ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
The Butterfly and First Baptist Church Complex brings together people and programs that are rarely found in a single development.
bringing light, air, and greenery into the daily experience of high-rise living. Throughout the tower, floor-to-ceiling glazing and open, flowing interiors blur the boundary between inside and out, drawing the surrounding landscape deep into the residential experience.
At the heart of the tower, open-air sky gardens on every residential floor replace conventionally enclosed corridors. Residents leave the elevator and enter naturally ventilated communal gardens where vegetation and expansive views become part of daily life. Deciduous trees planted throughout the building create a vertical landscape that evolves with the seasons, bringing nature high above the city.
Beyond their experiential benefits, the sky gardens provide natural ventilation, cooling, and daylighting, contributing to an estimated 400,000 kWh of annual energy savings and reducing tower energy use by more than 10 per cent compared with conventional corridor designs. Energy modelling indicates a 65 per cent reduction in periods where suite temperatures exceed comfort thresholds during the warmest months of the year.
This relationship with nature extends beyond the tower through landscaped courtyards, green roofs, water features, and shared amenity spaces. A striking 50-metre lap pool, positioned to benefit from natural light and views, offers an immersive sensory experience that complements the broader emphasis on wellbeing and connection to the outdoors.
Community and coexistence
The Butterfly and First Baptist Church Complex brings together people and programs that are rarely found in a single development. Market and affordable housing sit alongside childcare, counselling services, recreation facilities, community gathering spaces, meal programs, and emergency shelter support, creating a place where different people and programs can find common ground.
This approach responds to the reality facing many cities, including Vancouver: growing challenges around affordability, housing access, and social isolation. By layering housing, community services, and social infrastructure on a shared site, the project fosters interaction across different needs, backgrounds, and experiences.
The seven-storey rental building extends this vision through communal rooftop gardens, urban agriculture
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