Telus Garden | 135m, 88m | 46fl res, 22fl office | 928,000sqft | Completed

[Coldrsx]

Cool features, nice, but boring...

[officedweller]

I like the Georgia feature better than the wavey canopy in the previous render (not sure about the "v" shaped columns hitting the sidewalk though.

As with the previous render, I doubt the City would allow the office block to hover over Seymour as shown.

Is it me, or does the cantilever bracing remind you of DLeung's mock building?

Pic of the site posted by Yumesama in the Capitol thread (we expect construction pics!)

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

View east from my office (to my old building by the VPL!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syume/5365716978/

[Built Form]

http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/index.html?releasePID=qN6Ze_4M8_8gW0bKDZJTFd3agEbICl2p

Here's the video from the noon news. You can see the Kingston hotel is still there between the condo and office towers.

[Built Form]

March 9, 2011
Version Française

TELUS building platinum national headquarters in Vancouver

$750-million, one-million square foot project will radically transform aging downtown block into one of the most technologically and environmentally-advanced sites in the world

Vancouver, B.C. – TELUS is building itself a new home in downtown Vancouver.

Named TELUS Garden, the development will radically transform an aging block of downtown Vancouver into a beautiful architectural icon of advanced technology, environmental stewardship and new work styles.

The million-square foot, $750 million project will see almost the entire block of prime downtown real estate bounded by Georgia, Robson, Seymour and Richards rebuilt into one of the most technologically and environmentally-advanced sites of commerce, employment and living in the world. It will create half a million square feet of much-needed new office space available for multiple tenants and 500 new residential units, all setting new standards for environmental sustainability. The 22-storey signature office tower will be the first building in Canada built to the new 2009 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum standard and the 44-storey residential tower will be built to the LEED Gold standard. The development will build upon TELUS' best practices from our new homes in central Canada including the LEED Gold certified TELUS House Ottawa, the LEED Gold built TELUS House Toronto and the LEED Silver built Place TELUS Quebec City.

“TELUS Garden will exemplify the TELUS brand and be a truly amazing destination for our team members, the community and the city,” said Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO. “Our vision is that TELUS Garden will be a beautiful and unique location where leading-edge technology, urban living, environmental sustainability and tomorrow's work styles are elegantly integrated into a vibrant community. This development, which will inject millions of dollars into our economy, will highlight TELUS' advanced communications technologies and environmental innovation in a way never before seen. TELUS Garden will be a breathtaking place to live and work, an architectural icon that will consume 30 per cent less energy thanks to its responsible, leading-edge design. It will be a celebrated urban oasis that is literally alive with plant life and showcases our great province's arts and culture.”

The landmark development reinforces TELUS' commitment to the City of Vancouver, and will make a significant contribution to the city's goal of becoming the greenest city in the world. Once complete, TELUS' new headquarters will be unique in North America, featuring 10,000 square feet of green roofs providing organic produce for local restaurants, two elevated roof forests, British Columbia artwork, LED lighting on the western façade projecting programmable coloured images on to fritted glass, and media walls where cultural events such as symphony concerts can be broadcast to the public.

The project's construction will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy and create three million person-hours of employment during construction, scheduled to begin this fall and be complete in 2015. Once complete, the development will open up new residential, retail and commercial space animating the lower end of Robson Street and create a vibrant link to the cultural and sports centres of the city. Once occupied, the site's business and residential tenants will contribute an estimated $8 - $10 million in new tax revenue to the city annually.


“The fact that TELUS is choosing to build a new national headquarters in Vancouver is a great vote of confidence in our local economy," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. "Their proposal to build to LEED Platinum is extremely ambitious and sends a signal that in Vancouver, going green is good for business and the environment. I'm very excited that they are investing in Vancouver – we've worked hard to build a competitive climate for business, and when companies like TELUS choose to expand their presence it is great for creating new jobs and economic spin-offs in our city."

TELUS has partnered with Westbank to lead the project, and has engaged Henriquez Partners as the architect that is designing the iconic development. TELUS will fund its share of the development predominantly through leveraging its existing real estate holdings in this block, coupled with the sale and lease of space in the new buildings. The investment is consistent with TELUS' overall capital expenditure target for 2011 and longer term capital intensity goals. TELUS has just entered into an agreement to purchase the city-owned parkade at the corner of Georgia and Richards, consolidating the entire block, other than the Kingston Hotel, to create a unified development.

