1021 W Hastings | 143M | 36Fl | Completed

[Some guy]

It's an appetizer for The "Turn". If the Turn is completed as well, vancouver will have a nice grasp on the curvy/twisty design. It has my approval.

[Mininari]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

The panel voted enthusiastically to support it and were nearly unanimous that it should be tall enough to stand above the Shaw Tower and Fairmont Pacific Rim.

Does this mean they want MORE HEIGHT added? It would have to be at least 150m to "stand above" the Shaw Tower and Fairmont Pacific Rim... (155-160 would be better!).

Wow, its pretty nice... they're really squeezing that in there, eh? Lets take this one and run!

[giallo]

1021 W hastings looks great! It really compliments the Marine Building and the other tower with the international design (Guinness Building?). If they could work with the city, and get this a little taller, I wouldn't be complaining. The city needs to start maximizing it's office space.

Thanks for the pictures and description, SFU.

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by dleung

There are too many curves and they're all too subtle. And if there's a fading fritted glass transition between floors like you say, the vertical fins will most certainly work against it. In fact the fins work against everything in the design... most likely one of those tacked on sustainability features...

It reminds me of the erickson buildings at the Olympic village... ie: the massive expense that went into the ever-so-subtle twisting form, yet looks indistinguishable and formless from a distance.

I think the first design was much better -- more dramatic. I agree that the curves are too subtle. And of course, models and renderings always look more dramatic than the finished product, which usually just blends in with the other drab buildings. Nothing to write home about.

[dleung]

^^The first design more dramatic? The current proposal is too subtle, but the first one is absolutely dated. I'll settle for this one anyday. I guess Mininari's "take it and run" does echo my sentiments and cynicism of the architectural circles in this town...

[vanman]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Indeed. The quality on my Blackberry is awful but this should suffice for the time being.


Taken by SFUVancouver, February 9th, 2011.


Taken by SFUVancouver, February 9th, 2011.


Taken by SFUVancouver, February 9th, 2011.

Awesome thanks for the pics and info! This thing at even a 160m would be astounding, as long as the glazing is dark and/or reflective it will stand out from Fairmont and Shaw Tower. Hopefully it does get a bump in height but if not, I agree with everyone else, lets take this and run with it!

[wrenegade]

I like it though I hope the glazing is darker throughout the building. The last thing we need is an office building with see through glass and spandrel, we have plenty of that as it is!

[red-paladin]

My reactions:
1. This is awesome, and I like this design better than the original.
2. I love the idea of cramming more density into the CBD.
3. Often models, like the model of the Georgia, have clear glass to show the insides.
4. Anything dleung dislikes gets 15 points right off the bat.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Some guy

It's an appetizer for The "Turn". If the Turn is completed as well, vancouver will have a nice grasp on the curvy/twisty design. It has my approval.

Originally Posted by Mininari

Does this mean they want MORE HEIGHT added? It would have to be at least 150m to "stand above" the Shaw Tower and Fairmont Pacific Rim... (155-160 would be better!).

Wow, its pretty nice... they're really squeezing that in there, eh? Lets take this one and run!

Originally Posted by giallo

1021 W hastings looks great! It really compliments the Marine Building and the other tower with the international design (Guinness Building?). If they could work with the city, and get this a little taller, I wouldn't be complaining. The city needs to start maximizing it's office space.

Thanks for the pictures and description, SFU.

Originally Posted by vanman

Awesome thanks for the pics and info! This thing at even a 160m would be astounding, as long as the glazing is dark and/or reflective it will stand out from Fairmont and Shaw Tower. Hopefully it does get a bump in height but if not, I agree with everyone else, lets take this and run with it!

Originally Posted by awvan

I like it though I hope the glazing is darker throughout the building. The last thing we need is an office building with see through glass and spandrel, we have plenty of that as it is!

Yes! This redesign is, in my opinion, much, much better than that original piece of blaaaah space-filler-upper. (It looked almost Soviet-era, or "postwar somewhere-or-other ...")

I like the twists and curves in the render (although I thing accentuating the curviness little a more wouldn't hurt), it's fairly interesting as Vancouver buildings go, and with a bit af added height (is 160m a real possibility ???) and some uniform, "spandrel-free glazing" in a dramatic color (too subjective to debate here), this could be a real landmark tower for downtown west.
Perosnally, I'd have the sloping roof cut at a somewhat steeper, more dramatic angle, but in a city unrenowned for originality, I echo Minari's sentiments:
"Let's take this one and run!"

[LeftCoaster]

Wow, really like the redesign. Simple but elegant. Could look great with some nice glass.

Dont know about the height going up to 160 though. The site is so small a building of that height would see very diminishing returns that high with the size of core needed to support that many floors.

That said if they could find a way to do it that would be amazing.

