New Zealand Commercial Design Trends Series NZ Commercial Design Trends Vol. 33/04C | Page 84

many – ranging from the private inner-courtyard
that admits natural light but not street noise, to
enjoying maximum internal apartment space that, in
a different kind of design, might have been soaked
up by circulation corridors,” says St-Onge.
And it is the architecture itself that brings these
pluses to the people that live there. Seen from
above, the site reveals how the central laneway
and courtyard divide the building – with the original
house there had been no throughway to the street
behind. The nature of the wrap-around architecture
also helps stop sound from penetrating to the inter-
nal courtyard. In addition, staircases at the ends of
the building and external landings that face into the
courtyard avoid the need for internal corridors.
One of the cleverest aspects of the building
design facilitated the courtyard’s sunny ambience.
“In this area we couldn’t build above three levels
unless the fourth storey is defined as a mezzanine
floor. And for that designation it has to take up only
40% of the building floorplate. In such situations,
the vacant part of the floor is stipulated to form a
step-back from the street facade, basically to opti-
mise sunlight penetration down to the street.
“Here, however, we persuaded the local council
to let us have the step-back on the courtyard-facing
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sides of the building – creating a wider angle of
sunlight penetration into the centre.
“In addition, part of this project depended on
our ability to create healthy, light-filled apartment
interiors – including for the ground floor basements.
This constraint prompted us to completely rethink
the generic basement from a qualitative aspect.”
Pavement windows were utilised to channel
natural light into the basement rooms. Plus, glass
floors were installed between the ground floor and
the basement of the ground level apartments, again
increasing light penetration.
Green strategies and high energy performance
also underpin the innovative project. As a result, La
Géode is expected to become the first multi-unit
building to achieve LEED v4 certification in Canada.
“Specification of energy-efficient materials was
an essential part of the strategy for this building,”
says St-Onge. “In addition, La Géode’s acoustic
performance exceeds good practice.
So how well has this new style of medium-
density dwelling been received? La Géode’s five
apartments were quickly taken up and due to vigor-
ous, even invasive, interest from the public, a gated
entry has now had to be installed at both ends of
the complex.
Below:The design of La Geode
allows sunlight to penetrate into
the apartment interiors from the
courtyard.
Right:To ensure the basement
floors also benefit from natural
light there are pavement light
wells as well as glass floors that
admit light to the below ground
spaces from the floors above.
The riserless internal staircase
echoes the access stairs outside.