The Butterfly

The Butterfly celebrates beauty and nature and promotes social connection. This iconic development combines a 57-storey tower with a 7-storey rental midrise building and the restoration of one of Vancouver’s oldest churches. Located in the heart of the downtown peninsula, the site is a transition point between the central business district and the historic West End neighbourhood. The design team worked closely with the clients, the community, and municipal officials to create a development that satisfies density ambitions while also enriching the public realm and providing ample community amenities. The tower form responds with a five-storey public amenity podium and three dramatic chamfers at streetlevel that yield space for a public plaza and pocket park, while preserving the larger floorplates for the residential levels above. This project reinvents the tower typology to deliver a high-density urban form that improves quality of life for residents by dissolving social barriers and reconciling the separation from nature—two challenges typically inherent to vertical communities. This is accomplished by splitting the floorplate in two, creating shared exterior spaces at each level where nature runs through the building. Skygardens on each floor provide a welcoming patio-like space that encourages neighbours to pause and connect. The breezeways also provide natural cooling, ventilation, and daylight, enhancing the resident experience and reducing energy demands.