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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?
One Wall Centre, 2001 completion
Architect: Busby + Associates Architects
Emporis listing.
One Wall Centre was awarded the 2001 Skyscraper of the Year award by Emporis, given to the building which represents the Best New Skyscraper for Design and Functionality. The rich, blue reflective curtain wall glass, and the extremely thin elliptical profile (7:1 width to height ratio) make this tower one of the most recognizable skyscrapers on the Vancouver skyline. The building sits at 48 floors, 491 ft tall, and was the city's tallest building from 2001 to 2009 when Shangri-La was completed. Its first 25 floors have 344 hotel rooms, the 17 upper floors have 74 condominium units, and its unconventional shape and small floorplate allows for only four such units per floor.
One Wall Centre's curtain wall glazing is free of mullions and spandrel, creating a very sleek, smooth, and unified addition to the skyline. Add to that the sloping roof of the mechanical penthouse and its fully back-lit top, the tower makes for a futuristic design at its best, and allows its striking profile to stand apart in a category of its own from other designs in the decades before and since its completion.
Awards and accolades were not the universal reaction to the tower however. The complex was conceived and financed by Peter Wall of the Wall Financial Corporation, a Vancouver property developer who played a significant role in the city's real-estate boom. One Wall Centre was to be his crowning achievement. Architect Peter Busby described Peter Wall as "a dying breed - a client willing to take a risk and build a tower that will stand out."
It was to be a battle from day one. The initial design called for 449 feet, and exceeded the City's height limit of 302 feet for the site. Overcoming the initial planning hurdles, its problems were only just beginning. Wall applied for and obtained an exemption from a Vancouver bylaw requiring transparent windows. The exemption was approved by a low-level planner, leaving City unaware of the decision. Cladding with dark, reflective glazing proceeded. When it became apparent that the curtain wall installed was not transparent, the City sued the developer, and Wall promptly counter-sued. The City did not want the tower to dominate the downtown skyline, preferring instead that it blend in with other recently completed towers which made use of transparent glass to dissolve into the skies above. The legal mess was eventually resolved with a compromise: the developer would not be required to replace the cladding already installed, but in turn would install lighter-coloured glass on the yet to be clad top floors.
The battle did not end there, with the developer evidently intent on having the last word. Attempting to maintain the desired uniform dark appearance despite the compromise, the developer installed outward facing dark blue blinds behind the windows of the upper third of the building. Theoretically, with all the blinds drawn at the same time, the building would effectively gain the originally intended dark blue appearance.
What do you think of One Wall Centre's two-tone appearance? Would you have preferred the uniform look of either reflective or transparent glass?
Harbour Green Place
Emporis listing.
In our third installment we profiled two of the five towers that make up this neighbourhood of buildings, and now we showcase two more. Developed by ASPAC developments, both towers make use of gently curved glass façades in two dimensions simultaneously, shaped to resemble large sails. The curtain wall features partly reflective silver/blue glass.
Carina, 2003 completion
Architect: Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright
Emporis listing.
Carina has 87 suites and 17 townhomes. At 27 floors, there are only 3 to 4 suites per floor on average.
Callisto, 2004 completion
Architect: Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright
Emporis listing.
Completed the year after Carina, Callisto echoes the same gently curved glass façades of Carina.
Palisades, 1996 completion
Architect: James K M Cheng Architects Inc.
Emporis listing.
Amongst James Cheng's earliest high-rise designs are the two towers which make up the Palisades neighbourhood. Completed two years before Cheng's other significant contribution to this area, these sit right across the street from the Residences on Georgia which we profiled in Part 3. The Palisades feature two predominantly oval towers at 32 and 24 storeys tall. They are primarily clear glass and spandrel with no balconies breaking up the smooth oval surface, with the exception of the top eight floors which have an inset pair of balconies each. The 24-storey tower is crowned by an interesting oval shaped concrete overhang, reminiscent of Toronto's Riviera condos (2003) on Queens Quay West which are similarly topped with an overhanging crown.
Bentall 5 - 2002 completion
Architect: Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership
Emporis listing.
This commercial office property in the downtown core stands out among the modernist towers of earlier decades, and was the winner of the 2002 NAIOP Office Project of the Year Award for buildings over 100,000 sq ft. Reminiscent of One Wall Centre in its basic form, it has two sharp corners, and two heavily curved corners. This building is also interesting from an engineering and construction point of view as it was completed in two vertical phases. Phase one (2002 completion) consisted of 22 floors at 315 feet in height, containing 340,000 sq ft of rentable space. When market conditions warranted its phase 2 expansion (2007 completion), a further 12 floors were added, brining Bentall 5 to a total of 34 floors at 495 feet in height, now containing 550,000 sq ft of rentable space. Bentall 5's seven-level underground garage was built in 1994, more than six years before construction on the tower itself began, effectively making this building a three-phase project built over a period of approximately 14 years.
A view from on high demonstrates that it doesn't take much to transform a regular box into a visually striking curved design which ultimately softens a rigid appearance on the skyline and improves the pedestrian experience bellow. The floor plates are likely still conservative enough from a business point of view, keeping this tower financially competitive with its neighbouring 'box' towers in meeting the space and cost efficiencies of downtown businesses.
1021 West Hastings, Oxford Properties office proposal
Architect: Kohn Pederson Fox Architects
Emporis listing.
One of the most significant beyond-the-box architectural contributions to the Vancouver skyline could very well be this proposed office project by Oxford Properties. Designed to stand at 35 floors, 469 feet in height, the design intends to make a statement with soft concave and convex curved faces, and a slightly twisted corner reaching up towards its pinnacle.
From Oxford's website on the project, the tower is to be built on what may be one of the last available development sites in the business district, and will be adjacent to the historic Marine Building next door.
Sitting between the new tower and the Marine Building, the base will incorporate the 'original Spanish Renaissance style' low-rise façade of the University Club building. Inside it will be new amenities including a restaurant, coffee shop, fitness centre, a daycare, an executive bike locker with showers, shared meeting rooms, and a rooftop terrace.
Floor plans will average about 8000 sq ft. Layouts below of a typical office floor show a sample floor plan for a full floor tenant.
A fly through of the project is available here showing this tower in the context of its tallest neighbours, including the Fairmont Pacific Rim profiled in our last article.
In Part 1 and Part 2, we profiled some buildings which had elements of curved and unconventionally designed spaces. Have a look at those articles to get a sense of how the architects behind some of Concord Pacific's projects incorporated curved facades into their designs. Here is a reminder of two of the more prominent ones we saw:
Silver Sea, 2005 completion
Emporis listing.
The Erickson, 2009 completion
Emporis listing.
The 'box' as an architectural form: is its time over?
Many lament the continued use of the 'box' as an architectural form. Since the start of Toronto's first modernist building boom over 50 years ago, our architectural legacy has been inextricably tied to this simple form. Both commercial and residential, from brutalist concrete to the steel-and-glass variety, successive generations of architects have attempted to interpret and re-express the box. Toronto, however, is certainly not without its developers willing to take a chance on a risky design. In last week's Part 1 interview with Sam Crignano of Cityzen, we had the opportunity to talk about what attracts a developer like Cityzen to designs that break the mould of mainstream architecture and to experiment with innovative concepts. Cityzen is behind the Absolute World towers, and the L-Tower, both of which are considered examples of what the future may hold. Is there room for more beyond-the-box designs in Toronto's residential and commercial space? Would Toronto's landscape be improved by taking more risks on innovative experiments beyond-the-box? Conversely, should Toronto continue to celebrate the box? Can it be renewed in exciting ways by today's generation of architects? Leave your comments bellow.
