Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 23/05) - Developers have two options when it comes to dealing with Yellowknife's four- billion-year-old granite outcrops.

They can either "blast and build," or work with the landscape.

Architect Gino Pin has chosen the latter approach for eight new condominium units going up in Old Town.

Some argue blast and build is cheaper.

"It is for some aspects, in terms of moving materials around the site and getting access to the site," said Pin.

But removing rock is also expensive, he said.

"This is a Precambrian rock community," said Pin. "It isn't Alberta. If you want to build here it's very costly. I'm not against rock removal, but you don't have to level every site in order to build."

Had Pin decided to blast out a level surface from the sloping rock, one side of the units would have had a view of the water while the other would have faced a wall of blast rock.

Instead, five of the units will perch on the outcrop, with each unit having two floors stepping up the slope. That, plus a low, sloped roof profile, will help maintain neighbours' sightlines. The rooftops will rise only slightly above the height of the outcrop.

"It's not easy to build proper foundations on this site," said Pin. "I ran into the same problem when I built my own house on sloping rock."

The solution was to build some piers and a series of platforms from which to work. That makes moving materials from street level up to the site expensive, but Pin said it's a small percentage of the total budget.

The other three units will be built on the level portion of the site. Future residents will get up close and personal with the Canadian shield, as some of the two-storey units will leave granite exposed inside on the entry level. A raised walkway with steps from street level will provide access to the condos.

"What's important is having a good understanding of what you're working with and try to work with it," said Pin.

Pin expects the units to be finished early in the new year. They'll cost around $400,000 each. All eight units are already spoken for.