Central (1618 Quebec St.) | 18 & 19 st | Completed
(I'm not familiar with the Vancouver forums, so apologies if this has already been posted)
http://www.ownatcentral.com/ http://www.vancouversun.com/somethin...687/story.html And now for something completely different ... in architecture Proposed waterfront building breaks free of what has gone before, and could be a much-needed bridge to a new city skyline By Pete McMartin, Vancouver Sun April 28, 2011 Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/somethin...#ixzz1LtMJTGfl http://www.vancouversun.com/4687688.bin?size=620x400s In all, the development will rise 18 or 19 stories, and offer 304 units. The top horizontal tower (with eight storeys, two of them penthouse floors) and one of the bottom supporting towers will be residential. The other supporting tower will be all retail and office space. |
Wow.. on first impression, that looks awful... especially dislike the spaghetti columns in the middle.... hope this doesn't happen... slabby buildings built atop each other... arg..
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everyone was just raving about it a few months ago - i like it
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This was previously called Chopstix. There has been discussion about it in the SEFC/Olympic Village thread. It has been approved (rezoing and UDP), though I am not sure they have their development/building permits yet.
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i was talking to a few of the onni people the other day, they are very close to getting the permit and are currently re-doing thier downtown display center to start selling the units.
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One great thing about this project is that the building fronting Main St. is commerial - which is great to have near a SkyTrain station. It serves to expand the high tech zone that exists east of Main St. on Terminal Ave.
Once neighbouring projects are built out, the "chopsticks" won't be very visible. |
The neighbouring project to the south goes to Council next week for final approval of the rezoning:
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Looks like they plan on keeping the rail ROW through there. I don't see it being used for a long long time but I guess it's worth preserving.
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This is the saddest and most Vancouveresque image I've ever seen. What are the setbacks for?!? I can understand them in the case of a typical arterial mid-rise, (to minimize shadow/street impact or whatever), but that logic doesn't apply to a design that already goes out of the way to make more shadows...
And why does it look like they've dropped in a random Vancouver mid-rise (cluttered facades and all) in lieu of the "bridge" component? Wouldn't a monolithic facade system have been the natural thing to go for??? |
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Nice font, at least. ;)
The proposal, itself, ain't that bad. It does represent some architectural variation. |
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With the re-development plans for the Burger King site and the DeSerres site (and the old Vancouver Chrysler site further north) far enough along to have public redevelopment planning sessions, its likely easier just to keep the curve of the ROW as the separation between these two properties and use the ROW as 'public access space' rather than sell the ROW & consolidate it with one of the lots on either side of it. If the lots on either side were owned by the same company, then perhaps they could have also purchased the ROW and consolidate the land together to get a larger (better?) development. As for keeping it for the future Tram / Streetcar / LRT tracks from Olympic Village to VCC Station, I have seen one set of plans showing the tracks staying on 1st Ave and curving north at Quebec St to get to Main St Stn, with a future extension running straight east on 1st Ave across Quebec, Main and re-connecting east of the Midas site to the old ROW to get to VCC Stn. Another note on the drawing suggested in the future that the Quebec tracks could be extended south down Quebec to ... ? somewhere south of 1st Ave ? Broadway? down Kingsway? down Main St? |
The ROW is the important part to save. Any new trolley/streetca/LRT etc. would have new tracks laid. Recall the demonstration line for the Olympics was new including the gravel base, ties, and rails.
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I love this proposal. It is a resounding departure from the Vancouver tower and podium typology while still achieving overarching goals of mixed use, street walls, residential character and commercial expressions to create a legible building with distinct programmatic elements. The bridge will also look quite different than the Quebec street residential mid-rise block and the plan is for quite dramatic international orange balcony and stairwell detailing. The unfortunate decision to abandon the asymmetric columns is the project's lone black eye, but the developer seems to have read the riot act to the architect and said the lower cost columns were the only way the project could proceed based on the building's proforma. The initial UDP entreaties for even more energetic would have required a far more complicated parking garage geometry. Also, the UDP's ultimate preference for a clear span bridge would have required either steel construction for the bridge structure or a much thicker transfer slab upon which the bridge would sit upon, and that would have put them over the site's maximum height, not to mention changing the inefficiencies and layout of the mid-rise blocks to an uneconomic extent, or so was said at the project's last UDP meeting by Onni's VP.
With all of that said, I think this is the first exciting proposal of the decade and one that has the potential to be a game changer for projects that want to avoid the tower-podium building typology. At 380 units and a hefty chunk of office space, this project is programmatically on par with Jameson House or The Georgia, and I think the proposed project deserves to be in this company. |
New Rendering from BuzzBuzzHome:
http://www.buzzbuzzhome.com/central http://imageshack.us/m/689/5586/central1.jpg |
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From the plans I've seen of the SEFC full build-out, the ROW west of Quebec is nowhere to be seen, so this ROW beside Burger King has nothing to connect to anymore. The 1st Ave tracks can simply stay on 1st Ave and continue east across Quebec St and then across Main St, connecting with the old ROW just east of the Midas Muffler shop. Its a simple straight line -- cheaper & easier to build than a curve. The old ROW can become a walkway or bike-lane between Quebec and Main St. They could also put back fake rails and cobblestones on Quebec and Main and between the buildings like was done on Pender St to mark that old ROW: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.002747&z=19 (I can't explain the fire hydrant, though) BTW: Does this ROW beside Burger King have enough room for two tracks? After all, this will be lrt / tram / streetcar tracks, so there should be EB and WB tracks for traffic in both directions. |
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Looking at the updated render, it appears as if the international orange details on the bridge portion of the project have been removed. The stairwells from the penthouses to their roof terraces also seem to have been removed, which disappoints. None the less, it's a very interesting project and I'm thrilled it is proceeding. |
Pretty cool, interactive 360 degrees views feature, on the development website:
http://ownatcentral.com/views/ |
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