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| Too busy being a tourist, especially on Granville Island that's home to the famed public market. Vancouver House can be seen in the background. |
Before retiring from the nine to five world of
periodical journalism, I covered architecture and design for a host of
publications like San Diego Home/Garden, San Diego Magazine, San Diego
Union-Tribune, Modernism magazine, Old House Interiors, Arts & Crafts Homes
magazine and American Bungalow.
Now my travel writing is devoted to PillartoPost.org,
a daily online magazine style blog.
Recently, I traveled to Vancouver, Canada to spent
time with my family. Before taking an
Air Canada flight, I researched nothing when it came to architecture of that
beautiful and creative City.
And, for the life of me—even with my architectural
writing background--I cannot figure how I missed stopping to view the Vancouver
House, a new high rise that CNN’s website has named as one of the world's most
anticipated buildings in 2020.
I blame it on being retired and not really going there
in search of article ideas.
But, when I returned I noticed CNN’s blog calling
Vancouver House a 49-story significant architectural accomplishment. Where was I?
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| Vancouver's scenic False Bay distracted us from seeing Vancouver House |
It’s precisely the sort of eccentricity
we’ve come to expect from Bjarke Ingels, the Danish architect who recently
built a ski slope on top of a power plant in Copenhagen. But it’s also a smart
response to various restrictions and regulations that limited the size of the
tower’s footprint in downtown Vancouver.
The pixelated facade, also
characteristic of Ingels’ work, helps to create deep-set balconies for
residents in the 493-foot-tall tower.
It is possible that Ingels’ rise to fame
over the last seven years (city council approved the rezoning for Vancouver
House in 2013) also benefited the Vancouver project by bringing it more
international attention.
Vancouver House topped out in 2019, and is slated to reach full completion later this year, including the opening of many of its commercial tenants. The new public realm beneath the bridge will be activated by 85,000 sq. ft. of ground-level retail and restaurant space, namely London Drugs, Fresh St. Market grocery store, and Momofuku Noodle Bar.
Five permanent container shipping retail
units will also be placed at the entrances into this new public space, where an
oversized chandelier public art sculpture spins three times daily.
Within the two triangular podium
buildings, 90,000 sq. ft. of office space will be furnished into academic space
for University Canada West. Approximately 3,400 students are expected to study
at this new campus, providing regular foot traffic for the area.
The residential portion of the CAD
$750-million project contains 375 market condominiums and 105 market rental
homes.
How did I miss seeing Vancouver House? Actually, I did look at the building giving
it a cursory glance as part of a burgeoning city skyline. That speaks to the fact, Vancouver House fits
in.
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| Stanley Park in West Vancouver was a great place to visit and to ignore Vancouver House in the background. |
Because we were being tourists.
And, our wanderings took us to the north and west side of Vancouver
House. We simply didn’t notice the east and south faces of the building where
its twists on its foundation to make Vancouver House one of the more remarkable
high rise designs in North America.
It goes to say, a little advance research would have made our
trip more interesting. Oh, well we have a reason now to return to Vancouver, a
skyline and a city worth revisiting. –By Thomas Shess, founder and editor in
chief of PillartoPost.org daily online magazine.
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| Here's what we missed. |
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