Hellings Reservoir
To meet the growing demand for drinking water in Delta and bolster regional resilience to the impacts of increasingly dry summers, Metro Vancouver is undertaking the expansion of the existing Hellings Reservoir with a new tank and associated valve chambers. Situated on a small site within a suburban neighbourhood, the project brief challenged the design team to thoughtfully integrate this essential community asset within the scale and identity of the surrounding neighbourhood.
Situated within a residential neighbourhood and surrounded on three sites by existing houses, the project team started with massing studies to sensitively integrate the reservoir into the surrounding community. This informed project setbacks and the reservoir footprint, leaving greenspace for naturalized storm water infiltration gardens. To visually reduce the scale of the reservoir, the 8 m high walls were sloped and subdivided, and a horizontal datum was established. At the ground plane, a regular rhythm of fine textured concrete panels is tinted dark grey to recede behind the landscaping. The valve chamber appears as an extension of this datum, with a simplified form buried in the landscape and dissolving with perforated metal panels that reference the islands and channels of the nearby Fraser River. Above, the walls reference the source of the water within - the North Shore Mountains - with a fractured interplay of smooth and coarse textured concrete, angled seams, and blue metal panels.
Client: Metro Vancouver
Location: Delta, BC
Team: Local Practice, Ausenco (Prime Consultant), Associated Engineering, Lanarc (Landscape Architecture)