LA-Z-BOY FURNITURE GALLERY

The La-Z-boy furniture gallery was designed in tandem with the Dodd’s Furniture & Mattress building that shares the corner of Turner and Uplands Drive, in Nanaimo. The concept for the site was to rethink how a furniture outlet can engage with community and design objectives. The site design primarily focuses on water retention initiatives: through an application of green roof systems and shallow rain water collection pools, which adorn the roofs of the two buildings, the progress of stormwater run-off is delayed before it passes through a series of architecturally designed waterfall features, water channels and bio swales, before rejoining the system. The site is heavily vegetated providing a soft backdrop to the two furniture stores. By introducing an inner road to the site, the buildings were able to have a more transparent massing and a pedestrian corridor was created through the development. These design elements also allowed us to create display windows at these important nodes of entry.

The form and character of the La-Z-boy design was largely derived following company design guidelines. To respond to the environmental needs of the site, water retainment measures were utilized on the roof, as described above. This response to the landscape enmeshed the building into the site, surrounding the building with a soft vegetated edge. In response to the main intersection at the building’s South East corner, the design of the building began to break some of the rules. Here, additional display windows were introduced to create a secondary main facade overlooking one of the sites public plaza spaces. Next to this seating area, the water runoff from the green roofs is carried down the building and transferred into one of the site’s water channels animating the space. Similarly, to create a more inviting facade along Turner Road, a bump out with additional display windows were added. Along the inside road, display windows were also introduced to provide a visual connection between La- Z-boy and their neighbour Dodd’s. These windows have been coupled with awnings to provide rain protection along some of the pedestrian walkway that circumnavigates the buildings.

Location: Nanaimo, BC
Completed: 2018