purpose and Outline ................................................................1

Supporting Studies & Materials ...............................................1

2. Proposed Development Details ...........................................2

3. Existing Site Conditions .......................................................7

Location and Description .........................................................7

Existing Topography ................................................................8

Existing Buildings ....................................................................8

Existing Access and Parking ...................................................8

Existing Vegetation ..................................................................8

4. Surrounding Context ...........................................................10

Broader Area Context ............................................................10

Abutting Property Context .....................................................11

5. Policy & Guideline Framework .......................................... 12

Waterloo Official Plan ............................................................ 12

Waterloo Urban Design Manual ............................................ 13

6. Design Basis & Response .................................................. 14

Existing Vegetation and Grading .......................................... 14

Character ............................................................................... 15

Building Massing ................................................................... 16

Building Articulation & Materials............................................ 19

Building Base ........................................................................ 19

Circulation, Connectivity and Transit-Oriented Design ......... 24

Parking .................................................................................. 25

Landscape Design, Amenities and Open Space .................. 26

Sustainable Design ............................................................... 27

7. Conclusions ......................................................................... 28

APPENDIX A Shadow Impact Graphics

Urban Design Brief | 40 Blue Springs Drive 1 GSP Group with ABA Architects | December 2017

1. Background

Proposal

Club Willowells is proposing a mixed, higher intensity residential

building on a site within the existing “Willowells” neighbourhood in

Waterloo. The proposed building is a 15-storey hybrid form of

building containing 179 residential units, comprised of a base with

townhouse units lining the edge of an apartment form and a tower

that extends from this base. The proposed development would see

the demolition of the existing recreation building and outdoor facilities

on the site and the construction of the residential building.

Application

The site is designated “Open Space” in the Waterloo Official Plan

and “Green Zone” in the Waterloo Zoning By-law, neither of which

permit the proposed residential development. The proposed Official

Plan Amendment seeks to redesignate the site to a “Mixed Use

Residential” designation while the proposed Zoning By-law

Amendment seeks to rezone the site to a “Multiple Residential

(MR25) Zone” with site-specific regulations tailored to the site and

the proposed development concept.

Purpose and Outline

An Urban Design Brief is required as part of a complete application

for the proposed Amendments, per the June 2017 pre-application

consultation meeting for the site. The Urban Design Report is

specifically meant to include “a review of the City’s Urban Design

Manual as well as provide design direction for the development of

the lands”. Accordingly, this Urban Design Report:

o Outlines the key development details of the proposed

development (Section 2)

o Describes the site’s existing physical conditions (Section 3);

o Describes the site’s surrounding context (Section 4);

o Summarizes the principal City policy and guideline documents

applicable to the subject site and the relevant sections as they

relate to the proposed development (Section 5);

o Overviews how the proposed design incorporates and

responds to the applicable design-related policies and

guidelines (Section 6); and,

o Summarizes the design merits of the proposed development

(Section 7).

Supporting Studies & Materials

This Urban Design Report has considered the following plans and

reports supporting the proposed application as well as relevant City

policy and guidelines documents:

o Conceptual Site Plan drawings prepared by ABA Architects;

o Building elevation and renderings by ABA Architects;

o Shadow impact graphics prepared by ABA Architects;

o General Vegetative Overview and Tree Management Plan

prepared by GSP Group;

o Planning Justification Report prepared by GSP Group;

o The City of Waterloo Official Plan;

o The City of Waterloo Zoning By-law No. 1418; and,

o The City of Waterloo Urban Design Manual.


2. Proposed Development Details

The proposed development contains a 15-storey

multiple residential building containing 179 units

in total. The building includes a 5-storey base that

incorporates including 2-storey townhouse units

that line the edges of the building base (and line

internally the parking garage) and apartment

units above making up the remainder of the base.

An 10-storey tower extends from the 5-storey

base at the southwest corner of the site. A

parking garage incorporated as one underground

level and two above-grade levels provides a total

of 200 parking spaces. Building amenity features

include an indoor amenity room, a rooftop

communal amenity terrace, individual unit

terraces or balconies, and an at-grade communal

open space.


The plan of the building’s ground floor shows the active ground floor uses (lobby and townhouse units)

lining Blue Springs Drive.


The plan of the building’s 3rd floor shows the stepped-back upper storeys and walkout individual terraces.


The plan of the building’s 6th floor shows the tower footprint and the communal amenity terraces and

green roofs sitting atop the building base.