Since 2000, TELUS has invested more than $24 billion in B.C. infrastructure and operations. TELUS is investing $1.7 billion across Canada this year, including $670 million in BC, to further enhance Canadians' access to what are already among the most advanced broadband and wireless networks anywhere in the world. TELUS' wireless network already reaches about 99 per cent of B.C.'s population and will be expanded by 76 cell sites this year. The company's wireline network makes broadband internet access available to more than 95 per cent of B.C. households, and the industry-leading Optik TV available to over 1 million households across the province.

Importantly, since 2000 TELUS' team members, retirees and Vancouver and Victoria Community Boards have contributed nearly $92 million and 2.1 million volunteer hours to more than 1,000 charitable and community organizations in the province. TELUS was recently recognized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the 2010 Most Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation globally, the first time a Canadian company has ever received this international honour.

TELUS has 15,000 team members and retirees in the province, and is Metro Vancouver's largest private sector employer. Approximately 1,000 TELUS team members will work in the company's new national headquarters once it is complete.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.8 billion of annual revenue and 12.3 million customer connections including 7 million wireless subscribers, 3.7 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 300,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video.

In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees will, by year-end 2011, have contributed $245 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered 4.1 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead TELUS' local philanthropic initiatives. TELUS was honoured to be named the most outstanding philanthropic corporation globally for 2010 by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, becoming the first Canadian company to receive this prestigious international recognition.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com.

About Westbank
Established in 1992 and with over $5 billion of projects completed or under development, Westbank is active across Canada in a diversity of product types from luxury condominiums, rental apartment office, commercial, retail, hotel, non-market housing and industrial. Westbank's primary focus is on large mixed use projects involving highly complex entitlement processes. Westbank is best known for being the leading luxury residential developer in Canada, along with being the owner/developer of the finest hotels in Canada. Some of its best known projects include Shangri-la Vancouver, Shangri-la Toronto, Fairmont Pacific Rim and the Woodward's Redevelopment project.

About Henriquez Partners Architect
Founded in 1969, Henriquez Partners Architects has led and completed a number of large-scale projects including the $330M Woodward's Redevelopment and the landmark LEED Gold BC Cancer Research Centre. With a reputation for successfully understanding and marrying the needs of both the client and the community, the Henriquez Partner philosophy is that no project is too small if it contributes to society in a meaningful way. Current work includes a new design for the Dunbar Community Centre and the York Theatre heritage revitalization project. Henriquez Partners has a demonstrated ability to organize and manage projects from design through to construction and the technical expertise to build buildings that stand the test of time.



-30-

For more information, please contact:
Shawn Hall
TELUS Media Relations
604-619-7913
[email protected]


posted from Telus' website.

[hankthetank]

I like it!

[flight_from_kamakura]

Originally Posted by Built Form

damn, color tone of the render is all wrong. personally, i dislike this for a few reasons: don't like the steps off georgia, at least not there where they'll be obstructed from view from all sides (telus commercial tower, direction of seymour, scotia tower); don't like the outdoor plaza idea for this site, even though it's well-covered (unlike the loathsome existing plaza); the color scheme just looks lame, like it's in some sort of dialogue with the bc hydro building; and finally, something about the relationship that this thing has to georgia street just strikes me as off. like the street definitely isn't a boulevard, the sidewalks are puny and shabby, and there's nothing to see, aside from the library and queen elisabeth. but one day there will be, and it's a shame that this thing seems almost to be duplicating the london drugs/scotiabank tower massing a block over, instead of bulding out the full block and going with a deeper set-back. anyway, one man's opinion.

[trofirhen]

OK ..... the sidewalk awning on Georgia is a "dramatic" arch on this one, and the condo tower is different. But generally, it's redolent of the original, and has that inescapable turquoise glass that is becoming the hallmark of Vancouver.
*
My opinion: 60/40. "OK". Could be better. Not bad. "C+". Not special either. Beats what's in that grim empty lot now, but as a Head Office, a lot more imagination and design could have gone into it. / Rather insipid. / Tries to be "daring" yet somehow fails anemically. / Could have been worse. / Not one that tourists will take too many pictures of .....
*
The news released called it "a beautiful architectural icon ...." Er, I rather tend to disagree.

