SkyTrain Station Renovations

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Thanks for the pics.
This one makes me think that the mezzanine was supposed to integrate with an office building - but when VanCity was built, it wasn't followed through.

As shown here:
http://sfuurban.wordpress.com/2012/07/31...-an-integrated-development-plan-part-ii/

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Holy smokes, this station is atrocious, the rebuild can't come soon enough!

Since the was the demonstration station for the demo line, I think they learned from the problems of its design, such as the too-narrow platform and dark & oppressive mezzanine.

Having an escalator up to the platform isn't terribly useful if you can't get up the stairs to the mezzanine from the street.

Isn't this also the only station that has an elevator to street, mezzanine and platform levels? I thought there were separate street - mezzanine and mezzanine - platform elevators in the other stations.


Too bad its only taken 30+ years to revisit this station and make it more customer-friendly.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Thanks for the pics.
This one makes me think that the mezzanine was supposed to integrate with an office building - but when VanCity was built, it wasn't followed through.

As shown here:
http://sfuurban.wordpress.com/2012/07/31...-an-integrated-development-plan-part-ii/

The project around the station that you reference was never built, so the nearby condos and the separate VanCity tower were built instead.

I agree though, that the west side of the mezzanine could have been better integrated with the VanCity tower.

[nname]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Isn't this also the only station that has an elevator to street, mezzanine and platform levels? I thought there were separate street - mezzanine and mezzanine - platform elevators in the other stations.

These are the others I can think of:

Granville - The new elevator built in ~2006 goes between street through mezzanine to the first platform level. They have to put fare gate on the platform level because of this.
Stadium-Chinatown - The elevator for Beatty entrance go through all 4 floors of the station.
New Westminster - The elevator goes from the bus loop directly to the platform level. They have to create a separate faregate/entrance for the inbound platform because of this.
Lougheed Town Centre - The elevator for Austin/Mall entrance goes through all floors and have to put within the gated area. I though there were a news item where someone complained that they have to use the fare gates when they are only using the elevator for mall access.
Gilmore - The elevator goes through all 3 floors, and they have to build a separate elevator entrance for the fare gate.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Isn't this also the only station that has an elevator to street, mezzanine and platform levels? I thought there were separate street - mezzanine and mezzanine - platform elevators in the other stations.
.

The M-Line stations would be more likely to have separate elevators - in anticipation of fare gate installation, as would Canada Line Stations.

[finalcoolman]

That ugly mezzanine and entrence underneath the station in the centre NEVER EXISTED when it was a demonstration station, it was more of just a walkway that was suppoed to be integrated with development. The mezzanine the way it is now was built AFTER THE FACT in 1985 several years after the orignal station was completed in 1982.

When it was a demonstration station, the station (as originally intended) had two entrences on either end of the platform, one at the East end of the platform (the one that still exists today but being torn down as we speak) and the main ticket hall concourse one at the West end of the platform which was supposed to be the ticket hall integrated with (now Van-City) development. You can see the original west concourse entrance here in the spot of the present Van-City building. It looks somewhat temporary because it was SUPPOSED TO BE INTEGRATED into the now Van-City building with escalators etc... It would have also been a much closer enterance to Science World as well.



However it never worked out with the Vancity development for some reason so by the time the Expo Line opening in 1985/86 rolled around there were some major design changes (for the bad); that Western Entrance was permanently sealed off and dismantled, they moved the entrence to the centre of the station by expanding that walkway into a mezzanine AFTER THE FACT under the guideway clearly not designed with enough space for the main ticket hall under the guidway. That area which holds all the fare vending machines etc... was just supposed to be a simple walkway.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by finalcoolman

That ugly mezzanine and entrence underneath the station in the centre NEVER EXISTED when it was a demonstration station, it was more of just a walkway that was suppoed to be integrated with development. The mezzanine the way it is now was built AFTER THE FACT in 1985 several years after the orignal station was completed in 1982.

