General Residential & Mixed Use Guidelines

a. Orient primary building facades and entries to the fronting street or open space to create street edge definition and activity. Ensure main building entries are clearly visible with direct sight lines from the fronting street (See Figure 1). 

b. On corner sites, orient building facades and entries to both fronting streets.

c. Locate and design windows, balconies, and street-level uses to overlook public streets, parks, walkways, and shared spaces to create active frontages and ‘eyes on the street’, while minimizing views into private residences. Avoid blank walls by incorporating glazing, articulation, and/or other elements of visual interest (e.g. colour, changes in material, architectural features or details/ on primary building facades.

d. Avoid the use of roll down panels and/or window bars on retail and commercial frontages that face streets or other public 

Figure 1: Photograph of an active street frontage showing the building entry and a high-quality streetscape.

a. Site buildings to have a distinct-front-to-back orientation to public streets and open spaces and to rear yards, and/or interior court yards:

• Building sides that interface with streets, mid-block connections, and other open spaces should positively frame and activate streets and open spaces and support pedestrian activity; and
• Building sides that are located away from open spaces should be designed for private/shared outdoor spaces and vehicle access.

b. Site and design buildings to respond to unique site conditions and opportunities, such as oddly shaped lots, location at prominent intersections, framing of important open spaces, corner lots, sites with buildings that terminate a street end view, and views of natural features.

c. Use Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles to better ensure public safety through the use of appropriate lighting, visible entrances, opportunities for natural surveillance, and clear sight lines for pedestrians.

Relationship to Grade

d. Design buildings for ‘up-slope’ and ‘down-slope’ conditions relative to the street by using strategies such as (See Figure 4):

• Stepping buildings along the slope, and locating building entrances at each step and away from parking access where possible;
• Incorporating terracing to create usable open spaces around the building;
• Using the slope for under-building parking and to screen service and utility areas;
• Designing buildings to access key views; and
• Avoid retaining walls over 1.2 m in height. If a larger wall is required, design a tiered, landscaped wall system.

Figure 4: Use natural slope for under-building parking whenever possible

Connectivity

e. Design internal circulation patterns (streets, sidewalks, pathways) with appropriate on-site wayfinding strategies and to be integrated with and connected to the existing and planned future public street, bicycle and/or pedestrian network (See Figure 6).

f. Incorporate easy-to-maintain traffic calming features, such as on-street parking bays and curb extensions, textured materials, and crosswalks. 

g. Apply universal accessibility principles to primary building entries, sidewalks, plazas, mid-block connections, lanes, and courtyards through the appropriate selection of materials, stairs, and ramps as necessary, and the provision of wayfinding and lighting elements.

Landscape Planning

a. Site buildings to minimize soil disturbance, protect mature, non-invasive trees, significant vegetation, and ecological features (See Figure 7). Relaxations to select development regulations may be considered to retain existing mature trees.

b. Locate underground parkades, infrastructure, and other services to maximize soil volumes for in-ground plantings.

c. Design attractive, engaging, and functional on-site open spaces with high quality materials, shade, colours, lighting, furniture, and signage.

d. Integrate publicly accessible private spaces (e.g. private courtyards accessible and available to the public) with public open areas to create seamless, contiguous spaces.

e. Ensure site planning and design achieves favourable microclimate outcomes through strategies such as:

• Locating outdoor spaces where they will receive sunlight throughout the year, while considering heat gain in the summer;
• Provide shade to ensure comfortable temperatures;
• Using materials and colours that minimize heat absorption;
• Planting trees to provide a balance of shading in the summer and solar access in the winter; and
• Using building mass, trees, and plantings to buffer wind and extreme heat.

Figure 7: Photograph of a tree protected through development

Landscape Materials

f. Use landscaping materials that soften development and enhance the public realm, while providing natural shading (See Figure 8).

g. Plant native and/or drought tolerant trees and plants suitable for the local climate (refer to the Kelowna Urban Tree Guide). Select trees for long-term durability, climate and soil suitability, and compatibility with the site's specific urban conditions. Use FireSmart landscaping and avoid species that are fire hazards (e.g. cedar hedges).

h. Design sites to minimize irrigation water demand by using strategies such as: 

• Grading impermeable surfaces to drain towards planting areas and tree pits; and
• Meeting or exceeding the requirements of the City of Kelowna Landscape Water Conservation Report.

Figure 8: Photography of on-site landscaping interfacing with public realm, including trees providing shade

Lighting and Wayfinding

i. Use exterior lighting to complement the building and landscape design, while:

• Minimizing light trespass onto adjacent properties;
• Using shielded, downward focused, motion activated, or timed lighting fixtures to minimize light pollution and reduce energy use; and
• Maintaining lighting levels necessary for safety and visibility.

Design intent: To design buildings to reduce energy demand and maximize occupant health and comfort, while ensuring visual interest.

Guidelines

Simplified Massing

a. Design buildings with a pure form with simplified massing and fewer complex junctions to minimize building envelope heat loss. 

Articulation

b. Use simple shifts in massing and changes in exterior colors and textures to articulate facades.

c. For larger buildings, target an overall window-to-wall ratio (WWR) of 40% to reduce heat gain and loss through the building envelope by increasing the area of insulated wall (See Figure 14). Additional considerations include:

• WWR ratios should be higher at grade to promote at-grade transparency while accommodating the 40% WWR in the building overall; and
• WWR ratios should be lower on north facing facades than on south facing facades to account for lower solar gain potential.

Site Planning and Orientation

d. Incorporate passive heating, cooling, and lighting design principles in landscape and building design, including:

• Orienting for maximum solar-gain potential from the south to reduce heating demand in colder months;  and
• Using trees to provide natural shading to reduce overheating in warmer months.

e. Use appropriately designed exterior shading devices to block unwanted solar gains in warmer months while welcoming solar gains from lower winter sunlight. Additional considerations include (See Figure 16):

• Their use should be prioritized on southern elevations;
• Shading is not necessary on north-facing facades; and
• Vertical fins are a good strategy to use for blocking incoming summer sun on western elevations.

High Performance Building Envelope

f. Use insulating materials and/or thermally broken building products to reduce building heat loss from thermal bridges such as concrete balconies and beams that run from the building’s interior to exterior.

Figure 14: While retaining at-grade transparency, targeting lower window-to-wall ratios on building elevations can significantly reduce energy demand. As general guidance, designers targeting the Lower Steps of the Step Code should target no more than a 50% WWR and designers targeting the Upper Steps should target a WWR of less than 40% (2.2.1 c).

Figure 15: Example of a building with active frontage and low WWR above.

Figure 16: Exterior shading devices can be integrated into a building’s southern elevation to block unwanted solar gains and keep indoor temperatures comfortable in warmer months (2.2.1 e).