The North Shore Winter Club site is situated in the northeastern corner of the emerging Lower Lynn Town Centre, yet feels separate and distant owing to current circumstance. Separated from the Town Centre by Lynn Creek and the lush natural greenbelt provided by Seylynn and Bridgman Parks, the property fronts Lynnmouth Avenue on the western boundary between the City and District of North Vancouver. From an urban design perspective, the existing Club facilities are focused inwards, presenting blank east and south facades to the adjacent parkland. Equally isolated and remote from the broader community is the immediately-adjacent 16-storey seniors-oriented condominium tower, ‘Carleton at the Club’, accessed entirely via two vehicular right-of-ways which cross surface parking on the NSWC property.
The overall thesis has been conceived with consideration for phased realization and sustainable longevity, and an assumption that each parcel should represent a cohesive individual component of the greater vision. Should total construction time be spread out over years, the concept is intended to represent a completed whole at any given time, despite the possible delayed realization of any given parcel. This is a key (and often ignored) component in the success of any given master plan. A main objective for the project is that an important portion of the District’s greater urban landscape will be re-discovered, re-imagined, and fully realized as a series of individually-considered parcels, while adding more than 900 suites to various sectors of the residential market. Each building component will be self-sufficient, with the sum total establishing an environment whose value will prove to be greater than the sum of its parts. Most significantly, an invisible portion of the District will emerge as an important and vibrant northwest bookend of the Lower Lynn Town Centre, embracing, integrating and celebrating the parklands flanking Lynn Creek, while simultaneously introducing a green core to the heart of the concept.