Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project | Completed

[David]

wow, im so in love with this building

[giallo]

I have to say that the final product is much more sleek than I had originally expected...even with the garden on top.

[metroXpress]

Thanks for the new pics eveyone! Can't wait to know the actual opening date. Around April?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Allen

Thanks for the new pics eveyone! Can't wait to know the actual opening date. Around April?

Sometime this month.

[crazyjoeda]

Originally Posted by Delirium

here's some beautiful shots of the cc taken from the Westin Bayshore


photo by FreeStyleFoto on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/29785170@N06/3323237679/

Does anyone else dislike HDR photos? They look cool sometimes but I hate it when people apply that effect to all of their photos. Sometimes it serves a purpose and can bring out delicate details, but more often it just makes the photo look fake.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by crazyjoeda

Does anyone else dislike HDR photos? They look cool sometimes but I hate it when people apply that effect to all of their photos. Sometimes it serves a purpose and can bring out delicate details, but more often it just makes the photo look fake.

Yep, makes me feel like I'm watching 300 or something. Would much rather see the real photo.

The building is looking nicer but it's still really, really boring.

[Canadian Mind]

I like it. Looks futuristic, durable, is obviously a "green" building, and will undoubtably serve it's purpose very well.

[whatnext]

Aerial shots are nice, but at street level this building is the personification of Prince Charles' "monstrous carbuncle" comment.

[osirisboy]

i dont know what that means

[Locked In]

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery,_London), the Prince of Wales used it to describe a proposed (and subsequently dropped) addition to the National Gallery in London. It's now commonly used to describe "a modern building that clashes with its surroundings". I haven't seen the Convention Centre from street level lately so I'll withhold judgment on that I suppose.... but based on the pictures people have posted lately, I'm liking it more every day.

[ckkelley]

Although initially I was indifferent, I now think this project is terrific and love the way it's turning out.

Oh and I can't wait 'til the seawall is open to the promenade.

[Delirium]

the entire perimeter of the site is still fenced off. i don't see how anyone could pass judgement on the "street level" experience since you can't even get up to it yet.

from what i've seen so far, i love it. definitely the best convention centre in canada and probably north america. i can't think of any other memorable ones?

[johnjimbc]

I agree that you really can't tell anything about the street experience at this point. What you can experience feels great. I think it will be really incredible when all the public plaza and walk areas are open. I love how it accesses the city easily - that is one of the things I've always loved about Canada Place. You can just walk right to it from the downtown core.

Regarding your question about other North America convention centers, the San Diego convention center is nice, though it is a bit older. It sits right on the Ocean and has great views of Ocean and downtown.

But I really love the new Washington (DC) Convention Center - http://www.dcconvention.com/. It's about 4 years old at this point.

It is a completely different experience than Vancouver's will be, however it is really well executed. It is the first extremely large Convention Center I've seen in an urban core that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding urban street-scape. The New York Convention Center, by contrast, is right in Manhattan; but you feel like you're on an island and have to cross a major major highway just to "connect" to the rest of the city - and it isn't that great an area to begin with. In DC, they put a portion of the center under-ground in order to keep the scale of the building in synch with the surrounding neighborhood (DC has very strict height limits). So you have essentially a 6 or 7 story building, with 2 of them under ground level. But even in the lowest levels, it is still open because of the super high ceiling heights and numerous site-lines up and out for natural light and views of the sky. All the cross streets still connect across the site as well. They created these great wide interior public plaza pedestrian crossings over the streets with windowed views to the neighborhoods on either side. It also has the nicest interior spaces I've ever experienced in a convention center. Every space, including the meeting rooms, have high ceilings. There are huge windows everywhere you look, and large public areas with nice furnishings, expansive walls of exotic woods, unique lighting, and tons of unique public art throughout. It's like attending a convention in a spacious modern art museum.

If the new Vancouver Convention Center interior spaces are as promising as the exterior looks, it will be a great place for folks attending as well. Can't wait to experience the view from those windows overlooking the North Shore.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Locked In

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery,_London), the Prince of Wales used it to describe a proposed (and subsequently dropped) addition to the National Gallery in London. It's now commonly used to describe "a modern building that clashes with its surroundings". I haven't seen the Convention Centre from street level lately so I'll withhold judgment on that I suppose.... but based on the pictures people have posted lately, I'm liking it more every day.

ah thanks for the explanation. and with that i have to disagree with it being called a "monstrous carbuncle" I think it fits wonderfully with its surroundings and it has a very nice feel to it at street level (as close as I can get to it anyway)

when are they opening up the seawall around it? I was there yesterday and the pace of work is amazing. all those trailers that were on the thurlow side are all gone now and the rest of cnada way is pretty much complete.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by johnjimbc

I agree that you really can't tell anything about the street experience at this point. What you can experience feels great. I think it will be really incredible when all the public plaza and walk areas are open. I love how it accesses the city easily - that is one of the things I've always loved about Canada Place. You can just walk right to it from the downtown core.

Regarding your question about other North America convention centers, the San Diego convention center is nice, though it is a bit older. It sits right on the Ocean and has great views of Ocean and downtown.

But I really love the new Washington (DC) Convention Center - http://www.dcconvention.com/. It's about 4 years old at this point.