[hollywoodnorth]

pic "art" by me on tinypic

anyone else notice the above ... .and from the global video it is CONFIRMED ... the building will protrude OVER ... Seymour street ...... !!! cool!

[mr.x]

^ the design actually seems to "borrow" some of the concepts from the fake rendering that was made awhile back. :p (i.e. the diagonal beams)


I will say that it's a huge improvement from what would have been a bigger version of Crossroads. It could be better, but this will do.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by phesto

The actual proposal (at least one concept):

The original render, posted by PHESTO, some time back, for easier comparison. Hope that's OK.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

anyone else notice the above ... .and from the global video it is CONFIRMED ... the building will protrude OVER ... Seymour street ...... !!! cool!

Originally Posted by mr.x

^ the design actually seems to "borrow" some of the concepts from the fake rendering that was made awhile back. :p (i.e. the diagonal beams)


I will say that it's a huge improvement from what would have been a bigger version of Crossroads. It could be better, but this will do.

Excuse me, but it looks as if it was to protrude over Seymour in the original rendering. (Not that there's anything at issue!)
*
Also, yes, the diagonal beams do give it a slightly more dynamic look, I think.

[Canadian Mind]

Not too bad. wish to commercial component was taller, but at least it's an empty lot being developed with some semblance of height.

[officedweller]

The fly through on GlobalTV also showed it protruding on the Richards side too - it forms an element that impales the tower. However, the City doesn't even allow cornices to protrude over sidewalks unless they are "demountable" - I doubt that the City would allow a building to protrude over a street (although there are exceptions, such as the Pacific Centre and HBC skywalks).

Personally, I think the 'V" columns on the tower and the cantilever diagonals conflict with each other because they present different angles. Narrower "V" diagonals on the horizontal block would look more avante garde rather than the structural/functional diagonals shown.

Originally Posted by flight_from_kamakura

...; and finally, something about the relationship that this thing has to georgia street just strikes me as off. like the street definitely isn't a boulevard, the sidewalks are puny and shabby, and there's nothing to see, aside from the library and queen elisabeth. but one day there will be, and it's a shame that this thing seems almost to be duplicating the london drugs/scotiabank tower massing a block over, instead of bulding out the full block and going with a deeper set-back. anyway, one man's opinion.

The plaza is probably there to reinforce the status of Georgia Street as a ceremonial street.
Both Georgia St. and Burrard St. (in the core) have alternating open plazas along them (whether you like them or not).
On Georgia, there's CBC Plaza, QE Plaza, Library Square Plaza, Main Post Office forecourt, 401 West Georgia Plaza and setback of the adjacent building, and then nothing until you get to London Drugs and Pacific Centre (which will eventually build on its plazas), then the Art Gallery, Christ Church, Royal Centre, Shangri-La, etc.

[dreambrother808]

I want to like it, and there are certainly elements that please, but as a whole it's rather incoherent and confused, no?

[SpongeG]

i like it much better than whats there now - the white spot will be missed

[Yume-sama]

Very solid proposal. Georgia Street entrance looks nice.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

wish [the] commercial component was taller...

You're not suggesting we violate the holy sanctity of View Cone No. 9.2.2, as laid down by our City Fathers in the year 1989 A.D., by adding a 23rd or 24th floor, are you?

Heresy.

[trofirhen]

The newer version has more open-to-the-sky rooftop trees: a redeeming feature, I suppose. * And yes, I agree with OFFICEDWELLER about the angle of the diagonal supports; they clash. An OK project .... but only just. Better than a few other monstrosities, though.

[hankthetank]

from www.vancouversun.com







Am I the only one who likes it? It's different. Finally something that's different. Do we have to change the name of the thread to "Telus Gardens" now?

[trofirhen]

Can't say I like the residential tower. It looks "gimpy" and deformed, somehow. But the Georgia Street side at night is nice and brightly lit. That's a plus.