Vancouver is the 8th largest city in Canada by population (630,000) and is the largest city of the Greater Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area in British Columbia (containing 2,460,000, the 3rd largest in Canada).
The University of British Columbia is located about 6 miles West from Downtown and is situated at the tip of a wooded peninsula. This thread will focus mostly on contemporary structures since the campus does not feature much historic or notable midcentury architecture.
The campus area seen from an airliner:
Signage:
Various campus buildings:
Beaty Biodiversity Museum:
More academic buildings on campus:
Highrise campus housing:
Thunderbird Stadium:
First Nations Longhouse:
Museum of Anthropology:
Asian Centre:
Wesbrook Village:
This growing master planned community on campus is mostly composed of midrise and tower housing, separated from the academic core.
There are a few but the campus is overwhelmingly buildings from the last 4-5 decades.
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World's First Documented Baseball Game: Beachville, Ontario, June 4th, 1838.
World's First Documented Gridiron Game: University College, Toronto, November 9th, 1861.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats since 1869 & Toronto Argonauts since 1873: North America's 2 oldest pro football teams
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"The destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building" - Jane Jacobs 1961ish
Despite visiting Vancouver numerous times, I've never seen UBC.
It's odd how separated it is from the city...not just at the end of town but also past a state park and golf course that are up to a mile wide. Based on google maps, it looks like a huge percentage of students and even a lot of faculty and staff probably live on the fringes of the campus, including an oldish suburban SFR area. Does this protect the students from Vancouver's prices? What effects does this have on the feel of the city, especially with Simon Fraser University (35,000 students) similarly separated from things at the other end of town? (Realizing that other colleges are in urban Vancouver locations.)
How does retail do on the campus and its related fringe? Does much stay open during the offseason? While the photos show some retail, it seems like a tough situation vs. a mixed-use district where even the summer has enough activity to make opening worthwhile.
The location seems challenging for turning research into new businesses, though obviously UBC has a big role in providing people for existing businesses. The annual research budget is typically a little under $600,000,000, which isn't huge but should spin off some companies. Can companies incubate on the campus fringe?
UBC has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Thanks for the tour. What made you decide to take a photo tour of UBC?
I was in Vancouver and decided to see the Museum of Anthropology; since it was further away from downtown I decided to take advantage of cheaper student housing available to tourists in summer. Then I started researching other things at the campus and decided to make a few days out of it!
I'd love to see more on the UBC Wood Tower project, Brock Commons, especially the interior... The view from the UC phase from even mid-way up was fantastic!
How does retail do on the campus and its related fringe? Does much stay open during the offseason? While the photos show some retail, it seems like a tough situation vs. a mixed-use district where even the summer has enough activity to make opening worthwhile.
I visited in summer and I think all businesses were open on the campus; I did not visit the surrounding areas but from looking at a map it appears that the only fringe area that is not single family residential is a half-mile strip of 10th Avenue.
Great you made it out to UBC, it's got a lot of interesting architecture and is often overlooked when people visit Vancouver simply due to its remote location. It doesn't have the charm of an old eastern university that's for sure, but the setting at least is worth spending an afternoon venturing out there IMO.