Vancouver House (1400 Howe St) | 151.5m | 52Fl | Completed - Page 23

VancouverOfTheFuture · #**441** Posted **Jul 28, 2014, 10:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I would love to see the structural drawings on that building, must be pretty interesting.

i took these photos from the book i got when i went looking at buying in.

edit: uh sorry they are so big i dont know how to make them smaller (1st time uploading on here)

Cypherus · #**442** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 1:57 AM**

^Very interesting. I always wondered about the structural integrity of this building, being more of someone's vision than practical. But it looks like the engineers did their due diligence by using the cantilevered tension rod system.

natelox · #**443** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 3:13 AM**

Those marketing pieces were obviously not put together by an engineer or an architect. Their diagrams are very problematic.

The structure of Vancouver House is highly subservient to its form, and it really shows when one looks at the floor plans. The upper units are generally fine, but all the lower units are completely ridiculous. Units are just threaded in and around the incredibly dense structural maze closer to the base. It makes for some very strange and awkward plans. When you look at the extensive marketing (the exhibition, sales centers in Asia), positioning efforts (high-art academic concepts and vocabulary), exotic unit names (employing unit concepts like pied de terre), and their use of BIG as a marketable name (The door/kitchen island/murphy bed is 'an original Bjarke Ingles' etc..), I can't help but think they're using every marketing technique in the book to mask, or at least mitigate, these really awful plans.

spm2013 · #**444** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 3:19 AM**

....

whatnext · #**445** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 6:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by natelox

Those marketing pieces were obviously not put together by an engineer or an architect. Their diagrams are very problematic.

The structure of Vancouver House is highly subservient to its form, and it really shows when one looks at the floor plans. The upper units are generally fine, but all the lower units are completely ridiculous. Units are just threaded in and around the incredibly dense structural maze closer to the base. It makes for some very strange and awkward plans. When you look at the extensive marketing (the exhibition, sales centers in Asia), positioning efforts (high-art academic concepts and vocabulary), exotic unit names (employing unit concepts like pied de terre), and their use of BIG as a marketable name (The door/kitchen island/murphy bed is 'an original Bjarke Ingles' etc..), I can't help but think they're using every marketing technique in the book to mask, or at least mitigate, these really awful plans.

This is Vancouver, Canada's L.A. Style will always triumph over substance.

officedweller · #**446** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 9:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by natelox

I can't help but think they're using every marketing technique in the book to mask, or at least mitigate, these really awful plans.

Yeah - it was noticeable even way back at the DPB stage:

Floorplans:

http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/plan...2-1460howe/documents/residplans_rev2.pdf

PaperTiger · #**447** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 9:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Yeah - it was noticeable even way back at the DPB stage:

Floorplans:

http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/plan...2-1460howe/documents/residplans_rev2.pdf

No Shit! The 07-E1 plan. That's a kitchen???

officedweller · #**448** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 10:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaperTiger

No Shit! The 07-E1 plan. That's a kitchen???

Not to mention bathroom placement in that suite.

Did you find the kitchen for 07-NW?
(behind the 2 foot thick structural wall?)

WarrenC12 · #**449** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 10:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Not to mention bathroom placement in that suite.

jsbertram · #**450** Posted **Jul 29, 2014, 11:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by subdude

Vancouver tower makes enemies before it’s built; some complain units offered for sale to buyers in Asia first
http://www.theprovince.com/news/vancouve...+built+some+complain/10067128/story.html

Am the only person to be surprised the skin of the building has changed from white to golden glistening?

Oh, I see its an 'artists rendering' - one guess who they are marketing this golden shining beacon tower to ...

jsbertram · #**451** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 12:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Not to mention bathroom placement in that suite.

Did you find the kitchen for 07-NW?
(behind the 2 foot thick structural wall?)

At least with the thick structural wall separating you from your neighbour, there will be less 'noise leakage' between the units.

Especially when the BR wall of one unit is the LR wall of the neighbour.

However, it does make for interesting decorating decisions when the room is dominated by a 6' x 4' structural column.

natelox · #**452** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 12:19 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Yeah - it was noticeable even way back at the DPB stage:

Floorplans:

http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/plan...2-1460howe/documents/residplans_rev2.pdf

Indeed, some of those were quite poor. Some of them that are for sale though are quite atrocious. Like these.

Klazu · #**453** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbertram

Am the only person to be surprised the skin of the building has changed from white to golden glistening?

Oh, I see its an 'artists rendering' - one guess who they are marketing this golden shining beacon tower to ...

This rendering has been out there since the beginning, so I don't think it has changed. I guess it's meant to just have a dramatic dusk feeling to it.

jsbertram · #**454** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klazu

This rendering has been out there since the beginning, so I don't think it has changed. I guess it's meant to just have a dramatic dusk feeling to it.

Except the sun at dusk is on the *other* side of the building (right side of the picture).
I guess that's a secret only shared by locals.

jsbertram · #**455** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 3:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by natelox

Indeed, some of those were quite poor. Some of them that are for sale though are quite atrocious. Like these.

Laughed at 2602.
What to do with a structural column too close to the shear wall holding up the balconies?
If there's enough space to wedge in a computer desk, it has been transformed into an 'atelier' space.
To me, its still dead space, regardless of how it is named.
(and keep doing your pilates, since you'll need to be quite thin to slip between the column and windows to clean there, once the desk is locked in place.)

Vamo · #**456** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 4:27 AM**

This building is beautiful imo. I do not like the location in Downtown but that s still fine. But these floorplans... The worst I saw in years! How can they do that!? It doesn't make any sense, the kitchen, bathrooms and humhum "atelier"... I wouldn't buy any condo in here from what I saw, because for me a good (open) floorplan is very very important (more than all their marketing BS) and it's overpriced too.

officedweller · #**457** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 8:09 AM**

The straight line kitchens look pretty useless.
Possibly like these at Ice in Toronto:
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread....(Lanterra-57-67s-aA)?p=881703#post881703

cornholio · #**458** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 9:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbertram

At least with the thick structural wall separating you from your neighbour, there will be less 'noise leakage' between the units.

Especially when the BR wall of one unit is the LR wall of the neighbour.

However, it does make for interesting decorating decisions when the room is dominated by a 6' x 4' structural column.

One would assume the shape of the building at the bottom facing Granville would be catching all the sound off of the street and the strip, instead of bouncing it off. Anyone here in the know can confirm or deny this. But I still think the building looks interesting.
*As for wealthy Chinese buyers only buying high end units, well studies of the investor class immigrant program before it was originally frozen showed otherwise and that a vast majority of them were seemingly purchasing mostly units and houses in the 500-999 price range. I have posted links on this forum before to the pdf's.

WarrenC12 · #**459** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 2:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

The straight line kitchens look pretty useless.
Possibly like these at Ice in Toronto:
http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showthread....(Lanterra-57-67s-aA)?p=881703#post881703

One step closer to the apartment in Fifth Element.

Fine for single people only, that's about it.

jlousa · #**460** Posted **Jul 30, 2014, 3:34 PM**

And hence this is why most buildings are squares, it's not because architects can't design elegant structures, it's because buyers demand practical floorplans. Some of the floorplans at Trump are equally as "interesting"
Personally I couldn't deal with a compromised floorplan for my daily living, but for a vacation home I'd be more willing to put up with it.