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Updates

The development team behind the Burrard Gateway towers continue to produce further details of their proposed residential, office and retail project on the Downtown Toyota site. A high building review is being held for the 525 (or 550) foot version of the project, and a new illustration has been posted which shows in greater detail the unusual grid design of the tower.

UPDATE: April 20th 2011: The tower tripped at the first hurdle - on design and sustainability. As a 'higher building' Burrard Gateway had to show "architectural creativity and excellence, while making a significant contribution to the beauty and visual power of the city’s skyline". It also has to "demonstrate leadership and advances in sustainable design and energy consumption". The City's Urban Design Panel, with two guest experts from out of town, concluded that the tower didn't quite make it on either front; as a result we anticipate a redesign."


The non-market housing projects in the South East False Creek area are progressing well. First Place - an 11 storey project located at 1st Avenue and Quebec Street is now at full height, and windows are being installed. The design by GBL Architects Group shows another striking building targetted for LEED Gold rating. Meanwhile a second site has now been cleared on 2nd Avenue, where DYS Architecture's design for another 11 storey building funded by BC Housing on a City of Vancouver owned site. It should start to appear over the summer.



Several more of the non-market schemes in the Downtown are also nearing completion - the most dramatic so far being the Abbott and Pender street corner building also designed by GBL, with an extraordinary zig-zag canopy.



Oxford Properties have just received a development permit for their 420' tall 35 storey office tower to squueze between the Marine Building and the Guiness Tower. When we say squeeze, the model shows how accurate this is - the University Club on the site will see its facade preserved, and the tower soars above and around this feature. The building will curve out slightly at the bottom, round at the sides, and over the top (lit from inside). The design is from New York's Kohn Pederson Fox, working with Musson Cattell Mackey of Vancouver.


On Granville Street, the first STIR Project is underway. STIR is Short Term Incentive for Rental, and the 100 or so small rental units will be at the south end of the Granville entertainment strip in a 10 storey building. The 300 ton erratic boulder the builders hit when digging out the basement floors have slowed progress a little, but the project, designed by Chris Dikeakos, should be at ground level pretty soon.
 


Burrard Gateway, the two tall towers with an office block and car dealership for Pattison Toyota (the current occupants of the Burrard Street site) is moving slowly forward. The site is one of very few that Council approved to have higher buildings - this is the 470 foot version, but the designers, IBI/HB are going for over 500.
 


The Casino and hotel project planned for the western end of the BC Place stadium (at least until it gets a new sponsorship name) is facing multiple evenings of Public Hearing as Council hear the benefits and problems of relocating the Edgewater Casino inland, tripling its size in the process. Almost all the arguments are about the casino operation and the potential problems associated with gambling. Almost no comment has been made about the design from New York's Rockwell Group working with local firm IBI/HB  Update: On April 19, 2011, City Council turned down the expanded casino proposal, although they have left the door open for the existing casino to relocate without expanding.
 


Cosmo, the fifth tower in the Spectrum development at Georgia and Beatty is just about above street level. The site was originally intended as non-market housing, but developer Concord negotiated a complicated scheme to buy back the development rights in exchange for land for non-market housing nearby. James K M Cheng's design will be similar to the four existing towers, but lacking a coloured stripe.
 


Maddox, another project from the ubiquitous IBI/HB was approved by the city's advisory Urban Design Panel and is now moving into marketing mode. The 34 storey tower with a pattern of three colours of terra cotta panels will replace the 'meanwhile' park that replaced the Travelodge on Howe Street.
 


Aquilini Developments has proposed three towers to wrap the edges of the Rogers Arena (still thought of by many as GM PLace). The designs by Walter Francl pick up on the design of the first tower proposed here by Busby Assocaites. This office use is still intended; the other two towers would be residential.



The designs for the Terry Fox memorial replacement have been unveiled, and have met with universal approval. Douglas Coupland's design animates the famous 'hop step' that Terry showed with a series of increasing sized sculptures, ending with a twice life size figure.


 
The worst-kept development secret in town has finally been confirmed; Telus will build a half million square foot headquarters on Georgia Street witha companion 44 storey residential tower to replace their less-than-lovely parkade structure on Robson Street. In fact two parkades disappear in this proposal, as the City will sell Telus their Georgia Street parkade. Telus have partnered with developer Westbank, who has brought in Henriquez Partners as designers. The intention is for the office to reach Leed Platinum status; a first for a commercial building in Canada. The Kingston Hotel will remain on Richards Street.


The Cecil Hotel - the bar where Greenpeace was born and more recently girls could be found wearing little more than a smile is now being demolished to make way for the Rolston, a dramatic piece of architecture behind one of the oldest buildings in this part of the city, the Yale Hotel. The architecture is bold - the architect is more elusive; Although various companies have been associated with the design as it has evolved, the current credit goes to IBI/HB.
 
http://therolston.com/design


60 West Cordova (http://60wcordova.com/) promises to introduce something interesting both architecturally and economically into the Downtown Eastside. Rather than the high-end condos recently completed at East, or the far from cheap Woodwards condos, this project (designed and developed by Henriquez and Westbank who also created Woodwards) will feature over 100 low-cost home ownership opportunities, with various requirements to ensure that they go, initially at least, to people living or working in he area. With significantly reduced parking (to help affordability) and a fast turn round on the permit, the project should appear in the vacant parking lot next to the Army & Navy store at an impresive rate, once it gets going.



Recently approved as a rezoning (with remarkably, nobody from the public to praise or condemn the dramatic architecture), Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden's 18 storey project features two eight storey 'legs' (one office, and one condo) with a 10 storey bridge link set at an angle between them. The scheme, if it moves forward as rezoned, will be a dramatic intervention into the northern arm of South East False Creek. HBBH in the meantime are now merged and renamed 'Dialog'. Further schemes in the area are proposed by Cressey and Bastion (whose 24 storey tower and reconstruction of Opsal Steel has finally emeged).


Bastion Developments Opsal project has been approved for the block between Quebec and Ontario on Second Ave. Portions of the iconic red sheds will be preserved.



Two noteable pieces of art have recently appeared. A vase that was intended to be an Olympic piece finally appeared under Cambie Bridge. Paris based Chilean Tania Ruiz Gutierrez designed "Garde Temps" with LED lights that respond to movement with a series of images pre-programmed into the piece. On the Thurlow Street Plaza of the new Convention Centre the author and artist Douglas Coupland's "Digital Orca" offers a pixelated example of a classic west-coast icon, which twinkles at night. Coupland will also be designing the replacement artwork to acknowledge the life of Terry Fox to be installed on the Plaza under the massive masts of the rapidly emeging new roof of BC Place Stadium.



Good news, tinged with regret for a new major project in the Mount Pleasant industrial area. A significant investment in a new electrical sub-station will see a LEED Certified project on Alberta and West 6th Avenue; the only down side is the sad loss of two of the remaining heritage houses in the area (offered to be moved, but with no takers).

Here's the Hydro link
 

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OOPS!

Despite our best efforts, the occasional error can creep in...

We apologize to Foad Rafii for misspelling his name in the text.

The CBA Manor, c. 1997 was was designed by Joe Wai rather than Davidson Yuen Simpson Architects, who did the adjoining S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Headquarters