Posted Apr 4, 2013, 9:55 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 41,761
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Globe & Mail article:
http://newsle.com/article/0/67465831/
Quote:
Vancouver’s architecture gets a shot in the arm
Kerry Gold
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Mar. 29 2013, 7:40 PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Mar. 29 2013, 7:59 PM EDT
...
They are, however, about to change Vancouver’s downtown skyline. The other European superstar, Denmark’s 37-year-old Bjarke Ingels, whose mixed-use project is slated for the awkward spot at the north end of Granville Street Bridge, was also in Vancouver the same week. Mr. Gugger said they had been texting, and had plans to meet up, but the bleak weather drove Mr. Ingels out of town before that could happen.
The Urban Design Panel recently approved Mr. Ingels’ flashy tower, which twists from a triangular base to a rectangular shape. Reaction all around has been overwhelmingly supportive. Mr. Gugger sounded impressed that Vancouver would be able to support a project as big as the Ingels tower.
“This is an expensive building he’s doing,” he said. “If there is a housing market in Vancouver for that, that’s quite exceptional. It’s a crazy building in terms of structure.”
Developer Ian Gillespie prefers to look at the Ingels tower another way.
“Yes, you do have a more expensive structure going up there, but the reality is, Vancouver has had a strong residential market for over 10 years now, and we are one of the few North American markets – San Francisco would be another, and New York, obviously – that could support this kind of a building.
“But it’s also partly that we are also developing a demographic that is searching for this type of project. And we feel very confident that it will be consumed very rapidly. People have been starved for it. I have absolutely zero doubt the market is going to embrace it like no one’s ever embraced anything like anything before.”
Buyers from around the world are interested in living in the 52-storey residential tower, says Mr. Gillespie, who has a waiting list to show for it. The 51-year-old has been a developer for roughly 26 years, and he sounds nothing short of stoked to be at a place in his career where he’s able to join forces with a renowned architect such as Mr. Ingels. They are also collaborating on a Calgary residential tower. And Mr. Gillespie said he’s got yet another Ingels project up his sleeve for Vancouver, but he refused to elaborate.
He says he is building upon previous successes such as the Woodward’s Building and the Shangri-La. As Vancouver grows in population, the city grows in stature. Mr. Gillespie feels that he, as a developer, has come of age along with the city. He’s at a point where he can “take the foot off the pedal from a budget perspective.” He also wanted to look at more interesting structural form than the towers that preside over the skyline so far.
Mr. Gugger, while a fan of “charming” Gastown, was not as impressed with the shiny new growth of residential towers.
“The recent ones seem to be a bit off the shelf, I would say,” noted Mr. Gugger. “They look to me more like investments, than what housing normally is, which is to create a home for someone.”
Mr. Gillespie wants to be at the forefront of that transition, and he already sees a shift in thinking.
“At what point did we stop looking to build a city full of background buildings?”
However, it’s also true that “you can’t have a city entirely made up of buildings like [the Ingels tower],” he adds. “It would be insane. But at the same time, you want to mix it up a little bit.
“And to be frank, I don’t know if there’s another developer in the city who could pull this off. You have to build a few exceptional buildings first in order to do something like this.
“I know, myself, I wouldn’t I would have been able to do this five years ago.”
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