3. Existing Site Conditions

Location and Description

The subject site is a 1-hectare parcel forming part

of the property known municipally as 40 Blue

Springs Drive in Waterloo. This parcel is

intended to be severed from the remainder of the

5-hectare property that is not subject to the

proposed development and applications (“subject

site” or “site” throughout this Urban Design Brief

refers to this 1-hecare parcel that is subject to the

proposed redevelopment). The site is located on

the north side of Blue Springs Drive between King

Street North and Tealby Crescent. It has

approximately 64 metres of frontage along Blue

Springs Drive and a depth that varies owing to its

irregular shape.

Subject site’s location as part of the broader 40 Blue Springs Drive property shown in yellow (red emphasis added to Waterloo City Map base).

Site


Existing Topography

The site is generally flat with grades that gradually drop from

southwest-to-northeast across the site towards Four Wells Lake.

Grade changes are more pronounced near the water’s edge with

retaining walls and the lakeside boardwalk.

Existing Buildings

The site currently contains the Club Willowells recreation centre with

associated outdoor recreational facilities serving the condominium

owners in the residential buildings. The 2-storey recreation centre

building contains indoor recreation and amenity space. Supporting

the internal space, the outdoors area of the site contains four outdoor

tennis courts, two shuffleboard courts, an outdoor patio and

associated parking.

Existing Access and Parking

There are two vehicular accesses to the site to the east and west of

the building respectively. There is a drop-off lane on the east side of

the building, and there is a 11-space surface parking lot on the west

side of the building. There are concrete walkways lining the building

edge and leading throughout the ground, but no defined connection

to the public sidewalk along the site’s Blue Springs Drive frontage.

Existing Vegetation

Existing vegetation on the site is generally characterized as a series

of ornamental plantings of deciduous and coniferous trees and

shrubs as well as open lawn throughout the general grounds. Most

trees and shrubs are situated near the water’s edge and building

edges.

View of subject site looking to the club house from the southeast (top) and to the clubhouse and outdoor courts from the west

(bottom).


Approximate site boundaries for proposed development (red-line emphasis added to base from ACI Surveying)


4. Surrounding Context

Broader Area Context

The Willowells neighbourhood forms part of a broader mixed-use

area generally bounded by Weber Street North, Lexington

Road/Columbia Road East, and the Conestoga Parkway, and which

is bisected by the King Street corridor. Separated by the Forwell

Creek natural corridor, there is a low-rise residential neighbourhood

comprised principally of detached dwellings to the east. The King

Street corridor to the west contains a mixture of automobile-related

commercial and employment uses and forms. The larger retail node

surrounding the King Street and Weber Street intersection is situated

to the south of Blue Springs Drive.

The Willowells neighbourhood is situated at the northwestern end of

a broader greenspace corridor that stretches generally from the

Conestoga Parkway and King Street down to University Avenue and

across to Bechtel Park and ultimately the Grand River. The

neighbourhood incorporates “Four Wells Lake” which runs through

the central portion and is key element of the neighbourhood’s

amenity sitting alongside Blue Spring Park.

The Willowells neighbourhood benefits from proximity to the broader

transportation network. The neighbourhood is within 800 metres of

the Conestoga Parkway to the north and is connected to King Street

North as a north/south corridor within Waterloo, connecting to

Uptown Waterloo and Downtown Kitchener to the south and

Conestoga Mall and St. Jacobs to the north. Two GRT bus stops are

located within 200 metres of the neighbourhood just north of the

intersection of King Street North and Blue Springs Drive, providing

connections to larger hub of Conestoga Mall and the ION station.

There are sidewalks on both sides of Blue Springs Drive and King

Street North, with the nearest signalized crossing is at Blue Springs

Drive and King Street North. The Forwell Trail provides pedestrian

connections through the greenspace corridor to the north/east of the

neighbourhood.


Abutting Property Context

Northeast/East: the northern and eastern sides of the subject site

abut the edges of the central, largest portion of the Four Well Lake

which stretches throughout the Willowells neighbourhood. Across

the waterbody, three 6-storey residential buildings (50, 52 and 54

Blue Springs Drive) face the east side of the subject site.

