Enchanting, calming structure, and grounds, are critical, photographer writes
Mike Chadwick
Sun
Electra on Nelson at Burrard – the city’s most elegant tower is aptly named aster serving as BC Hydro headquarters
Carina/Callisto towers on West Cordova – glass towers
The under-construction Melville anticipates the future
Residences on Georgia signal their Stanley Park proximity
Qube broadcasts its epoch
The fins of aluminum on The Pointe are unique to this tower
Eugenia Place is a tribute to Vancouver’s natural history
The longevity of, and rental opportunity at Le Guernesey impress Mike Chadwick
The longevity of, and rental opportunity at Banff Apartments impress Mike Chadwick
One Harbour Green on Coal Harbour is unique
Mike Chadwick is the author of Vancouver In Focus:
The City’s Built Form, a photographic survey of downtown Vancouver buildings and landmarks. The West End resident and North Shore forest ranger here shares, with Westcoast Homes readers, in pictures and text, his favourite residential buildings downtown.
Among the sea of buildings in any downtown, a select few catch the eye. Why? What makes one stand out? The obvious answer is unique architecture, but there is more to it.
When you are around a particular building, do you feel you want to spend more time around it? Is it a welcoming structure? Is it a calming presence, perhaps because its design includes features such as reflecting pools or gardens? Is it a right-for-the-site structure? Does it complement its surroundings?
Of the many residential buildings — mostly towers — in downtown Vancouver, only a handful are truly unique, in opinion. I have compiled a list of 10 significant residential buildings in the downtown core, using the following criteria:
The building has to be primarily residential.
The building has to demonstrate unique design and architecture.
It must integrate well into its environment
It must be historically, socially, culturally or technically significant.
Qube
Built in 1969 and known as the Westcoast Transmission Building for 31 years, this Vancouver icon was converted to residential use in 2005 and renamed Qube.
It is technically unique because it was built from the top down. It is culturally significiant because it was designed and constructed when the Cold War race for space supremacy inserted space-age considerations into architecture and interior design.
The central pillar was the first component of the building constructed. The floors were then hung from the top, using suspension-bridge technology — the goal a building that could withstand an earthquake. Only half-a-dozen buildings in North America utilize this suspended design.
my opinion. I have compiled a list of 10 significant residential buildings in the downtown core, using the following criteria:
The building has to be primarily residential.
The building has to demonstrate unique design and architecture.
It must integrate well into its environment
It must be historically, socially, culturally or technically significant.
Qube
Built in 1969 and known as the Westcoast Transmission Building for 31 years, this Vancouver icon was converted to residential use in 2005 and renamed Qube.
It is technically unique because it was built from the top down. It is culturally significiant because it was designed and constructed when the Cold War race for space supremacy inserted space-age considerations into architecture and interior design.
The central pillar was the first component of the building constructed. The floors were then hung from the top, using suspension-bridge technology — the goal a building that could withstand an earthquake. Only half-a-dozen buildings in North America utilize this suspended design.
The Qube has aged very well. During conversion, each side of the building was removed, exposing the floors and the building’s innards. The windows were replaced, but retained the dark look of the originals.
The modern, minimalist style of the building is reflected in the concrete aggregate plaza under the suspended portion of the tower. (The passerby can walk under the majority of the building — suspended above his or her head. Definitely a unique experience!)
In the front, there is almost no landscaping and there are no benches. The building itself is the focus, because it is so unique. A modest garden with shade-tolerant species can be found on the north side.
Even the lobby is stark, serving only as an entry point and waiting area for the elevators.
Address: 1383 West Georgia
Completed: 1969
Architect: Rhone & Iredale
Floors: 13
Height: 82 metres (269 feet)
The Pointe
Fins of aluminum are The Pointe’s defining exterior feature. They act as solar controls and align the building — rotated to provide maximum views — with the street. There is no other building in the city with this feature.
The tower, on the corner of Georgia and Jervis, is set back from Jervis, allowing an extra-wide, divided sidewalk. The passerby has a choice: Walk the sidewalk street’s edge or walk the stairs at the property’s edge. A row of trees and plants separates the two and a gentle waterfall nearby follows the grade of the street, adding to the singularity.
On West Georgia, the entrance is surrounded by a ring of concrete pillars which aid in supporting the main structure of the building, five metres above. Looking up at the tinted green glass, the unusual geometric shadows caused by the fins are noticeable.
The Pointe was one of the city’s first residential towers designed and outfitted to support home-based businesses — a forward-thinking feature anticipating Mayor Sam Sullivan’s ”ecodensity” initiative.
Address: 1331 West Georgia
Completed: 1999
Architect: Bing Thom Architects
Floors: 29
Height: 84 metres (275 feet)
Residences On Georgia
The design of the four towers that make up the Residences is not as significant as the treatment of the site. By employing restraint, the result is an urban oasis which features a large open greenspace that serves as a transition between the forests of Stanley Park and the dense towers of the downtown core.
A large duck pond, public art and a continuation of the seawall are components of the space.
The towers have generous spacing between them, allowing ample public spaces and preserving the treasured view corridors to the mountains of the North Shore. The development won a lieutenant-governor’s gold award in 1998 and helped to set the standards of urban design in downtown Vancouver.
Address: 1200 West Georgia – 1288 West Georgia
Completed: 1998
Architect: James KM Cheng
Floors: 36
Height: 108 metres (354 feet)
Eugenia Place
The most significant feature of this modern tower is found on the Beach Avenue facade, an approximation, or suggestion, of a giant syringe, with a large tree atop the “plunger” and the entrance to the structure at the pointed base.
