ESQUIMALT TOWN SQUARE
A Village Centre, Multi-building Urban Complex, Esquimalt, BC

A mixed-use residential, civic, and commercial project on a brownfield site in a growing municipality. The new buildings are situated next to the an existing Town Hall and include residences, offices, a public plaza and a library. The area is proximate to transit, parks, shops and services and contributes to the municipality’s 15-minute-City aspirations.  The design establishes an urban centre that will foster community interaction within an interconnected network of paths and spaces, part of which is a curated through-block Art-Walk. The plan is anchored by a plaza that is defined by two mature Garry Oak trees in a commemorative pocket-park, a six-storey apartment house with restaurant and café, and a five-storey mass-timber building that houses a main-floor library, and art gallery, with offices above. The Branch Library is imagined as the community’s living room, with a double-height multi-use hall, plaza-facing reading rooms and a children’s library. The residential apartments are in three, six-storey buildings with heating and cooling energy generated by geothermal exchange. Stormwater is collected and treated in landscaped rain gardens throughout the site. Since its completion, the project has had beneficial impacts and the reaction from the community has been overwhelmingly positive. 

Photo Credits: Tony Colangelo