[jlousa]

Agree with Leftcoaster, it will be very tough to make it higher, at 36flrs of office space already, the elevators are stretched as is. Add a few more floors you probably need an additional elevator wiping out a sizable amount of sqftage on every floor. They could certainly make each floor taller but they won't get much more money in lease rates for that. We'll see how things play out.

Any mention of the interior pieces in the University club? Will they now be retained or only the facade? I know this was a sticky point the first time around.

[Mininari]

I wonder if it could be as simple as "stretching" the top into a tall, more impressive "crown." It would probably add a lot of cost to the project.
Otherwise, maybe there are creative ways to get it up a bit more...

[golog]

I like the vertical bars that are patterned over the facade
(they cover 2 floors, are offset 1 floor from bars on either side)

[dreambrother808]

Now this is the kind of design Vancouver needs more of!

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Any mention of the interior pieces in the University club? Will they now be retained or only the facade? I know this was a sticky point the first time around.

I arrived late and they had already moved on from the presentation of what would happen with the University Club building. However during the question period Robert Lemon, the heritage consultant, said that they will salvage many of the architectural elements from the interior with the desire of returning them to the restaurant CRU space in the heritage building and those that cannot be used would be sold. From this I was left with the impression that this will be a facade job like the two heritage buildings at the base of Jameson House. There was some discussion about incorporating elements of the heritage building's dimensions into the interior spaces of the new building but I would not hold my breath.

The big difference is that in the old design the footprint of the tower came to ground in such a way that there was a deep narrow plaza between the Guinness tower and the University Club building. The blank wall of the latter had a green wall slapped onto it and the tower otherwise ignored the building despite being integrated with it. The new design pushes the tower nearly to West Hastings and its exterior billows subtly as it drapes above and the down beside the University Club building. I expect that the upper floors of the University Club will still be integrated into the office floor plates of the respective tower floors but there was also some discussion about having shared amenity space for the office workers and perhaps the upper floor or floors of the University Club building may be where that ends up if the project team proceeds with the notion.

Incidentally, the fins that are missing above the West Hastings lobby entrance simply broke off the model. That is not a design element.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that in the original design the elevator core was pushed to the far east side of the tower and it would have been disguised by opaque spandrel glass panels running from top to bottom immediately in line with the axis of the spire of the Marine Building, severely diminishing the appearance of that iconic street view in the city.

[BCPhil]

I like it.

The design both complements and contrasts the Marine building and the building next door. If it were too square, it would ruin the look of the whole block. The shape makes it look like it will frame the Marine building when looking at it from Hastings, but still keep the Marine building visible from many points of Burrard inlet and the North Shore. If the building were blockier or had sharper corners it would hide too much of the Marine building.

As nice as it is to have an amazing new building, the Marine building is one of the Architectural gems of Art Deco design in the entire world. It would be a shame to hide it from sight with an over ambitious building that's only concerned with how good it looks on it's own. But that doesn't look to be the case, and the two look to compliment each other perfectly.

[Mininari]

I get the impression that this tower is attempting to emulate elements of both the Marine Building and the Guinness Tower -- the first version of this tower was almost entirely emulating the Guinness Tower, and came across a bit brutal.

Looking forward to hearing about any further height increases, but I'll take the 475' version.

What kind of construction timeline are they looking at?

[officedweller]

Great pics, thanks!

The description of the bowed triangular floorplates reminded me of the Ritz-Carlton/Vancouver's Turn tower, but this one is much wider in keeping with an office floorplate and probably doesn't have much room to twist.

As DLeung mentions, it shares the same trend as with the Ritz that (on the NE and SE corners) the mullions do not run parallel to the curved facade edge, but instead will result in cut-off triangular window panes (the very first Ritz model has parallelogram shaped windows consistent with the twist).

The SW corner is more successful with the rounded corner and especially with the flared awning at the base (reminiscent of The Pinnacle being built in London UK, but with a smaller flare). An even more dramatic flare for the awning would be awesome.

At 4 storeys, that's probably one of the tallest mech penthouses in town - other than the Hotel Vancouver and Cathedral Place.

[navazan]

this tower renews my passion for vancouver's skyline. although the curves are subtle, it still stands apart from the sea of generic box towers. now we need vancouvers turn!

[wrenegade]

Originally Posted by officedweller

At 4 storeys, that's probably one of the tallest mech penthouses in town - other than the Hotel Vancouver and Cathedral Place.

I have no problem with that. The Melville too has something similar, though not enclosed. I would much rather the tops of buildings be architecturally finished than to remain flat with HVAC and elevator mechanicals just sitting on top. I remember mentioned Calgary's EAP a little while ago of an excellent design that would well in Vancouver for both design and height. While 1021 doesn't really come close on height, it's design definitely share some similarities. I can only hope future office building designs do the same.

DP Board hearing is scheduled for April 18th for those who might be wondering.