Vancouver Architecture - 30 June
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Sometimes called the colosseum. In addition to its function as the central branch of the city's public library system.
This building, known as the "Telus Garden' was designed by architect, Les Twarag. Construction was completed in February 2016.
Graffiti. Some people see it as public art that beautifies our streets, while others see it as vandalism indicative of urban decay and crime. Whatever you think, it’s an always changing, inescapable and fascinating part of our culture. In Vancouver, like most urban cities around the world, spotting an impressive piece of street art or graffiti can be gratifying. It is that little bit of secrecy and hidden appeal that is somewhat thrilling, like finding something tucked away just barely within sight. It’s like finding $20 in your pocket.
The many "flatiron" buildings in Vancouver's Gastown came about as a result of two intersecting city planning grids. The first followed the original high-tide waterline of the Burrard Inlet. The second was a grid layout, the result of a later survey by the Canadian Pacific Railway to establish the soon-to-be-incorporated City of Vancouver. The intersections of the two non-parallel surveys conflicted with each other yielding many acutely angled parcels of land. The subsequent build-form is a product of constructing right out to the property lines, thereby maximizing the leasable floor space area.
The Marine Building - fine art version
This photo is a conversion to a customised sepia tone, inspired by the photography of Julia Anna Gospodarou; https://goo.gl/8OMI1S
Design by Moshe Safdie and DA Architects, the one square block project, completed in 1995, also includes an attached office high-rise, retail shops, restaurants, and underground public parking. The Library building has a rooftop garden designed by Vancouver landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander.
The pavilion is a kaleidoscope of glass, timber, polished concrete, timber arches, and reflecting pools. It's sometimes difficult to tell whether one is indoors or outside. This wave of laminated-timber arches appears to flow through the glass wall from the lobby's interior to the outside courtyard.
For those wandering the streets of Gastown and East Vancouver, that thrill may be lurking just inside an alley or on a vacant wall. But the thing that makes street art so unique is that you might not know it when you see it.
Concentric arches captured my attention here. Although we asked for and received permission to take interior shots, soon after I took this shot, a supervisor asked us to stop.
Inside this elaborate entrance, brass doored elevators are inlaid with 12 varieties of local hardwoods. The main entrance arch has Captain Vancouver’s ship sailing out of a sunrise surrounded by bas-relief panels illustrating the argosies of West Coast maritime history. The extraordinary craftsmanship all throughout the building has made it one of the world’s finest Art Deco specimens.
May 2016 saw 20 years for the library in this location. The building's design was not favoured by the architectural community, but the public overwhelmingly endorsed the design.
Telus Garden is a 1,000,000 square foot office mixed-use tower. The building incorporates office, retail and residential space (420 suits). Of the 488,000 square feet of office space, it is envisioned that 212,000 square feet will be for TELUS.
In a city as grey and glassy as Vancouver, the nooks and crannies adorned with brightly-hued paint show the caricatures of a rebellious and artistic undercurrent that saturates the alleys and stairwells. That is the scene of street-art in Vancouver, a hush-hush and often anonymous practice of plastering over drab walls with sometimes meaningful and sometimes irreverent pieces of art.
Concentric arches captured my attention here.
Coffered Lobby Ceiling - Marine Building
This elaborate lobby ceiling is a treat to behold. The detail is overwhelming. Fourteen sconce lights flood the coffered ceiling in warm light. These represent the bows of ships each with a sail relief moulded into the plaster walls above them.
Located in the 'Yale Town' precinct of Vancouver, the past twenty years has witnessed dramatic growth in the number of families living in high rise condominiums. This has placed heavy demand on the library's services, so additional floor space is being added to the top of the rotunda building.
In order to pick a site for the church, legend has it that Father Fay went to the Coal Harbour waterfront, looked south towards the forested land (present-day Downtown Vancouver) and chose the area that contained the tallest tree. Construction of the original church began in 1886
A city-funded project that went up in 2005., located between Richards and Homer, running parallel to Hastings.
Located in the heart of downtown Vancouver's waterfront, Canada Place is a multi-use, world-class facility owned and operated by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Cruise ships making the popular inside passage rout to Alaska depart from this location. This world famous waterfront landmark is built on a 1597 foot pier spanning over the shoreline waters of Burrard Inlet and sports five 363 foot high white teflon sails reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House. At the south end of the pier is the Pan Pacific hotel proudly rising 23 stories high, one of Vancouver’s 5 star hotels.
The lobby, small as it is, is a masterpiece. There are five elevators, their doors of solid brass intricately and interestingly designed. There was a time when five uniformed young women stood beside them, each carefully chosen for her beauty. The elevators were the fastest in the city at 700 feet a minute, at a time when 150 feet a minute was the norm. Above the elevators (with their interior walls of intricately inlaid hardwood of 12 different kinds) small plasterwork ships burst out of waves set into the lobby walls—the boats support the lobby's lights. Daylight streams through a big stained window at one end of the lobby.
The mural is based on a copper engraving from 1698 by German Christopher Weigel (1654-1725). It shows a master goldsmith instructing apprentices. The mural was originally completed by Kitty Mykka and Nicole Kozakiewkz and in 2005 it was restored by Mykka and Lance Belanger.
Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cathedral
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, commonly known as Holy Rosary Cathedral, is a late 19th-century French Gothic revival church that serves as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver. It is located in the downtown area of the city at the intersection of Richards and Dunsmuir streets. The construction of the cathedral began in 1899 on the site of an earlier church of the same name. It opened on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1900. The style has been described as resembling the medieval Chartres Cathedral in France. The church was elevated to the status of cathedral in 1916. It is listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register and is a legally protected building.
The most dominant of "Flatiron" shaped buildings in the area, W43 is a residential tower in the Woodwards redevelopment, bringing re-vitalisation to what had become a 'seedy' part of Vancouver's downtown. Architect: Gregory Henriquez
Built at the onset of the Great Depression, the Marine Building was built by McCarter and Nairne between 1929-1930. When I first saw this art deco building it was the tallest building in Vancouver, in fact the tallest building in the British Commonwealth until 1939 at 97.8 metres (321 ft) (22 floors). Today, it is somewhat dwarfed next to much taller buildings.