UBCO filed plans with the City of Kelowna last week to subdivide it's downtown land to create a vertical campus. The grey towers on the left will be developed separately by the Mission Group.
Image Credit: Submitted/City of Kelowna
December 28, 2021 - 6:00 AM
UBCO has filed an application to create an unusual “vertical” campus in downtown Kelowna.
“The initiative of having a university building in downtown Kelowna is quite different than having a university building on a typical university campus,” states a report filed with the City of Kelowna last week. “Instead of having a typical horizontal development within a large peripherical university campus, the new proposed university building will be in an urban area, and it will be designed as a vertical campus.”
The application is to subdivide and rezone the former Kelowna Daily Courier property on Doyle Avenue to create two lots.
READ MORE: Kelowna Daily Courier building to be replaced by UBC hub
The land was bought by UBCO in partnership with the Mission Group in June, 2020. The building remaining on the site is currently being used as an emergency homeless shelter.
The plan is for UBCO to build a 34-storey highrise campus/student housing building on one site with the Mission Group putting two highrises on the other site.
“The design of a vertical campus is something quite new in the history of architecture however, there are already a few good examples that describe potential design considerations such as vertical circulation, social engagement areas, the relation between the building and its surroundings, and arrival spaces among others,” the application says.
This sketch is of the inside of the campus.
Image Credit: Submitted/City of Kelowna
Plans call for a 414,410 square foot building. By comparison, that’s about 2.5 times more floor space than the new Costco warehouse that’s opening in Kelowna early next year and will cover 167,177 square feet.
The UBCO proposal is for eight storeys for the academic part of the campus with two additional storeys of office space that can become part of the academic campus at a later date.
Along with 24 storeys of student housing, that makes for a tower of 34 storeys.
There will be 352 housing units, with 230 being studio apartments, 48 are one-bedroom and 74 have two bedrooms.
There will also be four storeys of underground parking with a total of 260 parking stalls, five per cent of which will be for electric vehicles.
Ninety-seven of the parking stalls will be for the 352 housing units but there will be 426 long-term bicycle spaces for residents.
“Due to the high costs associated with the design of underground parking in downtown Kelowna, the typical highrise tower design response is to extrude 100% of the total site at the podium level and set back the tower from the street,” the application states. “The podium design will incorporate the required car parking spaces and, where it is possible, commercial or retail spaces facing the street. As a result, a very poor relationship between the building and the public sidewalk is built, and the potential for a more animated urban life in downtown Kelowna is dissipated.”
To avoid that, all parking will be underground with two “diagonal cuts." One will be at the corner of Doyle Avenue and St. Paul Street and serve as an arrival space. A second cut on St. Paul Street will “create a semi-public courtyard framed between the university atrium, a café, and a medical clinic.”
The original plans called for construction start later in 2022 so the new campus can open in late 2024 or early 2025 with 500 to 600 students.
The academic program will focus on things like health care, arts and cultural programs.
READ MORE: UBCO to break ground on downtown Kelowna campus in 2022
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