Vancouver House, a mixed-use residential and commercial tower at the centre of a new waterfront community in Vancouver, the Beach District, is among the five final projects contending to be the world’s most innovative tall building.

The competition, known as the International High-Rise Award 2022/23, was initiated in 2004. It is held every two years by the City of Frankfurt am Main, the German Architecture Museum (DAM), and DekaBank. The winning projects are high-rises showcasing exemplary sustainability, exterior design, and interior spatial qualities while taking social and urban planning into consideration.

Designed by Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) and Dialog for the client Westbank Corp., the building spreads on more than 600,000 m² (653,000 sf) and rises to 156 m (512 ft). It is notable for its inverted facade layout, which tapers at the bottom and gains full rectangular volume towards the top—in response to an odd-shaped triangular site.

The constraints of the site arose from an overpass nearby which did not allow the site to be extended, as well as an adjacent green space which could not be encroached upon. The solution steers the residential tower’s windows and balconies away from the noise-producing highway and offers panoramic views of the False Creek estuary and Vancouver’s mountain landscape.