Colourful tower celebrates diverse community

Project: Joyce

Award: Colour in Architecture, Bronze, 2023

Location: Vancouver, Canada

Architect: Henriquez Partners Architects

Client: Westbank Corp

The architecture of Joyce, a new 30-storey residential tower, is intended to celebrate the diversity of its surroundings. Established in the 1890’s, Joyce-Collingwood is one of Vancouver’s original neighbourhoods. It is also one of the city's most culturally varied communities providing a landing spot for many immigrants seeking a new home in an inclusive, welcoming neighbourhood.

The architecture of Joyce expresses its multi-cultural setting through the symbolism of a patterned quilt applied to balconies as overlapping patterns of coloured glass. Layered over the metaphorical quilt is the outline of Still Creek. This local body of water is the only remaining exposed creek in Vancouver and for the first time in decades salmon have returned to spawn here. Inspired by this renewal, the balconies are coloured to evoke salmon swimming upstream.

Design highlights

Echoing the river’s sinuous form, the building façade also pays homage to Still Creek while breaking the scale of massing. Important to area growth has been appeal to families, comprising over half the population. To foster family-living and affordability, over 65% of the 256 homes at Joyce are micro two and three-bedrooms units, creating a true vertical community for all ages.

Photo credit: Michael Elkan, Graham Handford