The power of a delicate yet precise design approach for community integration
A last-mile distribution centre placed on a complex axis in Sidney, British Columbia, the DVV2 Amazon Delivery Station needed a resonant architectural revision that could understand and embrace its local context and vernacular. Collaborating with the client and considering the site’s existing programmatic features, humanizing elements were incorporated to ease its integration into Vancouver Island and gracefully harmonize it with its surroundings.
Using the envelope of the building as a canvas, an additive approach was taken to soften the overall massing of the 115,000 square-foot facility, align it with and engage its community, and enhance its delicate positioning between industrial space, the Victoria International Airport, and neighbouring single-family housing. With a location in a high visibility area, the DVV2 Amazon Delivery Station was scaled back from the street with a vegetative barrier to reduce sightlines and acoustic impacts, but even as this barrier grows, passersby need only look up to see where they live reflected in the building.
Ombrae’s sculptural imaging technology was used for a mural of three-dimensional pixels on its south and west elevations. Streamlining its form while purposefully blocking its industrial operations, the façade harnesses the reflectivity of the material—a perforated metal screening system—to capture a sunlit range of highlights and shadows by day while being backlit and activated at night. Working with representatives from the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council and the Tseycum, Tsartlip, and Tsawout First Nations to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into the design and art of the building’s exterior, its imagery captures and celebrates the natural aesthetics of Sidney’s evergreen seaside landscape. Vertical panels were also integrated into the façade to leverage solar harvesting.
While working within company and client guidelines, this architectural intervention on the DVV2 Amazon Delivery Station demonstrates how precise design choices can make a substantial and inspiring impact. Its architecture and the space it carefully occupies provide a unique and functional solution to coexisting with both landscape and people.
