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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.
Residences on Georgia, 1998 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
Developed by Westbank, this complex was chosen by the City as one of 11 communities in their 1999 Urban Design: A Decade of Achievements series. The City highlighted why this community in particular made significant contributions to the urban landscape of this particular neighbourhood, and how it became an emerging model for future designs. The City's short discussion on this project can be found here.
This complex consists of two widely spaced 34-storey towers and three-storey townhomes, as well as the restoration and conversion of a heritage house on site which now contains five condo apartments. The designer in this case had to respond to two very different street frontages: Georgia Street which is a main thoroughfare located in a transitional area between the Central Business District and the Coal Harbour residential area, as well as back and side streets which are predominantly residential in nature. The towers contribute to Georgia Street's character as a tower-lined boulevard. Townhomes on the back street add to it's residential character, providing 'eyes on the street' as Jacobs put it. Each townhome is articulated and delineated from the public realm in many of the same ways that we saw in previous tours of Concord projects. Designed before Cheng produced his first Concord project (Marina Crescent), this complex is used by the City as a demonstration of how a development can respond to very different street conditions, while at the same time providing high density with appropriate urban context.
Addressing and respecting an on-site heritage property is a much welcomed trend which we are beginning to see more of in Toronto as well, notably in developments such as James Cooper Mansion, Five, and Gloucester Mews to name a few. Two other pieces of information about this project: It was a 1998 winner of the Governor General's Award, and was at the time the single largest residential complex built in Canada.
Shaw Centre, 2004 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
This project was also developed by Westbank and features an almost 50/50 split between 16 floors of broadcasting studios and corporate office space at the base, and 24 floors made up of 130 live-work condo residences above. Office space is 283,572 sq ft, while residential space is 211,710 sq ft. The tower is generally triangular in form. At the time this building was being completed, it was critically hailed as an example of what a sustainable future might look like, with a tightly integrated and balanced mix of residential and commercial space within the same building envelope.
One Harbour Green, 2005 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
All five towers of Harbour Green Place, two of which are featured here, were built by the same developer, however each is different enough from the next that to the casual observer they could just as well have been built decades apart and by completely different developers. They are all products of ASPAC developments, and were built over a five year period of time.
One Harbour Green is one of two buildings in this development designed by Cheng, and features a very rich red cladding facing the main street, and a greater use of glass and curved spaces on the waterfront side.
Upon a closer look at the cladding, one can clearly see the veining of marble, a great material of choice to distinguish this tower in a sea of steel and glass .
Two Harbour Green, 2008 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
With Two Harbour Green, Cheng takes a different approach to material choice featuring the use of clear glass and white spandrel, lots of projecting balcony and concrete overhangs, and a more gently curved glass facade on the waterfront side.
Living Shangri-La, 2009 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
Developed by Westbank and standing 659 ft tall, Shangri-La is currently Vancouver's tallest tower and has a prominent central position on the Vancouver skyline, particularly when viewed from Stanley Park. The design also meets the street in a number of ways. At the intersection there is a small retail podium with the tower slightly setback, meanwhile on West Georgia the tower meets directly with the sidewalk. Further down West Georgia Street, there is a small public square between the tower itself and another roughly four-storey sloping podium structure, providing a sense of enclosure to the public space in between.
The tower is clad in high quality curtainwall similar to what is being used on Toronto's Shangri-La building. To give it a touch of colour and artistry, Cheng designed small green square panels (about 1 foot square in size) which seem to hover just off the glass curtain wall, giving the whole building a somewhat pixilated appearance to passersby.
In the public square nestled between the tower and its low triangular podium structure sits Shangri-La's public art contribution, which is a constantly changing installation managed through a collaboration with the Vancouver Art Gallery. Since the program's inception in 2009, the site has been host to four major art exhibits: Horizon (Sky) by O Zhang (July 20, 2009 to January 3, 2010), from shangri-la to shangri-la by Ken Lum (January 23 to September 6, 2010), Plaza by Heather and Ivan Morison (October 2 to May 1, 2011), and most recently Second Date by Elspeth Pratt, running until January 8, 2012 and which is pictured below.
One can clearly make out the two storey tall protective glass wall enclosing the green roof and private penthouse terrace space at the top of the tower. This image should give us a sense of what we may expect from the rooftop treatment of our own Shangri-La when complete.
Two more vews:
Fairmont Pacific Rim, 2010 completion
Emporis listing can be found here.
This building was also developed by Westbank, and was completed in time for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. This tower went through a number of redesigns, eventually settling on a combination of 415 hotel units on the first 25 floors, and 195 live/work condominium units on the top 19 floors. Floor space for hotel and general office/live-work is evenly split at 397,600 and 397,919 sq ft. During the sales period, Condo buyers paid upwards of $2100 per sq ft for what a realtor called 'the front row seats' for the 'water-facing units'. There was significant opposition to its development from occupants of the neighbouring Shaw Tower.
From a design point of view, this tower makes use of a number of different cladding materials, but its standout feature is its public art component, a poem which wraps around two façades on each of the first 16 floors. Written by Liam Gillick, the poem reads:
Lying on top of a building the clouds look no nearer than when I was lying on the street
The podium and back side is clad in very nicely textured metal panels which produce a soft light reflection.
Walking around the podium, the cladding shifts to glass, then to precast stone. A complex box projects from one upper corner of the podium.
Coming around again to the west side looking up at the tower, it is clear how this building makes use of differing materials. Clear glass with grey spandrel, and balconies with clear glass railings make up the bulk of the north and west facing façade. The east and south sides are clad with reflective glass and have floor plates which overhang the cladding, which likely provides a certain amount of sun shade in the summer months, while at the same time serves as the perch needed to display the poem. Halfway up the tower, there are portions with appear to feature two storey units, judging by the four terraces appearing on alternating floors.
While the majority of Cheng's architectural influence has been on the Vancouver landscape, a Cheng design is currently working its magic on Westbank's Shangri-La Toronto development. Already widely admired, closely watched, and still to be topped off, the tower is Cheng's first Toronto design, and it is poised to make a major impact on the skyline.
Our series on Vancouverism continues on Tuesday, October 11th.
James K. Cheng, by the numbers:
- Total designs commissioned: 39
- Number of commissioned designs for developer Westbank: 5
- Number of designs for Concord alone: 16. Of Concord's 48 projects in Vancouver, Cheng has designed one third of their entire portfolio.
- Number of designs in Toronto: 1
Speakers Corner:
What are your reactions to James Cheng's designs? How do you rank Cheng's contribution to contemporary architectural design? Would you like to see more Cheng designs or Westbank developments in Toronto?
Regarding public art, where in Toronto would you like to see a public art exhibit managed by a gallery like the AGO? The ROM currently has a small exhibit at Pearson Airport's Terminal 3, while the Toronto Sculpture Garden near King and Church streets is currently enjoying its 30th year. Are there other locations where semi-permanent or temporary art showcases might make a better contribution to the landscape than a permanent showpiece? Leave your thoughts below!
