V Tower is a residential high rise positioned atop of a base of retail, restaurant, cafe, and parking designed by Meridian 105 Architecture. The tower provides an urban park for the neighborhood in Denver, Colorado while establishing a new ground plane for street-life to develop at the site.
Read on for more on this project after the break.
V Tower is not only a residential building block; it is designed to provide an urban park occupying the full dimensions of the site and building footprint, creating a sense that the tower is built at grade. Among the amenities provided at this level are generous open areas of grass, a pool, and community garden.
The semi-arid climate of Denver has minimal precipitation and laws that prohibit rainwater collection. This inspired Meridian 105 Architecture to design an innovative irrigation strategy with water collection coming from alternative sources, including condensation from in-unit air conditioners and condenser dryers used for laundry, appliances which pass moist air through a heat exchanger to extract water. These sources are gravity fed from the tower to a storage tank and used for irrigation, distributed by a lattice work of piping constructed above the park and community garden. Rainwater from the tower’s balconies bypasses the storage tank and is routed through this piping as well. The park serves as a purification filter before water is returned to the City.
At the base of the tower, the parking structure, retail, and restaurant spaces are wrapped in a lattice structure, shading the facade during summer months while allowing visual transparency and light penetration to the interior spaces. The lattice supports vinery around the parking garage, providing a more appealing appearance in those areas and allowing air flow through the structure.
Architects: Meridian 105 Architecture Location: Denver, CO Design Year: 2011 Anticipated Completion: 2014 Quanity of Units: 240 Residence area: 426,000 sf (Includes Balconies) Cafe & Restaurant at grade: 13,000 sf Raised Park: 31,840 sf Retail: 45,529 sf Amenity Space: 9,168 sf Parking: 68,406 sf