Northwest/West: an 8/9-storey residential building sits on the

property (30 Blue Springs Drive) abutting the northwest and west

sides of the subject site. The building’s position is separated from

the subject site by the entrance driveway from Blue Springs Drive

and this building’s surface parking area to the front. Beyond the

entrance driveway, there is a one-storey commercial building (450

King Street) with surface parking to the front along King Street North

and with access from Blue Springs Drive.

South: across Blue Springs Drive, the subject site is faced by a 2-

storey parking structure lining the Blue Springs Drive that is

associated with the commercial building at the corner of Blue Springs

Drive and King Street (1 Blue Springs Drive), as well as the rear area

of a large format commercial building (24 Forwell Creek Road). To

the east of these properties the subject site is faced by a 3-storey

residential building at its southeast corner.

View of surrounding properties to the east, northwest/west and south of the subject site.


5. Policy & Guideline Framework

Waterloo Official Plan

The subject site is designated “Open Space” in the Waterloo Official

Plan, however, the proposed Official Plan Amendment would

redesignate the site to “Mixed-Use High Density Residential” to

accommodate the proposed residential development. The Mixed-

Use High Density Residential designation is intended to provide

opportunities for significant levels of residential intensification, while

allowing for complementary and ancillary uses, to support major

nodes and corridors of Waterloo. The maximum height in the

designation is 81 metres (25-27 storeys generally).

The general urban design policies of Section 3.11.1 and the

additional design guidelines for nodes in Section 3.11.2 provide

direction for the development of the site. Generally, these policies

provide design direction on the follow topics for the subject site:

o Existing Features;

o Character;

o Compatibility of Form;

o Circulation and Connectivity;

o Building Massing;

o Building Design and Articulation;

o Parking;

o Landscape Design and Open Space;

o Transit-Oriented Design;

o Sustainable Design; and,

o Safety and Security.

Excerpt of land use plan (Schedule A) from the Waterloo Official Plan.


Waterloo Urban Design Manual

The Urban Design Manual implements the general policy direction of

the Official Plan. Portions of the general urban design guidelines of

Part 2 of the Waterloo Urban Design Manual and the supplemental

design guidelines of Part 3 are relevant to the subject site. The

following sections of these guidelines are particularly relevant to the

development form proposed for the subject site, recognizing the

preliminary design relates to the approvals process for an Official

Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment and that detailed

design has not been undertaken at this time:

o 2.1.1 Pedestrian-Friendly Design;

o 2.1.2 Human-Scale Development;

o 2.1.3 Compatible Development;

o 2.1.4 Safety and Security;

o 2.1.5 Transit-Oriented Design;

o 2.1.6 Building Design;

o 2.1.7 Amenity Areas;

o 2.1.8 Landscape Design;

o 2.2.1 Respect Existing Features + Conditions;

o 2.2.2 Views and Vistas;

o 2.3 Character;

o 2.3.2 Site Circulation;

o 2.5 Sustainable Design;

o 3.1.4 Tall Buildings; and,

o 3.2.1 Nodes and Corridors.


6. Design Basis & Response

Existing Vegetation and Grading

The general vegetation overview for the site characterized the site

vegetation as mainly consisting of “low to intermediate quality,

primarily successional softwood and some hardwood species”.

Redevelopment of the site would be outside of the floodline of Four

Wells Lake, where much of the site’s existing vegetation is contained.

The landscape design at the time of detailed design presents

opportunities to provide complementary plantings near the water’s

edge to further naturalize this space, while adding plantings along

the site’s frontage and internal amenity areas to further the tree

canopy, while compensating for trees removed as part of the

development.

The proposed development mimics the overland flow patterns that

exists on the site, which either flows to Blue Springs Drive or Four

Wells Lake. Existing grades are matched at either the property line

or the limit of development to ensure that overall drainage patterns

are not impacted, and no disruption is caused to adjacent properties.

The proposed design reduces the imperviousness from that of the

current development, increasing the infiltration potential and

reducing the runoff volumes.

Most of existing vegetation and trees on the site surrounds the Four Wells Lake and boardwalk and will be maintained and enhanced where possible.


Character

The proposed design uses both site layout and

building design considerations to integrate with the

surrounding Willowells neigbourhood. The site is

laid out to pull the building towards the street and

strengthen the public street edge of Blue Springs

Drive, while providing for contributing open spaces

and plantings to building’s rear closest to the Four

Wells Lake edge, a defining character element of the

Willowells neighbourhood. The “hybrid” taller

building form allows for a meaningful intensification

of the site while provide a purposeful placement of

the building tower to maintain a sensitivity to the

surrounding built fabric. There is little in the

surrounding immediate context that provides a

cohesive and unifying architecture given the

diversity of form, nature, and construction age

surrounding the subject site, so the proposed design

seeks an urban, contemporary aesthetic for the

development through both form and materiality.

