The Beach + Howe tower, developed by Ian Gillespie and designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, went to urban design panel for a second review earlier this week. Some information in my story here.
Couldn’t capture everything that happened at the meeting, though.
An interesting point that several panel members made, worth noting: They admired the efforts to create a public market/festival/ceremonial street area under the bridge. And the design team assured them that the city’s engineering department was collaborating enthusiastically.
As architect Mark Ostry noted, if the team’s design plans are going to work, the city needs to agree to joint management of the space. And, while the engineering department might on-board now, that could change.
The city “can’t pull the plug at the last minute when the legal agreements come out,” he cautioned.
People also liked the way pedestrians, cyclists and drivers on the bridge will be able to look out over an interesting set of roof gardens, because of the way the roofs on the lower buildings have been shaped to slope upwards from the bridge rails.
I’ll be interested to hear what the public makes of all this. (Open house next week, Feb. 21)
I’ve seen the design panel praise the occasional building that the public has been less than enthusiastic about. This tower is very tall, which is going to bring out the anti-tall building people. It also has quite an unusual design for glass-pointe-tower Vancouver. One civilian who looked at it commented to me, “I’ve never been a fan of buildings that look as though they might fall over.”
A few panel members also raised the issue of the need for rain protection, saying that the slanted glass building walls that come down below the bridge are going to create a depressing sheet of water that will also bounce all over pedestrians below.
One point that an engineer brought up. This building is likely going to require the deepest “concrete-raft foundation” the city has ever seen, likely going down six stories and into the False Creek water table.
FRANCES BULA
Published Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 09:00AM EST
Last updated Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 11:21AM EST
Vancouver’s most distinctive tower project in a century got an enthusiastic endorsement from the city’s design panel this week.
That paves the way for an open house next week and public hearings later this year on plans for a striking set of buildings that panel member Peter Wreglesworth described on Wednesday as a “whole composition that is urban art.”
The 497-foot tower, designed by the firm of Danish rock-star architect Bjarke Ingels, would rise from a narrow base next to the Granville Bridge and curve up and out for its 52 storeys.
In contrast to the glassy look that has become a Vancouver staple, the tower’s exterior would be covered with a lattice-work of bronze-trimmed balconies. Surrounding the tower at the bottom would be pie-shaped glass buildings – “prisms,” as some panel members called them – that fit into the crevices created by the bridge’s entry and exit ramps.
Those buildings would contain shopping, social housing and market rental apartments.
Mr. Wreglesworth, who is an architect, called the project an exciting mix that combines energy, grit, crispness, and light. Another architect, Mark Ostry, said it would “raise the benchmark for residential mixed-use development in the city.”
The project is unusual for Vancouver because of developer Ian Gillespie’s decision to hire a foreign architect as a way to add texture to a city that has been mostly designed by local architects.
Mr. Ingels, whose company recently opened an office in Beijing, has skyrocketed to fame in a short time with his playful and unusual designs.
It wasn’t just the buildings by his company, Bjarke Ingels Group, that attracted positive comments at the Vancouver panel. The plan to develop a Granville Island-like retail and public space around and under the bridge got as much attention.
The design team is looking at turning the road that runs directly below the bridge into a ceremonial street that could be used at times for festivals, markets and concerts, lined by wide terraced sidewalks.
Mr. Gillespie spent much of his time talking about the outdoor art gallery he wants to create.
In an illustration done for the panel, he showed a space where the underside of the bridge and the walls of the buildings on either side were covered with dramatic art photographs in light boxes.
Mr. Gillespie, who buys work from the city’s internationally acclaimed photo-conceptual artists, said he’d like to see the space used to showcase artwork that defines the city. “An outdoor art gallery would celebrate what Vancouver has developed an expertise in.”
The project still has several stages to go through before it is approved by the city, although it has jumped a major hurdle by getting urban design panel approval.
The project sits on one of the few sites in the city designated to allow “higher buildings.” As such, the team had to prove that the project would make “a significant contribution to the beauty and visual power of the city’s skyline.”
The panel, with one exception, agreed that it did.
The latest version of the design will be shown at an open house next week at which Mr. Ingels will be present. Then it has to go through public hearings.
It may benefit from the fact that the neighbourhood isn’t defined or established.
An advocacy group called CityHallWatch, which monitors developments, has already indicated concerns about the project.
The tower’s height, especially close to residential False Creek and the bridge entrance, is a problem, spokesman Randy Helten said. “The 497-foot height of such a building really only belongs in the central business district.”
But Mr. Helten, who became a vocal watchdog of development in response to proposals for new towers in the West End three years ago, acknowledged that many people in his neighbourhood aren’t paying much attention to the proposed tower because the site is on the fringe of the downtown’s residential area.
The city’s downtown business association, while generally favourable to new developments, also views it as outside its traditional boundary.
“It’s kind of a no man’s land there,” said Charles Gauthier, whose association represents many Granville Street businesses a couple of blocks away.
The project, which would bring 700,000 square feet of residential and commercial space to what has been the nondescript entry point to the downtown, would likely change all that.
