Called Vienna House, the project is intended to demonstrate how innovation in design and construction can be combined with advancements in social housing.

When finished, it will be a seven-storey, trapezoid-shaped structure with a shared inner courtyard.

The project will be located on Stainsbury Avenue on land along Victoria Drive that is currently the site of the Cedar Cottage Community Garden.

Vienna House will be owned and operated by More Than a Roof Housing Society.

Construction of the project, which is now in the detailed design stage, is slated to begin in May 2023. It is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

Many organizations are involved in the 123-unit project, including the cities of Vancouver and Vienna, Austria, BC Housing, Forestry Innovation Investment and the University of British Columbia.

The project’s origin is a 2018 memorandum of co-operation between the two cities to share knowledge and advance innovation in low-carbon affordable housing. It is intended to be a model for new technologies in construction and social housing that can be used in future projects.

BC Housing spokesman Henry Glazebrook said the project has been incorporating information on such topics as affordable Passive House strategies, prefabrication and the use of engineered wood products and envelope design to minimize heat transfer.

Glazebrook said these approaches can work together to address multiple problems.

“One example under consideration is the inclusion of an energy-optimized building envelope,” he said. “If implemented, this design could reduce building heat loss, decrease energy use associated with heating and cooling and lower operational costs, all of which can help to create greater affordability and comfort for residents.”

Summit BIM Consulting Ltd. is acting as the owner’s representative to help BC Housing use building information modelling (BIM) and benefit from the data the project will generate.

“A huge amount of data will be created by BIM,” said Geraldine Rayner, Summit managing principal. “BIM has been widely used in multi-family residential projects, but it’s new for BC Housing, and we want to ensure it gets the maximum benefit from it.”

BIM will create a digital twin of Vienna House, which will be turned over to the owner and operator at the project’s completion.

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