The Stilts | 183 Meters | 40+ | Pre-Proposal

[Canadian Mind]

Perhaps one of the most exciting potential new developments coming out of the rumour mill recently has been the 'Stilt' project. I'd much rather call it "project Gumby," but I doubt the building will end up green. What makes this project so exciting in addition to it's impressive height, is a certain out of the box style innovation that has enabled designers to potentially overcome the restriction of the city's view cones; the building is built on stilts.

Up until now, the building has been covered in the rumours thread located here (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=138108&page=2). However, due to the posting of a rendering of this specific building on that thread (see below), it was assaulted by the masses, each with their own specific statement of complete and utter shock at the sight of this masterpiece... Usually consisting of "Oh sweet Jesus," "Holy mother of God," :whatthefuck:, or my personal favorite, "It looks like a penis and testicles."

While the height restriction on the buildings site, located at the corner of Burrard and Smithe, limits the building to a height of 242' 10," the view it is preserving only reaches a finite distance into the sky. Realising this, designers put the building, rather, a portion of it, on a pair of stilts. This allows them to add a substantial amount of mass and density to the building while preserving our beloved view of the "Lions" (a couple over sized rocks). :koko: Current designs have the building at 600 feet, although due to the centralized location of the building on the peninsula, I would hope it is allowed to go higher.

Here is the wonderful piece, photo's courtesy of Raggedy, where he stole them from, we may never know, but who the f*ck cares cause we have em!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/raggedy13/tst.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/raggedy13/ag1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/raggedy13/ag2.jpg

:banaride:

Raggedy, for one day (24 hours exactly) you are god.:worship:




PS. Yes, I posted this at 3:10 in the bloody morning, and yes I have no life, so don't even ask.

[cityguy]

That Just Looks Stupid.

[Fairbanks]

What's this dude been smokin'???

[deasine]

HAHA I like it actually... we need more unique buildings in Vancouver *wink

[Mike K.]

This is, hands down, one of North America's most 'risque' proposals I've seen in a while.

What's the chance of this actually coming to fruition, though?

[jlousa]

I'll be the pessimist/realist in the crowd. This will get built only after Fringe Tower is built. The older crowd will know what I'm talking about.
I'll provide the main detail why this won't get built. Any building built by a developer is built for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible. Simple economics. Knocking down Sutton place is a really bad move when there are dozens of cheaper and more suitable sites available. Not to mention they are still completing a mutli-million dollar upgrade at Sutton place. Had this proposal been made for the Toyota dealership on Burrard I would still not think it would get past cityhall, but at least it would make financial sense. I like the rendering but I don't see it in Vancouver, sorry.

[ozonemania]

I'll be the pessimist/realist in the crowd. This will get built only after Fringe Tower is built. The older crowd will know what I'm talking about.
I'll provide the main detail why this won't get built. Any building built by a developer is built for the sole purpose of making as much money as possible. Simple economics. Knocking down Sutton place is a really bad move when there are dozens of cheaper and more suitable sites available. Not to mention they are still completing a mutli-million dollar upgrade at Sutton place. Had this proposal been made for the Toyota dealership on Burrard I would still not think it would get past cityhall, but at least it would make financial sense. I like the rendering but I don't see it in Vancouver, sorry.

Agreed jlousa... I don't see this happening either. I didn't really like it when I first saw this rendering but (a) I think it has potential and (b) I'm getting pretty desperate to see ANYTHING that remotely resembles innovation in architecture in this city.

I'm sad though that proposals such as this are so mixed-use. I don't mind mixed use, but how about a regular behemoth office tower that will attract business tenants that will buy into a prestigous building? I'm guessing that putting the residential on top is to make developments more profitable...

This all being said, I'd be glad to see more proposals like this surfacing, even if far-fetched. It creates dialogue, public interest, and perhaps ultimately better city building.

[j4893k]

Other than the whole stilts concept, the tower is not very inspiring. Hopefully that will change with the actual proposal. Also, I think the cylinders look akward and out of place. Maybe it would look better if the two base towers were brought up to to the top section.

Over all, I don't really know how I feel about this project but I would probably be much happier with a standard 600' tower that has an amazing design. Of course both are asking for too much from the city...

[Cypherus]

The tower is a clever way to get around Vancouver's view cone restrictions, however, the design could be altered to complement the skyline architectually, not make it distracting. How about a "U" shaped design for this building? Extend the height of the two bases into two separate towers of 600 feet, preserving the air-space in between for the North Shore mountains.