When it was a demonstration station, the station (as originally intended) had two entrences on either end of the platform, one at the East end of the platform (the one that still exists today but being torn down as we speak) and the main ticket hall concourse one at the West end of the platform which was supposed to be the ticket hall integrated with (now Van-City) development. You can see the original west concourse entrance here in the spot of the present Van-City building. It looks somewhat temporary because it was SUPPOSED TO BE INTEGRATED into the now Van-City building with escalators etc... It would have also been a much closer enterance to Science World as well.

the Vancouver Archives has a fair number of photographs documenting the construction of the station.

Even if you look at LOVE's rendition there was more than one design that had Main Street attaching to an office building.
Also, Main Street opened for the season-long demonstration in 1983.

[st7860]

Joyce Station looks really nice now after the renovations...

[MIPS]

Was briefly in the city the other day and noticed that the east glass staircase has not only been torn down at Main but the surrounding area has been cleared out as well in preparation for the new foundations and construction.
Unfortunately no photographs from me.

[deasine]

New Westminster Station recently had these "shutters" installed for about three-quarters of the platform which I thought is a nice touch and adds a bit of new life to the old station structure. Photo taken by me:

[Spork]

They have been there for a number of months. They look nice when the weather is good, but I find that they make the station rather gloomy when it is dark or raining. It sure would open the place up if they would replace that mesh with glass.

[Jebby]

Will New West Station receive any more renovations in the near future to remove the mesh?

[red-paladin]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Will New West Station receive any more renovations in the near future to remove the mesh?

I believe so.

[deasine]

I would hope so. Does anyone know why King George is half glass half mesh? Really odd to me.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by deasine

I would hope so. Does anyone know why King George is half glass half mesh? Really odd to me.

I believe the original intention of the mesh is ease of maintenance. Remember, Skytrain was built as a demonstration of 80's massed produced answer to mass transit. As such they are modular and cheap (just like most of the pavilions at Expo 86 were). So the mesh is was used to make the stations cheap to build and easy to maintain. The mesh is almost impossible to damage, and when it is tagged with graffiti, (not only is it hard to actually see) all that needs to be done is have it repainted white.

But I guess we got bored of that look in the 90's when building the Surrey Extensions and it wasn't a demonstration to the world anymore so we made it a little more out style. We gradually started using other materials, at first using glass where it was out of reach of graffiti, and now using mostly glass walls.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by BCPhil

I believe the original intention of the mesh is ease of maintenance. Remember, Skytrain was built as a demonstration of 80's massed produced answer to mass transit. As such they are modular and cheap (just like most of the pavilions at Expo 86 were). So the mesh is was used to make the stations cheap to build and easy to maintain. The mesh is almost impossible to damage, and when it is tagged with graffiti, (not only is it hard to actually see) all that needs to be done is have it repainted white.

But I guess we got bored of that look in the 90's when building the Surrey Extensions and it wasn't a demonstration to the world anymore so we made it a little more out style. We gradually started using other materials, at first using glass where it was out of reach of graffiti, and now using mostly glass walls.

When Main Street opened it had massive amounts of glass and stainless steel. Hell, they never changed the west staircase until they tore it down and that I can find the stairs inside the station always had glass walls and railings. I guess that was one of the things they learned with the demonstration: it was prone to damage. That was why the original Expo stations all used the easier to maintain modular pieces like you said. I guess the changing factor in the 90's eventually became the materials were now cheaper to replace than repair.....or that the repairable components were getting extremely tacky.

[red-paladin]

I think the main change is around the 1990s people began feel safer if the stations were 'glass boxes' where everyone could see in and see out. I think it is a matter of perception rather than reality.

[rxp]

Pictures please

[MIPS]

Gateway Station:



Joyce Station:


The glass does make the concourses feel a lot more spacious plus during the day anyone outside can see into the station.

[Waders]

Originally Posted by MIPS

Joyce Station:


The glass does make the concourses feel a lot more spacious plus during the day anyone outside can see into the station.

Thanks for the photo. Below is a photo I took today at Joyce station. It definitely looks much better with glass panel.