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Vancouverism, a Five-Part Series Beginning this Wednesday
October 4, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu |
This Wednesday UrbanToronto looks beyond the Greater Toronto Area to the west, and launches a five-part series of articles examining Vancouverism: Planning, Design, and Landscape. Writer and photographer Dumitru Onceanu introduces his series below.
What exactly is Vancouverism? To where can its origins be traced, how does one describe it, and what influence might its design principles have on projects in our own city? Vancouverism is a broad term that describes not just how buildings and their landscape coexist, but it is rooted deep in a planning philosophy with specifically desired outcomes for how people live, work, and play in their neighbourhoods.
What we see today, predominantly in the Coal Harbour and False Creek areas of Downtown Vancouver, are the results of over two decades of planning, design, and construction, which follow a few core principles that were articulated in the 1980s. What we aim to do is to provide a brief introduction to those principles, showcase some of the resulting communities which have been built during this period, open a discussion with you the readers, and encourage you to form your own conclusions as to the effectiveness of Vancouver's strategies.
A recent visit provided the opportunity to walk through some Vancouver's communities and explore some of the streets and buildings which make up the last two decades of development.
Vancouverism Part 1 - Early Concord Buildings (1995-2003)
October 5, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu |
Today, the first of a five part look at Vancouverism. The series was introduced yesterday.
Welcome to the West Coast, a region of surpassing natural beauty. Nestled in a corner of this paradise sits Vancouver, a city that while physically constrained by mountains to the north and the US border to the south, is nevertheless still saddled with the legacy of our sprawling 50-year romance with suburbia. This is a story with which we are all too familiar, one familiar to almost every other North American city. Seeking to address the suburban tide and pressures on scarce Fraser Valley agricultrual land, the City created a strategy for urban redevelopment and planning under a banner dubbed Living First.
One of the largest collection of projects directly resulting from this strategy can be seen in the False Creek developments of Vancouver-based developer Concord Pacific. Concord Pacific was created as the development arm of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing after he acquired all the industrial land formerly used for EXPO '86. To date Concord has produced in their communities over 48 towers, numerous low-rise streetside townhomes, parks, and amenities. Today we focus on roughy half of Concord Pacific's projects, those early developments that became in some ways an experimental proving ground the City used to test out their Living First strategy.
There's been vancouver developed/style towers in toronto for years now. a bit late for an introduction no? anyways, vancouver has its own tower style and most other cities don't.
__________________
British Columbia is named after the Columbia River, a 4 minute walk from my house
Exactly halfway between Vancouver and Calgary
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A corresponding piece on the "Toronto-style" would be interesting - i.e. the incredibly boxey ultra-modernist towers in Toronto that would be all but impossible here due to Vancouver's zoning and design reviews.
Vancouverism Part 2 - Recent Concord Buildings (2004-present and beyond)
October 6, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu |
Standing tall beside the towers of Azura 1 and 2 presented yesterday, are the towers of Park West 1 and 2. These make use of gently curving faces, as well as sections of dark brown precast brick.
Yesterday we profiled the early work of Concord Pacific between the years of 1995-2003. Today we continue presenting the buildings of the Beach Crescent community completed after 2003, other Concord communities during the more recent period of 2004-2011, and present a few projects in the planning and vision phases for the future.
Beach Crescent, 2004-2009 completion
Architects: Hulbert Group International, Inc., Busby + Associates Architects, James KM Cheng Architects Inc., Arthur Erickson Architectural Corporation
Emporis listing can be found here.
Standing tall beside the towers of Azura 1 and 2 presented yesterday, are the towers of Park West 1 and 2. These make use of gently curving faces, as well as sections of dark brown precast brick.
Vancouverism Part 3 - The Architecture of James K.M. Cheng
October 7, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu |
Over the last two days we have taken the opportunity to profile Concord Pacific's portfolio of Vancouver developments between the years of 1995-2003, and 2004-present and beyond. Today we switch gears and narrow our focus on the work of famed Vancouver architect James KM Cheng, specifically his designs for four Westbank projects, and two designs for ASPAC developments.
