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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.
Yaletown Edge, 1993-1996 completion
Architect: dys architecture.
Emporis listing can be found here.
The buildings which comprise the Yaletown Edge community have the distinction of being the first projects to be completed in Concord's Pacific Place. Yaletown Edge consists of 5 towers set amongst low-rise villas which back onto side streets, and with retail podiums fronting Pacific Boulevard. Conceived and built in the early 90s before spandrel became the ubiquitous cladding material of choice, we see a much higher degree of beige and brown precast and stone used among the glass and spandrel façades.
The Yaletown Edge community prominently fronts on busy Pacific Boulevard, and its street level podiums reflect that hustle and bustle with a wide array of retail establishments, making this one of Concord's communities with the greatest feeling for Downtown urbanity as one walks down the street.
Roundhouse community, 1996-2003 completion
Architects: Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright, Downs/Archambault & Partners, Henriquez Partners Architects
Emporis listing can be found here.
The Roundhouse community was built across Pacific Boulevard from Yaletown Edge, and in the immediate area of a historic Canadian Pacific Railway roundhouse which dates back to 1889. The historic building has been adaptively reused and is now a community centre. The layout and treatment of the retail podium immediately adjacent to the roundhouse references its overall shape and massing without mimicking its design. The Roundhouse community was chosen by the City as a successful example of urban design with its well conceived adaptive reuse of a heritage structure, a balanced integration of new structures, and the inclusion of community space. A short discussion of why the City chose this development as a good example can be found here.
The towers above this and the neighbouring Beach Crescent community distinguish themselves with their use of white panels, clear glass, and a hint of green spandrel.
Closer to the waterfront the built form is predominantly three storeys tall, and features many private spaces and terraces. This community is connected by a waterfront ribbon of public walkways and bikeways. The image below shows just one stretch of this network, with the sign in the centre right indicating pedestrian walkway to the right and bikeway to the left, both of which have different paving treatments. The townhomes which line this stretch have a clear delineation between the public and private spaces, with green hedges and four steps leading up to each front door, and private spaces which look down over the public space bellow.
Nearby, the townhomes of The Concord project offer similar delineation between the public and private spaces.
The Concord sits in a square lot, two sides of which face the water and are lined with low-rise townhomes. The tower itself it set at the back corner of the lot with a sunken stone landscaped water pool in front of it and between the two rows of townhomes on either side. The tower features wide terraces facing on the water side units, a substantial amount of curved space, and topped with an interesting beak-shaped steel hat.
Marina Pointe, 1998 completion
Architects: Downs/Archambault & Partners, Lawrence Doyle Young & Wright Architects Inc.
Emporis listing can be found here.
The Marina Pointe community consists of a Landmark tower and public walkway set between two rows of modern brownstone townhomes, plus a public space featuring a prominent leaf-shaped water feature.
This uniquely designed pool lies between the tree-lined Pacific Avenue on one side, and a row of three-storey townhomes on the other.
Breaking up the linear mass of the townhomes is a two-storey waterfall, seen in the image below, which eventually feeds into pool.
Although not the main distinguishing feature of this community, but worth mentioning, is the way the building masks its sidewalk-facing concrete wall with green ivy. An easy and small touch of green really makes a big difference in walking down this stretch of sidewalk. What would have otherwise been the oppressive presence of a concrete wall is now a rather sensible green wall and a low hedge that makes this stretch acceptable. This style of greening could perhaps work its wonders here in Toronto, particularly around our own Roundhouse Park on Simcoe Street, where the concrete walls on either side of the Convention Centre parking and loading entrances form a rather uninviting barrier to the park just beyond.
Marina Crescent, 1999-2002 completion
Architects: James K M Cheng Architects Inc.
Emporis listing can be found here.
Marina Crescent marks architect James Cheng's entry into Concord's portfolio. With Marina, Cheng designs Aquarius 1, 2, 3, and Aquarius Villas, a series of four mid- to high-rise towers set amongst a row of diverse retail uses, on both the main streets as well as on the waterfront edge sides, and right across the street from the roundhouse itself. The buildings predominantly feature clear glass with grey spandrel, a substantial amount of white aluminum panels, with just a little bit of green spandrel in the mix.
Above the retail frontages, one finds two-storey residences set back from the building's edge. Each residence features private terraces, interesting angles, and in some cases, slightly curved roofs articulating the individual properties. Street-level retail offerings here are indeed diverse. In this short stretch, one will find a restaurant, a cafe, an ice cream and sandwich place, a pet food shop, a sizeable Urban Fare grocery store, and a pharmacy.
Also part of the community are 1077 Marinaside and QuayWest towers 1 and 2, all of which are pictured in this neighbourhood image.
Beach Crescent, 2002-2003 completion for first towers
Architects: Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright, Hewitt + Kwasnicky Architects Inc.
Emporis listing can be found here.
Beach Crescent is the community that most comes to mind when I think of our own CityPlace as they are both similarly arranged, with a series of tall towers set among low rise podiums and street level townhomes. Little retail is found in the Beach Crescent community, and all the buildings surround quite a sizable park space featuring both a landscaped portion and an open lawned green space.
The towers of Azura 1 and 2 provide a striking visual gateway. Here, one looks out of the community between both towers, and can see the city towers beyond which line Richards Street, with a mountain peak further in the distance. It's a truly beautiful view and juxtaposition. The towers themselves are primarily clear glass with grey spandrel, with some darker vertical spandrel sections, each featuring a gently curved face opening up the view towards the park.
Immediately across Beach Crescent from these towers is a large 2.5 Hectare park named in honour of George Wainborn, Vancouver's longest serving parks commissioner (1956 to 1990). This park contains a landscaped portion with a water feature closest to the street, as well as an open lawn portion closest to the waterfront, and stunning views of the Beach Crescent community.
Also forming part of the community are the towers West One and Waterford.
These towers form the earliest components of the Beach Crescent community. Tomorrow, we profile the towers of this community as well as others constructed by Concord during the more recent period of 2004-2011.
Early Concord, by the numbers:
- 5 communities completed during this period
- 23 buildings in total
- 7 architectural firms involved
The following are the architects who worked on these projects, and how many towers they were involved with:
- James K Cheng - 8
- Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright - 5
- Downs/Archambault & Partners - 4
- Hughes Condon Marler Architects - 2
- dys architecture - 2
- Henriquez Partners Architects - 1
- Hewitt + Kwasnicky Architects - 1
Let's start the discussion:
What differences do you see here between the way that Concord Pacific has built their early Vancouver neighbourhoods and the way that Concord Adex has built their Toronto neighbourhoods? How should the differences in Toronto's and Vancouver's physical and climactic situations effect the way the neighbourhoods are built? Are there any particular images above that should be the starting points for discussion?