The proposed design employs a contemporary aesthetic borrowing solid, more traditional materials in a form that balances intensity with ground floor activation along

Blue Springs Drive.


View of proposed building looking from the east side of Four Wells Lake.


Building Massing

The proposed design uses a defined 5-storey building base upon

which a 10-storey tower extends as the building middle and top to

establish a pedestrian scale along the public street frontage while

minimizing the visual mass of the upper storeys.

Building Base

The building base is comprised of both lower and upper portions in a

manner that is oriented to the southwest corner of the subject site to

achieve objectives of a pedestrian-scaled Blue Springs Drive

interface and an open relationship with the Four Well Lake.

The lower base consists of the 1st and 2nd floors. At-grade, the east-

west leg of the lower base along Blue Springs Drive is positioned with

generally between 5 to 7.5 metres from the right-of-way edge to

frame the public street, provide transition space to ground floor

townhouse units, and provide opportunities of porch projections (5.5

metres) and apartment entrance recession (7.5 metres). The north-

south leg of the lower base along the existing internal driveway varies

in setback owing to the angle of the proposed site boundary,

providing more space at the Blue Spring Drive corner (11 to 12

metres) and reducing moving northwards. To the rear of the building,

the building setbacks vary between 5 to 40 metres given the

proposed irregular property boundary and the proposed open

courtyard in this space.

The upper base consists of the 3rd through 5th floors, which is

comprised of two “wings” extending to the east and north from the

corner. The upper base storeys step back from the lower base with

generally between 7.5 to 8.7 metres in depth to provide a distinction

from the lower base, to reinforce that pedestrian-scale, and to

accommodate a transition into the tower.

Building Tower

The building tower rises through the 6th through 15th floors of the

building at the southwest corner to reinforce the public street and

maximize separation to surrounding buildings in the Willowells

neighbourhood. The tower features a slender floor plate

(approximately 775 square metres) that is square in shape to

minimize the tower’s visual mass and shadow impacts on

surrounding properties (see Appendix A for shadow impact

graphics). It sits atop on the upper base footprint with the stepbacks

established by that footprint as compared to the lower base that

reduce any impacts of wind down-washing at the ground.

A defined building composition is achieved through scaling of height for the lower base and significant stepbacks of the upper base and tower.


The proposed design uses a building base that relates to the

height of surrounding buildings and purposeful tower positioning on the site to create a context-appropriate taller

building form to ensure compatibility.


Building Articulation & Materials

Building Base

The lower base contains three sections that taken together are

meant to provide a uniform aesthetic to the pedestrian priority zone

of the building elevations. The design of the east-west wing of the

building base containing townhouse units uses colour and material

changes with lighter concrete and darker brick; significant

proportions of glazed windows; recession of the front door entrances;

and, projections of stairs and balconies to establish a vertical rhythm

of articulation on individual units facing the street and internal areas

of the site. The apartment lobby at the corner of Blue Springs Drive

and the internal driveway to the west use a concrete base material

and a large bay of windows that extend to the height of the top of the

second storey to emphasize the entrance, together with a recession

of the building entrance from the principal wall plane to provide depth

and weather protection. A vertical line of brick materials ties in the

height of this entrance area with the height of the townhouse units to

the east. The exterior of the parking garage where it is not lined along

the north-south wing of the building base follows the general pattern

set by the townhouse elevations with a similar rhythm of bays,

material use, and fenestration (although not transparent) to provide

a visual continuity of the lower base aesthetic.

The wings of the upper base use a similar proportion and

composition to that of the lower base. Using a similar pattern of

windows, the upper base incorporates lighter yellow brick as a

distinction to the lower base, and a flatter, more uniform wall plane

as compared to the townhouse unit projections. Projecting balconies

for each individual unit provide depth and variety along the wall

elevations and glazed balcony railings provide a lightness to the

upper base.

Active at-grade uses and building articulation along the lower base together contribute to a pedestrian-focused ground floor walking environment.


View of proposed building’s Blue Springs Drive face looking from the southeast.


