753 Seymour | 123m | 32Fl | Completed

[queetz@home]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I think the garage was always part of the Vancouver Centre project.

The new building has 6 storeys of underground garage (which doesn't exist currently) - so the existing garage will have to be demolished (Price Tags is relying on a secondary source that is probably wrong).

Ok, thanks officedweller and s211. That makes sense, just thought maybe there was a shelved project in the past that I didn't know about, hence the possibility of building on top of the garage. I looked at the link again and one of the comments did try to correct this info. No surprise that Price Tags is relying on secondary sources that would yield incorrect info...

[phesto]

Apparently there was a comment at the UDP that the owners were considering an "all glass" reclad of Vancouver Centre to match the new building - when and if it gets built in ~5 yrs...the idea being that the whole complex would simply be "Vancouver Centre" (ie. north and south tower).

Sounds promising. I've always hated the look of VC and in particular the Scotia logo...though I know some like it.

[dreambrother808]

Here's to a reclad!

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Here's to a reclad!

Er, yes. Nice as it is to be original, I find that those glass "hanging strips" on the Seymour side, have a strange "tattered" look to them. The idea of a square conventional building reclad, especially near street level, with an outer layer that lends itself to the pedestrian experience is a great idea IMO .... but something a bit more mainstream (?) crisper, smarter than this, Perhaps? Very much a matter of taste involved here.

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by phesto

Apparently there was a comment at the UDP that the owners were considering an "all glass" reclad of Vancouver Centre to match the new building - when and if it gets built in ~5 yrs...the idea being that the whole complex would simply be "Vancouver Centre" (ie. north and south tower).

Sounds promising. I've always hated the look of VC and in particular the Scotia logo...though I know some like it.

That would be awful! The building looks great as it is. And the Scotia logo adds some flair to our boring city. If there's ever a re-clad, the architects will turn in their graves.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by EdinVan

That would be awful! The building looks great as it is. And the Scotia logo adds some flair to our boring city. If there's ever a re-clad, the architects will turn in their graves.

Partly agree. The red Scotia symbol is definitely part of our image tapestry. However, I am not sure how many people thinks the building looks great as it is. If it remains as present, it color-complements the adjacent TD tower in dark brown-to-black. But it's rather dark.
If the white stonework were to remain, but the tower were reclad a bit like Union Square One and Two in Seattle, it might look OK, the windows reflecting the adjacent towers, but the tower distinct in its own identity, yet compatible with its new neighbor.
However, recladding the the Scotia Tower in the same fanciful glass as the other might be rather ... overkill? (not to mention strange-looking).

[spm2013]

Only if they use three different window tints.

[officedweller]

The main feature of Scotia Tower is the white marble aggregate panels - and the contrast between those and the brown/black windows and spandrel panels.

Any replacement glass should maintain some contrast, even if they change the colour from browns to grays or blues.

The most important aspect would be retaining the white aggregate panels. Solid surfaces (stone, marble, concrete, brick) are what gives this, and many other towers, their character.
Imagine if the white marble were replaced by spandrel glass in an "all-glass" remodel.

WRT the Scotia logo - I think it's one of the only tower logos in the city that was designed for the tower (it's composed on neon tubes installed directing into the aggregate panel) - most if not all of the others now displayed are "add-ons" made of plastic sheeting and aluminum panel that are hung onto the building (i.e. look at the logos atop the original Bentall III and IV Towers - the original logos (Canada Trust, Bank of Montreal) were inset in the white aggregate panelling). The Royal Bank shield is a frame with plastic pulled taut. "Bell" is hung from the roof.

[NewWester]

While I agree it's a bit dated looking, I think it's a bit of it's charm. So much of Vancouver is modern and glassy, so I think it's nice to have some significant buildings from other decades present to break things up. And given it's height, white cladding with dark windows, and big red logo (in a city of mostly white, blue, and green logos) it stands out. I'm not sure Vancouver would look right to me without it.

[spm2013]

What happens at the city-level if they want to reclad the building? Urban design panel?

[officedweller]

Good question.
Would that depend on whether the new appearance diverges from the original Development Permit (and whether that permit specified colour of glass)?