Widely recognized as Vancouver's leading architect of modernist design, James Cheng has built an impressive portfolio of 37 residential towers in Vancouver, and one in Toronto. Today, we present a selection of his work outside the context of Concord Pacific. These include the Residences on Georgia, Shaw Centre, Shangri-La, Fairmont Pacific Rim, as well as two notable condo designs at Harbour Green Place. First however, a bit of background on the famed architect. Born in Hong Kong and educated at the University of Washington and at Harvard, James Cheng apprenticed under another of Vancouver's iconic architects, Arthur Erickson. Cheng founded his architectural firm, James KM Cheng Architects Inc. in 1978, and has set the bar high in terms of design quality in the Vancouver landscape for over two decades. Cheng seems to draw on a number of influences for his designs, partly from the tall and thin architectural style of Hong Kong buildings, combined with the North American influence of pedestrian scaled development and 'eyes on the street' preached by urban theorist Jane Jacobs. Cheng's designs try to find the right mix between what's good about both schools of thought, and his designs have made significant contributions towards advancing the Vancouverism style of architecture. In a 2010 travelling exhibit, Vancouverism - Architecture Builds The City, curated and produced by architecture critic Trevor Boddy, Cheng's work is featured prominently alongside that of architects Arthur Erickson and Bing Thom. The exhibit coincided with the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and also garnered international exposure when it traveled to both London and Paris.
A corresponding piece on the "Toronto-style" would be interesting - i.e. the incredibly boxey ultra-modernist towers in Toronto that would be all but impossible here due to Vancouver's zoning and design reviews.
Yeah I agree. I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of the Toronto box here.
You can totally kill that refreshing feeling by posting the series in the canada section and seeing the responses =) Better yet, try it on SSC Toronto.
Vancouverism Part 4 - Vancouver Curves
October 11, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu | 1 Comment
We continue our Vancouverism series with our fourth installment; Vancouver Curves, a visual survey of the plentiful beyond-the-box designs in both the residential and office markets. Curves in Vancouver are expressed both subtly and boldly, and many projects mesh curved spaces into otherwise orthogonal ones. Curved designs and unconventional spaces seem to work well in Vancouver. Can they work In Toronto as well?
Vancouverism Part 5 - Public Realm. A Pedestrian Experience of Design
October 12, 2011 11:00 am | by Dumitru Onceanu | 1 Comment
UrbanToronto's Dumitru Onceanu wraps up his five-part survey of Vancouverism - showcasing much of what has been built over the last decade in that city - and asks us to consider what Toronto might learn from Canada's western metropolis.
Great design isn't just sky-high. The measure of a city and the success of its buildings is primarily observed at street level. In this our final part of the series, we take to the streets to give you an overview of Vancouver's pedestrian experience of design.
You can totally kill that refreshing feeling by posting the series in the canada section and seeing the responses =) Better yet, try it on SSC Toronto.
I just figured out how, so there's a new thread under the principal Canada section.
Yes, yes, yes; I can just hear the sneers and hisses emanating from back there. It may be a verbal "Symphony of Fire," so to speak.
Interesting to watch and wait if there are any responses!
__________________ still under Paris skies
Last edited by trofirhen; Oct 19, 2011 at 10:07 PM.
Thanks Hollywood North. I was going to post the remaining two parts of the series but forgot til now.
Overall the series was kind of dry and uninteresting. It didn't help that the pictures used were amateur and low quality. Considering the fact that the ideas behind Vancouverism have influenced the entire country, I was expecting more.
I would seriously caution against posting this in the Canada Section with the intent of trolling responses. If someone did the same in this section I know I would react swiftly.
I would seriously caution against posting this in the Canada Section with the intent of trolling responses. If someone did the same in this section I know I would react swiftly.
I just figured out how, so there's a new thread under the principal Canada section. 
Linear Mode