Building Tower

The tower design carries upwards the general treatment of the upper

base elevations to unify the base and tower design. The lighter

yellow brick materials of the upper base are extended vertically in

sections as solid accents with a larger proportion of transparent glass

to emphasize a visual lightness to the tower mass. Glazed balcony

railings for balconies recessed within vertical extensions assist in

maintaining this lightness. At the rooftop, the mechanicals are

enclosed within a fully enclosed mechanical penthouse. A lighter line

of concrete material projects beyond the spandrel glazed walls of the

mechanical penthouse and runs vertically to the lower storeys to

provide a refined cap to the tower, in turn breaking up the length of

balconies along the building elevations.

The building tower articulation and detailing pulls from the upper base of the building.


Above: South building elevation facing Blue Springs Drive.

Above: North building elevation facing Four Wells Lake and/or internal courtyard open space.


Above: East building elevation facing Four Wells Lake and/or internal courtyard open space.

Above: West building elevation internal driveway and direction of King Street North.


Circulation, Connectivity and Transit-Oriented Design

Vehicle

The proposed site layout eliminates the existing two driveway

accesses from Blue Springs Drive, and consolidates vehicular

access to the site with the existing driveway access for 30 Blue

Springs Drive abutting the west side of the subject site. From this

driveway, entrances to the building are spaced as much as possible

with a vehicular entrance located close to the southwest corner of

the building providing access to a dedicated internal loading area,

and a second entrance close to the north side of the building

providing access to the parking garage for residents and visitors.

This access pattern limits any potential conflicts between drivers and

pedestrians, particularly with the removal of existing conflicts along

Blue Springs Drive.

Pedestrian

The proposed site layout positions and orients the building to frame

the Blue Springs Drive street edge and provide convenient and direct

connections to the public sidewalk, which leads directly to transit

services along King Street to the west and the trailway system to the

east. A wide walkway connection from the public sidewalk provides

a visually prominent access to the main apartment lobby entrance

near the southwest corner of the building. West of this entrance, each

of the townhouse units facing onto Blue Springs Drive have individual

walkways leading directly from their entrance to the public sidewalk.

The townhouse units on the non-facing east and north sides of the

building are connected to the public sidewalk by way of a walkway

lining the building edge with each townhouse unit having an

individual walkway access to this route. At the time of detailed

design, this more functional circulation can be complemented by

additional recreational circulation through the open courtyard space

to the north of the building and connecting to the existing boardwalk.

Multiple direct connections to the Blue Springs Drive public sidewalk with no driveway interruptions along the site’s frontage assist in creating a comfortable walking area.


Parking

The proposed design incorporates a total of 200 parking spaces

contained entirely within an integrated parking garage that includes

one underground level and three above-grade levels. The garage

includes a total of 5 barrier-free spaces in locations surrounding the

elevators on the underground level and the second floor.

Designated visitor parking could easily be located close to the

elevator shaft and stairwells as well. Most of the parking garage is

lined with active uses along its edges, most particularly where it

faces Blue Springs Drive and the internal courtyard open space.

`

An entirely integrated parking garage with active liner uses along its most publicly visible frontages (left for underground level, right for ground level)


Landscape Design, Amenities and Open Space

The proposed site layout accommodates three key focal points for

landscaping efforts and usable open space to create a series of

engaging and inviting spaces for building residents and visitors.

An at-grade outdoor courtyard space is bounded generally by the two

wings of the building and provides the opportunities to create an

engaging space that ties the building edge to the water’s edge. This

courtyard provides a substantial consolidated space, lined by active

residential space for natural surveillance purposes, that would allow

for a diversity of landscape elements. A more formalized hardscaped

sitting area extending from the building can be complemented by a

combination of tree plantings (deciduous and coniferous), mass

planting beds and planters to accentuate and break up the space.

Walkways permeating the space could lead between the building

entrances and the existing boardwalk, the latter near the water’s

edge which could be complemented enhancement and naturalization

plantings.

Rooftop amenity areas in the building base provide opportunities for

communal amenity space as well as private, individual amenity

spaces for some units. On the 6th floor, a sizable communal terrace

presents an opportunity to create formal and informal sitting and

dining areas principally with a hard surface treatment but

complemented with soft landscape treatments through raised

massed planted beds or planters including deciduous canopy trees.

An indoor amenity area on the 6th floor leads into this space and

provides a seam between indoor and outdoor amenities.

