©PassiveHouseCanada

GBL Architects is celebrating the completion of Canada’s first mixed-use tall timber Passive House building for the BC Indigenous Housing Society (BCIHS). This 81-unit purpose-built rental housing project comprises a childcare facility, studio units and several three- and four-bedroom suites for Vancouver’s Indigenous community. The nine-storey Chief Leonard George Building marks a new standard for affordable housing and environmental stewardship, achieving a 75 per cent reduction in embodied carbon and GHG emissions through the innovative use of locally sourced mass timber floor panels, pre-manufactured CLT envelope panels, and Passive House certification. While mass-timber construction plays a significant role in reducing a building’s embodied carbon, the Passive House design reduces operational carbon emissions. The highly expressive façade is envisioned as a woven cedar basket, in celebration of traditional Coast Salish basketry, one of the oldest art forms on the Northwest Coast.