Activation of a Civic Centre
Century Group, 3 Civic Plaza
Mixed Use
3 Civic Plaza is to Surrey’s City Centre what the Marine Building was to Vancouver’s downtown in the 1930s. It is a form-maker today for the emerging second urban center in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland region, and it will be a landmark for decades to come. Rising to 52 storeys, and home to western Canada’s first Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel, 3 Civic Plaza is the tallest tower south of the Fraser River.
Location
Surrey, BC
Square Feet
518,202
Completion date
2018
Project Component
Architecture services
Interior design and space planning
Urban design and planning
3 Civic Plaza was a unique opportunity to design the final key element of a civic centre suitable for the City’s vision of the future. Mix of use (residential, hospitality, commercial) was the defining element for plaza activation.
The five floors immediately beneath the 38 floors of residential condominiums were originally designed for future office use. The open floor plate that the structure enabled was easily adapted to the needs of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) urban business campus.
The building’s shared “mixing lobby” was designed to benefit from the activation provided by shared use and access by the occupants of 38 storeys of condos, the Civic Hotel, and KPU.
The challenge of structurally-different uses was addressed through a unique solution: an innovative external concrete shear wall with distinctive, guitar pick-shaped window openings. The building element allowed for flexibility in planning the configuration of space, circulation, and structure to best suit each use. Sustainable design and user comfort strategies include natural ventilation, hydronic heating, and connection to a district energy system.
Daniels Real Estate, The Mark/F5 Tower
AMLI Arc Residential Tower