The Royal Bank Tower's glass was replaced a couple of years ago and I recall reading somewhere that some people at the City was upset that they didn't replace it with clearer glass (but the HVAC, etc. were not being replaced and clearer glass would have screwed up the entire engineering for the building (think One Wall Centre)).

[Canadian Mind]

Scotia Tower looks like it is straight out of the 1970s, I like it. On it's own it isn't the best looking building, but what it does for the city is add much needed variety and a sense of age. If we re-clad everything to look brand new we'll end up with Dubai 2.0. Not to mention the roof top lighting feature is amazing.

As for the new tower, it looks slick. I think it will compliment the Scotia tower very well and make it feel not so lonely anymore.

[LeftCoaster]

I love scotia, Only thing I would change is re-doing the windows with a darker glass so that the blinds weren't so visible through them.

Maintain the contrast at all costs though, it is visually preferable and highlights the shape of the tower.

[officedweller]

Got to thinking a bit. First Canadian Place in TO had a reclad in all glass (white fritted glass and dark bronze glass at the corner indents) and it looks good (in pictures, anyways) - so they would be able to replace white aggregate with white glass (but it doesn't sound like that would be the intent if they want to "match" the two towers).

http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthr...093#post572093

[NewWester]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Got to thinking a bit. First Canadian Place in TO had a reclad in all glass (white fritted glass and dark bronze glass at the corner indents) and it looks good (in pictures, anyways) - so they would be able to replace white aggregate with white glass (but it doesn't sound like that would be the intent if they want to "match" the two towers).

It does look nice, but doesn't it look like it's lost some of it's soul? Like a person with a bit of an uncouth style being forced to wear a business suit?

[phesto]

Just to clarify - I didn't mean to imply that the Scotia Tower would definitely be reclad to exactly match the same glass as the new tower, or that the marble would be removed. In fact, based on the comments I heard it sounds like they haven't even done concept plans at this point. But the idea is definitely to "update" the look of the building so that it matches the look of a "AAA" class office building, as opposed to just window replacement.

The Scotiabank space on the first 2 floors of the Georgia side is very tired, so it would make sense for a complete redo and maybe the lower floors could match the new building. Not sure about LD.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by NewWester

It does look nice, but doesn't it look like it's lost some of it's soul? Like a person with a bit of an uncouth style being forced to wear a business suit?

I think that's just a consequence of the reflectiveness of glass rather than solid surface like stone or brick, etc.

***

It would be interesting if they did a wholesale redesign of the podium.
I noticed that a couple of the ESL schools seem to have disappeared from the former theatre level, as their signs are inside-out.

However, the LD part of the podium does mimic the shape of Scotia Tower itself.

[Prometheus]

Looks like this building is back in the news and, yes, the plan calls for keeping the above ground parkade:

753 Seymour Street

Posted on April 13, 2016

by ChangingCity

753 Seymour 2016Two and a half years ago we posted the initial scheme at 753 Seymour Street, a new office tower proposed to replace the Vancouver Centre parkade. It’s located next to the Scotia Tower and across from the Telus office complex.

This is a pretty dead stretch of street right now, but with Telus being reclad and their new offices on Georgia as well as this project, it should be a whole lot better. It’s a design by experienced city office architects MCM.

There’s an unusual aspect to the proposal: floors 2 to 6 are proposed as above-grade parking, with 398,000 square feet of office above that. The total parking proposed just about meets the requirements here, with 7 underground floors of parking and 5 above grade. The developers appear to be anticipating those requirements coming down in future, as 65,000 of the above grade parking is designed to potentially convert to additional office space.

The rezoning report to move to a Public Hearing says “The exterior of the office building incorporates a complex curtain-wall glazing treatment that involves fritted glass, triple-glazed units and an extended capping system in order to maximize energy performance of the building.”

Source: https://changingcitybook.com/

[WarrenC12]

They mention that it's a dead block of street right now. Well of course it is with an above ground parkade...

I wonder if it will be modified to allow some kind of street level retail as well. I hope there are tenants to fill this building.

[Aroundtheworld]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Looks like this building is back in the news and, yes, the plan calls for keeping the above ground parkade:




Source: https://changingcitybook.com/

So dumb. All the current Skytrain lines converge and really how useful is parking going to be when we have robo ubers in 10 years time.