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Of all the highrise condominiums that characterize the community of Coal Harbour, West Pender Place is perhaps the most visually engaging. Reliance Properties appointed IBI Group to the 2011-built project, which features a pair of buildings 36 and 10 storeys tall, and linked by a five-storey podium. Its most arresting architectural trait is the prism-like facade that pushes the glass walls of the tower 22 feet towards the street.
Eschewing the city's affinity for wraparound balconies, West Pender Place keeps these projections to a minimum, helping to emphasize the sleekness of the elevation. The curtain wall glazing system gives onlookers the impression that the building is "carved from a solid block of glass," as described by IBI Group. The glass continues vertically to form the parapet of the tower, obscuring the inset mechanical box on the rooftop. Further exterior embellishments — from vertical spandrels to fritted glass — supply the building with additional visual interest.
The 145-unit building had largely taken shape by mid-2010, with the majority of the floor plates in place and glazing application underway. The seven-year-old image shows the site serviced by two externally mounted tower cranes. Today, the finished project is another feather in the cap of Coal Harbour, and significantly raises the standard when it comes to the area's vernacular residential architecture.
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