Henriquez Partners, the firm responsible for Eugenia Place, brought a surreal concept to reality in a way that works very well.
The design pays tribute to the area’s natural history: The building’s height is the same as the original Douglas firs that occupied the site; the oak tree on the ”plunger” is a reference to natural continuity; the concrete stumps at ground level, to cultural continuity. The “syringe” and the tree on top may be interpreted as injecting mother earth back into the environment.
Address: 1919 Beach
Completed: 1991
Architect: Henriquez Partners
Floors: 19
Height: 58 metres (189 feet)
Electra
The former headquarters of BC Hydro is one of the first modernist buildings in Canada, completed in the 1950s. It was sensitively converted to residential use in 1995.
The triangular panels on the vertical fins (on the building’s Georgia and Hornby facades) are illuminated at night and were recently restored to their original blue and green brilliance.
The steel and glass on the Nelson Street facade resemble a massive waterfall. In contrast, the side profiles are slim, with the vertical fins adding to the perception of height.
In all areas, there is attention to detail. Doors, lobby tiles and elevator motifs, for example, reflect the six-sided shape of the structure.
Truly the city’s most elegant tower, the building was Vancouver’s first postwar building to achieve heritage designation.
Address: 989 Nelson
Completed: 1957
Architect: Thompson Berwick Pratt
Floors: 22
Height: 89 metres (293 feet)
Carina-Callisto
As glass towers, this pair is, perhaps, the best around, because the design incorporates a unique shape which reflects the nautical nature of the site.
Their southern profiles are flat, to blend with the surrounding architecture. But their other profiles feature a three-dimensional curve which is meant to resemble a giant sail, complementing the sails of Canada Place. The effect is dramatic, with protruding balconies adding texture to the smooth glass surfaces.
Electra
The former headquarters of BC Hydro is one of the first modernist buildings in Canada, completed in the 1950s. It was sensitively converted to residential use in 1995.
The triangular panels on the vertical fins (on the building’s Georgia and Hornby facades) are illuminated at night and were recently restored to their original blue and green brilliance.
The steel and glass on the Nelson Street facade resemble a massive waterfall. In contrast, the side profiles are slim, with the vertical fins adding to the perception of height.
In all areas, there is attention to detail. Doors, lobby tiles and elevator motifs, for example, reflect the six-sided shape of the structure.
Truly the city’s most elegant tower, the building was Vancouver’s first postwar building to achieve heritage designation.
Address: 989 Nelson
Completed: 1957
Architect: Thompson Berwick Pratt
Floors: 22
Height: 89 metres (293 feet)
Carina-Callisto
As glass towers, this pair is, perhaps, the best around, because the design incorporates a unique shape which reflects the nautical nature of the site.
Their southern profiles are flat, to blend with the surrounding architecture. But their other profiles feature a three-dimensional curve which is meant to resemble a giant sail, complementing the sails of Canada Place. The effect is dramatic, with protruding balconies adding texture to the smooth glass surfaces.
Both towers feature the now-usual townhouses at the base. This urban planning directive helps to define the street edge and serves to prevent the feeling that the towers loom overhead.
Address: 1233 West Cordova
Completed: 2003
Architect: Hancock Bruckner
Eng + Wright
Floors: 27
Height: 79 metres (259 feet)
Le Guernesey
This West End heritage building was beautifully restored and renovated two years ago. The exterior features brand new iron fire escapes, windows, brickwork and paint; the interior, modern suites.
This is a rental building, which makes it quite significant. In a time when stratification is taking away rental stock, Le Guernesey’s restoration team took a bold step by resisting stratification.
Address: 859 Thurlow
Floors: 5
Banff Apartments
The Banff Apartments, built in 1909, are among a small cluster of heritage apartment buildings located between Georgia and Melville streets, at Bute. It is truly surprising that the Banff Apartments have survived nearly a century of development and redevelopment, especially given its location in one of the downtown core’s most prominent business areas. This is important in a city that is changing at such a rapid pace. Heritage buildings serve as an anchor to the past; a point of reference for the senior who was raised in Vancouver.
The Banff Apartments, finished in red and green, add colour, texture and form to the the modern urban landscape’s glass and steel. Also notable is the fact that it has remained a rental building.
One Harbour Green
This new building is unlike any other in the downtown core. Its appearance is bold, yet sensible when viewed against the backdrop of the North Shore mountains.
The salmon marble panels (which appear red in direct sunlight) of One Harbour Green provide a vivid contrast to the blue waters of Coal Harbour and green forests of the North Shore mountains.
Architect James KM Cheng has done it again with this building, signalling how the next generation of Vancouver architecture might unfold. Building upon the success of the glass towers of the previous 20 years, the time has come to incorporate colour and different exterior materials into the mix.
Address: 1169 West Cordova
Completed: 2005
Architect: James KM Cheng Architects
Floors: 24
Height: 80 metres (263 feet)
The Melville
This tower, to be completed later this year, anticipates the future by incorporating sustainability features such as steam heat and rainwater retention for landscape irrigation.
Tall and slender, the Melville’s striking features include a curved glass sail on the roof; recycled heavy timber facades at street level; copper cladding from ground level to the roof, cumulating in an offset triangle behind the glass sail.
Address: 1189 Melville
Completed: 2007
Architect: Hewitt + Kwasnicky Architects Inc.
Floors: 42
Height: 141 metres (464 feet)
Vancouver In Focus: The City’s Built Form, by Mike Chadwick and with a foreward by James KM Cheng, is available at book stores, amazon.ca. and vancouverinfocus.com ($39.95 plus shipping).
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
