The Penny was developed with Lapis Homes as a 10-unit, walkup rental apartment building on a site that had formerly been a detached single family house. On the compact lot, a simple massing allows a driveway to rear parking at the East and a footpath on the West. Instead of an elevator - which would add cost and complexity and requires a lot of space - the project incorporates graciously widened interior stairs with natural light in the corridors and inviting glazed doors.

In addition to vehicular parking at a 1:1 ratio for each home, a dedicated indoor bicycle room enables car-free and car-light living.

Exterior materials were selected on the basis of being attractive, economical and suitably durable for a rental apartment building, and the overall character draws on classical conceptions of base, column, and cornice to reinforce a sense of permanence.  Crisp white cement panel features alongside vertical standing seam metal roofing in hues of copper and bronze from which the building derives its namesake.  In addition to being far more affordable than conventional metal formed panel assemblies, the standing seam metals bring subtle shadows and variation to the exterior.

The Penny came into being prior to current building code changes in BC that now preclude three-storey walk-up apartment buildings, but the project stands as an example of what is possible when we move from simple "maximization" to smarter "optimization" of middle housing typologies to make new housing both more livable and approachable.