Park Hyatt (1128 W Georgia) | 197m | 62 fl | Completed

[Hed Kandi]

The ceiling of the Shangri La is really low. It feels almost claustrophobic. I would prefer if developers stuck to a minimum of a 13ft ceiling.

[jlousa]

Never going to happen, lets see you can sell 61 floors with 10ft ceilings or you could sell 46floors with 13ft ceilings.... I wonder which one I will build.

[eduardo88]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Never going to happen, lets see you can sell 61 floors with 10ft ceilings or you could sell 46floors with 13ft ceilings.... I wonder which one I will build.

I hate how north america has such low ceilings, its incredible that people settle for 10ft ceilings...at home in berlin we have 17 foot ceilings, and its not even a penthouse apartment. i know this is a high rise tower, but still for a luxury building ceilings should be 13 feet!

[duener]

^^Couldn't agree more. The ceilings look ridiculously low - just about all the places I've seen in London and New York too seem to have higher ones. Higher ceilings give a space a sense of grandeur.

I suppose all the developers in Vancouver could get away with it because people were lining up around the block to buy pre-sale condos during the boom years. Hopefully after the bust they'll have to compete more with each other and offer better quality product with higher ceilings.

Why aren't there more loft type places like the Spot built?

[wrenegade]

Until both land prices and construction costs TANK you won't see those low ceilings going anywhere. There is no way Shangri-La would be financially feasible at 46 stories. Plus we are used to the 10 foot ceilings here so people don't really seem to demand it (as far as I can tell).

I don't see them to be too much of a problem. Wouldn't deter me from buying a place. The suites look pretty damn good in my opinion, the countertops aren't the greatest colour, but not that big of a deal. The fireplaces look like absolute garbage though. I worked on Aspac's Waterfront Place (Cascina/Denia) a couple years back and thought the ones in there weren't great, but these ones look like holes in the wall.

[AlexYVR]

Originally Posted by awvan

The fireplaces look like absolute garbage though. I worked on Aspac's Waterfront Place (Cascina/Denia) a couple years back and thought the ones in there weren't great, but these ones look like holes in the wall.

They are. Literally, holes in the wall.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by awvan

Plus we are used to the 10 foot ceilings here so people don't really seem to demand it (as far as I can tell).

7-8 feet is considered normal in Vancouver.

9-12 feet, 10 being the norm, is over height and seen as a luxury.

14+ is normally referred to as double height and is hard to find.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

7-8 feet is considered normal in Vancouver.

9-12 feet, 10 being the norm, is over height and seen as a luxury.

14+ is normally referred to as double height and is hard to find.

Must have gotten lucky with L'Hermitage, then. My ceilings are at least 10' and I'm fully air conditioned

[crazyjoeda]

I'm a fairly tall guy (6'3") so naturally I like high ceilings, but ceilings over 10 feet are just not practical. I don't think it is worth the cost to build or the inefficiency to heat the extra airspace.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by duener

Why aren't there more loft type places like the Spot built?

The City changed the zoning bylaws so that floor to ceiling heights must average 10ft or less in a tower - that's after Space, Van Horne, Carrall Station, Metropolis and The Spot were built with their 16 ft ceiling and had consequential illegal mezzanine renovation issues (loft mezzanines were not included in all units and renovations to add lofts (1) need to be approved through zoning to add additional square footage and (2) need to meet fire and building codes (i.e. be sprinklered and be made of fire-proof materials (steel)).
So those units are now for the most part unique in the city. Some buildings will have two-level units, but the average ceiling heights will have to be maintained.

I think typical ceiling height is 8'6", with some buildings having 9' or 10' ceiling heights.
As YumeSama mentioned L'Hermitage has high ceilings as does The Savoy (at least for either the upper half or lower half of the building). Electra (old BC Hydro) and Cube (Old BC Transmission) and any other office conversion will also have high ceilings.

[officedweller]

Pic taken by me today - note the panels missing at the top - wind storm damage?

[excel]

nice shot.

[Yume-sama]

That building is like a death trap in a windstorm

Things flying from it all throughout construction and now even though it's done!

[mr.x]

Did windows really break from the last windstorm? Ugh, what crappy work if it can't even handle that.

[officedweller]

Don't know for sure - but there was glass up there the week before.

[LeftCoaster]

Wow, were really jumping to conclusions today. I'm quite sure these paticular glass panels were not fully installed yet so they were taken down as a precaution. All the contstuction projects in the city were given plenty of warning about this upcoming wind storm and were all advised to brace their projects for 100km winds. If two massive panels like that blew off the Shangri-La im sure we would have heard about it by now, even if they just blew back onto the building.

[towrguy3]

Wasn't the Pacific Palisades owned by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts about 7 years ago?

An old phone book indicates some connection between the two

[officedweller]

Yes, it was (or even earlier than that) - then it was sold to the Kimpton Group I think.

[flight_from_kamakura]

^ an old phone book!

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by subdude

Great shot from last week by juttamk on flickr:

nice shot.