It is a completely different experience than Vancouver's will be, however it is really well executed. It is the first extremely large Convention Center I've seen in an urban core that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding urban street-scape. The New York Convention Center, by contrast, is right in Manhattan; but you feel like you're on an island and have to cross a major major highway just to "connect" to the rest of the city - and it isn't that great an area to begin with. In DC, they put a portion of the center under-ground in order to keep the scale of the building in synch with the surrounding neighborhood (DC has very strict height limits). So you have essentially a 6 or 7 story building, with 2 of them under ground level. But even in the lowest levels, it is still open because of the super high ceiling heights and numerous site-lines up and out for natural light and views of the sky. All the cross streets still connect across the site as well. They created these great wide interior public plaza pedestrian crossings over the streets with windowed views to the neighborhoods on either side. It also has the nicest interior spaces I've ever experienced in a convention center. Every space, including the meeting rooms, have high ceilings. There are huge windows everywhere you look, and large public areas with nice furnishings, expansive walls of exotic woods, unique lighting, and tons of unique public art throughout. It's like attending a convention in a spacious modern art museum.

If the new Vancouver Convention Center interior spaces are as promising as the exterior looks, it will be a great place for folks attending as well. Can't wait to experience the view from those windows overlooking the North Shore.

DC's convention center looks great it really meshes with the surrounding city well.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

ah thanks for the explanation. and with that i have to disagree with it being called a "monstrous carbuncle" I think it fits wonderfully with its surroundings and it has a very nice feel to it at street level (as close as I can get to it anyway)

when are they opening up the seawall around it? I was there yesterday and the pace of work is amazing. all those trailers that were on the thurlow side are all gone now and the rest of cnada way is pretty much complete.

Walking the seawall around Stanley Park, I was once again struck at the bunker-like look of this building. Its really just one notch above the Vancouver Aquatic Centre is in terms of "big box on the waterfront" syndrome. And really, that's all a convention centre is, a massive box. Why residents of Vancouver would think this plopping this on the waterfront is desirable is beyond me. Too bad we didn't go with the Bing Thom proposal to underground it near BC Place. But them of course we wouldn't have another showy billion dollar monument to someone's ego.

[Delirium]

225,000sq/ft of exhibition space is located underground in the new convention centre. that's more than half of the new space.
and why do we want it on the waterfront? hmmmm.. seems rather obvious. it's close to a major transportation hub (waterfront station), most large hotels, office buildings and downtown amenities.

makes sense to me. but your right. let's bury the thing in the middle of nowhere and hope people will come
clearly you don't know much about the convention business.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Walking the seawall around Stanley Park, I was once again struck at the bunker-like look of this building. Its really just one notch above the Vancouver Aquatic Centre is in terms of "big box on the waterfront" syndrome. And really, that's all a convention centre is, a massive box. Why residents of Vancouver would think this plopping this on the waterfront is desirable is beyond me. Too bad we didn't go with the Bing Thom proposal to underground it near BC Place. But them of course we wouldn't have another showy billion dollar monument to someone's ego.

You make absolutely no sense. you call it a bunker but then you think we should have gone with an underground proposal? you say its just a box yet you also call it a showy billion dollar monument. youre all over the place on this one.

So you would rather spend a billion dollars on something underground where you cant see it?

A convention centre attracts thousands of people mostly from out of town and you think having a spot on the waterfront isnt a good gathering place? but rather an underground bunker? what would be a better use for that spot? more homes for bums?

judging from your past posts you clearly have a hate on for Gordon Campbell and I dont think it would matter what his government did regarding a new convention centre you would always still bitch and complain

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

You make absolutely no sense. you call it a bunker but then you think we should have gone with an underground proposal? you say its just a box yet you also call it a showy billion dollar monument. youre all over the place on this one.

So you would rather spend a billion dollars on something underground where you cant see it?

A convention centre attracts thousands of people mostly from out of town and you think having a spot on the waterfront isnt a good gathering place? but rather an underground bunker? what would be a better use for that spot? more homes for bums?

judging from your past posts you clearly have a hate on for Gordon Campbell and I dont think it would matter what his government did regarding a new convention centre you would always still bitch and complain

Actually, political innuendo aside, I think the point being made by whatnext is a fair one. Convention centers are inherently big internally-focused boxes due to the need to maximize exhibition space (think Suntec in Singapore). They become dead areas when there isn't an event going on. As such, putting the building underground the way Moscone Center is in San Francisco or as Bing Thom originally envisaged makes a lot of sense.

Personally, I have to agree that plunking a convention center in Coal Harbour probably wasn't the best use of finite waterfront space. However, as much as I liked Bing Thom's original proposal (as I recall, he envisaged burying the convention center where Costco is with a series of terraced gardens down to False Creek), it simply doesn't make sense to run two physically separate facilities.

I believe it would have made more sense to build the convention center expansion on the east side of Canada Place (as was originally envisaged) as a way to connect that part of downtown to the central waterfront. But anyway, it's water under the bridge, and while I think MCM and LMN Architects could have done more with the design, I must say that the finished product far exceeds my expectations for this project.

[osirisboy]

ok I'll ask this again what would have been a better way to use this space?