Individual unit terraces for units on the 3rd floor would be expected to

be principally hardscaped with added subtle planting accents,

together with privacy screens to provide a boundary between the

individual private terraces. The balance of the rooftop is identified are

planted green roofs, the specifics of which are subject to detailed

design.

The space created between the building edge and street edge by the

building positioning along Blue Springs Drive will serve two

purposes. It provides spaces for a regular rhythm of deciduous tree

plantings (on either public or private side of the sidewalk) spaced to

create a canopy over the sidewalk to formalize the streetscape edge

of the site’s frontage. It also provides sufficient space for plantings

and landscape elements for landscaped “forecourts” or “front yards”

to the townhouse units lining the building edge, contributing to the

streetscape aesthetic while delineating and defining the public and

private boundaries.


Sustainable Design

The proposed development inherently incorporates elements of

sustainability owing to its location and context. The proposed

development represents a compact and efficient mixed-residential

building that forms part of a broader mixed-use community

containing mix of residential, commercial, employment, and

recreation uses. The site is well-served by existing local transit routes

on King Street North and is a short distance to the ION Conestoga

Station. There is a connected system of sidewalks and trails

surrounding the site that support active transportation options for

residents and visitors. All of this provides opportunities for car-free

and car-reduced living opportunities for residents.

Many sustainability elements can be achieved through the detailed

design stage for the proposed development. The following

sustainability elements are demonstrated in the preliminary design

or are reasonably possible:

o Building orientation: the building is positioned with a

significant amount of southerly exposure to allow for passive

solar gain, with generous amounts of transparent glazing to

accommodate solar gain.

o Green roofs: the preliminary design shows significant portions

of the 6th floor rooftop as green roofs, providing a positive

contribution to reducing heat island effects.

o Infiltration: the proposed redevelopment and design has the

potential of decreasing the amount of existing non-permeable

surfaces and reducing run-off volumes from the site.

o Garbage/Recycling: internal garbage area typically include a

system of collection and sorting for garbage, recyclables, and

organic waste. Furthermore, opportunities for waste

management at the time of construction planning can be

considered and optimized wherever possible.

o Materials: the use of local manufacturers or suppliers for

durable construction materials, particularly renewable

materials and recycled materials, and those that eliminate or

minimize effects on indoor air quality through emissions (low

VOC-emitting materials) should be preferred.

o Indoor water conservation measures: indoor water design

measures will satisfy the Ontario Building Code in terms of

water efficiency and the use of water efficient fixtures for the

building, such as low-flush and/or dual-flush toilets.

o Outdoor water conservation measures: planting plans can

emphasize the use of native and drought-tolerant species to

ensure minimal irrigation requirements for the open areas

provided through the site.

o Energy efficiency and conservation measures: the building

design will satisfy the Ontario Building Code in terms of energy

efficiency and conservation, with such elements as effective

thermal resistance of doors and windows; centralized HVAC

system with programmable thermostats; and, programmable

and/or censored lighting controls.

o Transportation demand management (TDM) measures:

implementation of a TDM program can be implemented for the

development to reduce the reliance on the automobile for

travel, including such measures as designated carshare or

electric vehicle spaces or secure bicycle parking facilities.


7. Conclusions

The proposed development provides a design that appropriately

responds to the surrounding neighbourhood context and the

applicable design policy and guidelines direction from the City of

Waterloo. Particularly, the design:

o Establishes a context-appropriate, hybrid building form that

uses heights and stepbacks on the lower floors to establish a

defined building base that references the surrounding building

fabric in the area;

o Positions the building on the site to provide a strong building

edge to Blue Springs Drive, with active at-grade uses on the

facing ground floor, complementary streetscape plantings in

front of the building, and an architectural approach that

provides interaction between the building and public sidewalk;

o Provides an appropriate interface to the surrounding low and

mid-rise buildings to the northwest, east, and southeast with

the tower portion strategically positioned to maximize spacing;

o Uses a slender tower portion that minimizes potential impacts

related to shadow, wind, and building mass on surrounding

properties and the public streetscape;

o Provides an attractive, varied, and distinct contemporary

architectural finish that takes material cues from the

surrounding area and provides a positive image for

redevelopment of the site; and,

o Complements the built form with an at-grade open space that

blends the building with the edge of Four Wells Lake, and that

is complemented by a series of rooftop amenity areas for

resident enjoyment of the surrounding natural interface.


APPENDIX A

Shadow Impact Graphics

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