Something like this:

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1971/myrenderingzd5.jpg

[phesto]

Aside from the most obvious reason this won't get built that was already touched upon by Jlousa, this proposal is an obvious misinterpretation of the view cone policy. The policy is intended to limit maximum building heights, not solely to dictate massing, or to preserve specific points on the horizon, such as the tops of the Lions.

[Coldrsx]

when does it transform?

[djh]

^^It wouldn't be surprising if the type of project Cypherus suggested is the actual *real* intended design. Put it this way: if you go to city hall asking for 100" they will debate all day and throw their weight around and huff and puff...then generously and graciously give you 99", *and* expect you give them loads of concessions. Hence the proliferation of "vanilla" buildings downtown - the developer & architect may have had grand dreams but it's all about running the gauntlet of the committees.

The developer and architect have very probably been through that rigmorole with city hall on other projects, so decided to design something above and beyond what they actually want or need, knowing that it will get cut back to something much less by the pen-pushers. Now the trick is knowing how OTT to go without having your proposal completely ignored and getting a compromise that is still successful.

I also like the fact that they have multiple locations in mind, so when the compromised project design is finalised, they still will work with a height and location they can bear.


This process probably happened with the proposed 800" surrey tower from a year or 2 back (it's now 2 towers of 40 and 37 floors u/c, I believe). I reckon the same process might have occurred with the aforementioned Fringe Tower too.

[Calgarian]

That's pretty damn ugly!

[HomeInMyShoes]

Revenge of http://amazingland.googlepages.com/SkyTower01.jpg!

Which, oddly, I quite like, especially given the Chinese character symbolism. But this one, I'm not liking.

[240glt]

It's.... ummm...... interesting....

[jo67sh]

the building looks like a big frankenstein with heavier boots than normally portrayed in the movies..

[204]

That is fugly.....

[raggedy13]

Interesting mix of responses so far...

[Canadian Mind]

It's beauty is in it's uglyness. I like.

[Hed Kandi]

Special thanks to a friend of a friend... "stilts" redesign! No more museum? Exterior elevators?

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/raggedy13/ag1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/raggedy13/ag2.jpg


Is this thing for real or this just someone playing around with 3D Studio?

[Mike K.]

Does anyone have any specific details on this proposal so I can update the database? (i.e. developer, architect(s), references for the height, street address, floors, footage, etc).

[Canadian Mind]

I pity the fool who has to draw th damned thing.

[vitc]

Why all the hate - it is a very interesting building and very unique. With the right glass it could be incredible!!!

[mr.x]

love how they changed it up, looks even better now.

[vanman]

It's beauty is in it's uglyness. I like.

I agree. Somehow it is so ugly that it redeems itself, I can't explain it.

[Canadian Mind]

I think it's because of all the angles and edges that give it it's unique flair. I mean, look at the balconies up top, the curtain wall is shaped like an oval while the balconies/concrete floor plate is shaped like an hourglass.

Wonder if Vid can be suckered into doing a rendering of this beauty.

[Lead]

Maybe someone can draw Infinity for Surrey too.

This tower is extremely unique though...

[Canadian Mind]

Yea, hence why I'm trying to sucker Vid into it. He's one fo the few guys that probrably can.

[raggedy13]

Does anyone have any specific details on this proposal so I can update the database? (i.e. developer, architect(s), references for the height, street address, floors, footage, etc).

I think it might be a bit premature to add it to the database. It would be great to see this built but I'm less than optimistic about this one. I figure it'll die off before even making it to an official proposal.

[Canadian Mind]

what ever. if it dies it can be listed as a stale proposal or a fantasy.

[Mike K.]

^yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Could someone look up the Sutton Hotel addy for me?

[SpongeG]

GOOGLE maps :)

845 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 2K6

Get Directions
(604) 682-5511

[Mike K.]

Thanks.

[Dr Nevergold]

I like. Its got spunk.

[Architype]

That ugly thing would need lots of refinement before it is built. I doubt they would allow it.

[crazyjoeda]

That building is amazing!! Truly great and unique architecture; if it were built it could be the most interesting building in Canada. Vancouver needs a land mark like this; Stilts could be our Eiffel Tower or CN Tower it could be our symbol. I am not sure if this design is perfect, but it is defiantly on the right track.

[Mininari]

What ever happened to this one?

Another fantasy project destined for the skyscraperpage graveyard, joining the the 600ft Bing Thom Tower, and the Fringe Tower?

[David]

a bored architecture student probably made it on his free time and it was blown out of proportion here...

[jlousa]

I agree. I've said it from the beginning that that thing would never happen. Personally I'm glad too.

[jo67sh]

stilts=frankenstein on heavier boots.