Downtown Vancouver Updates

[jollyburger]

People jumping off Granville sometimes land on the island..

[urbancanadian]

I'm sure this is well-known by now, but studies have shown that suicides tend to be an "in the moment" type of act and so preventing someone from jumping off of the Burrard Bridge will likely mean that the person will not take their own life at all. The person will be crossing the bridge and decide to jump as opposed to deciding to die and seeking a place to do it.

Anyways, I completely agree with osirisboy's and csbvan's comments. I wasn't supportive of the fence at first, but I think it looks quite elegant and suites the architecture of the bridge. I assume the designer does other types of work. Could be worth it to hire them for other historic public works...

PS - Thanks for the pics!

[Vin]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Would you really die by jumping iff that bridge? It doesn't seem high enough

I think it would cost taxpayers (government) more to take care of an invalid after a botched suicide attempt, for the rest of his/her natural life.

By the way, any record of how many actually died from bridge jumping in Vancouver? How many at the Burrard Bridge per year?

If someone really wants to dramatically kill himself/herself, the barrierless skytrain platforms would be the easiest. I suggest erecting fences at every station too. Perhaps every beach should be fenced up to prevent death by deliberate drowning.

On a serious note, for the Burrard Bridge renovation, I think the fence design is OK, quite a good match for the historical bridge, but the views of the mountains and ocean would be impacted, especially for slower moving pedestrians. Views from faster-moving vehicles would be quite seamless. One thing I don't get is why they would choose to install the ultra modern street lamp-post as opposed to those ornate cast iron ones to highlight the history of this bridge. See here: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-lamp-post-lamppost-street-road-light-pole-image17788014

[christmas]

Grovesnor infill

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Vin

One thing I don't get is why they would choose to install the ultra modern street lamp-post as opposed to those ornate cast iron ones to highlight the history of this bridge. See here: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-lamp-post-lamppost-street-road-light-pole-image17788014

That's just because they are installing historically accurate concrete lampposts with glass globes on top.
You can see the concrete posts in some of the pics.
The glass globes have now been installed on a number of them.

I actually think that the concrete posts act as more of a constricting "wall" (when driving) than the metal suicide fence between them.


http://hudsoncentennial.com/portfolio/

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Vin

I don't get is why they would choose to install the ultra modern street lamp-post as opposed to those ornate cast iron ones to highlight the history of this bridge. See here: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-lamp-post-lamppost-street-road-light-pole-image17788014

Those would look quite obtuse as the architectural style is Streamlined Art Deco with a bit of Spanish Revival and those are high style Victorian lamps.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Vin

On a serious note, for the Burrard Bridge renovation, I think the fence design is OK, quite a good match for the historical bridge, but the views of the mountains and ocean would be impacted, especially for slower moving pedestrians. Views from faster-moving vehicles would be quite seamless. One thing I don't get is why they would choose to install the ultra modern street lamp-post as opposed to those ornate cast iron ones to highlight the history of this bridge. See here: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-lamp-post-lamppost-street-road-light-pole-image17788014

those wouldn't really fit the style of the bridge. something more like these would work better. but something custom designed to match the concrete posts would be pretty nice. nothing "off the shelf" would work on that bridge.

no idea where this is, but its interesting.

source

these are on the Golden Gate Bridge

source

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

... nothing "off the shelf" would work on that bridge.

In contrast the City allowed the installation of "off-the-shelf" historic pedestrian/sidewalk lampposts on the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts,
in contrast to the modern streamlined roadway light standards of the viaducts.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

In contrast the City allowed the installation of "off-the-shelf" historic pedestrian/sidewalk lampposts on the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts,
in contrast to the modern streamlined roadway light standards of the viaducts.

yeah and i am not a fan of that. but those are generic-ish pieces of infrastructure. the Burrard Bridge is quite unique and it needs something more custom to match the design properly. something elegant and art deco and fits with the detailing of the bridge. it isn't really one style, it is a bit of both. and the fact that the architect put so much attention to detail into it, its a shame that something so generic is being put on it.

an example of the city annoying me is in Yaletown, it happened just recently. it bugs me, same as the non-period-correct lamp posts all throughout the city. many lamp-posts in the city have been replaced with very generic, boring, plain ones.

this is the before at the intersection of Pacific and Cambie. they have those different frames in that whole area, and now they were replaced with generic frames, it bugs me because it is just another piece of an areas history, back to Expo 86, being erased for no reason.

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by officedweller

In contrast the City allowed the installation of "off-the-shelf" historic pedestrian/sidewalk lampposts on the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts,
in contrast to the modern streamlined roadway light standards of the viaducts.

Here's a pic. You can actually see three different styles of street lights in this image of the Georgia viaduct.

I would agree that the new modern style lampposts on the Burrard Bridge will be much less noticeable once it's all done and the old style ones are in place. Perhaps the extra tall modern ones accomplish the required lighting of the whole bridge deck for safety. Something the older styled shorter ones couldn't do.



April 27 '16, my pic

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by urbancanadian

I'm sure this is well-known by now, but studies have shown that suicides tend to be an "in the moment" type of act and so preventing someone from jumping off of the Burrard Bridge will likely mean that the person will not take their own life at all. The person will be crossing the bridge and decide to jump as opposed to deciding to die and seeking a place to do it.

Suicide is impulsive, but not *that* impulsive; there's always some forethought. Even if a person spends only 30 minutes contemplating it, that's often enough time for them to think about an effective means of dying, including knowing where they can go to jump without any interference (although chances are that jumping will not be their primary choice given that it's one of the least common forms of suicide, and certainly uncommon at the Burrard Bridge with a rate of 0.7 suicides per year). But more importantly, there isn't yet any evidence that the overall suicide rate changes in cities where barriers are installed. Only if you can demonstrate a statistically significant decline in the overall suicide rate (controlling for all other possible reasons for the decline) can you conclude that the barriers actually save lives rather than merely leading to suicides at other locations or by different means. I've read most of the studies on this topic; in almost no study is there evidence that the overall suicide rate decreases after the installation of these types of barriers (although, obviously, suicides decrease at the specific locations where the barriers are installed). Maybe barriers do save lives and the studies can't detect this, but until we have better studies that provide this evidence, it's all just a guessing game -- and a costly one at that.

At the risk of going off-topic, I'll shut up about this now.

[EdinVan]

The new roof on the Christ Church Cathedral looks so drab

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

I would agree that the new modern style lampposts on the Burrard Bridge will be much less noticeable once it's all done and the old style ones are in place. Perhaps the extra tall modern ones accomplish the required lighting of the whole bridge deck for safety. Something the older styled shorter ones couldn't do.

Yeah, I think the tall thin roadway lights on Burrard Bridge were probably selected to be less noticeable. I think the dark paint on them was chosen to match the suicide fence, but think that a galvanized finish would have been even less noticeable against the sky.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

That's just because they are installing historically accurate concrete lampposts with glass globes on top.
You can see the concrete posts in some of the pics.
The glass globes have now been installed on a number of them.

I actually think that the concrete posts act as more of a constricting "wall" (when driving) than the metal suicide fence between them.


http://hudsoncentennial.com/portfolio/

Good to know, thanks. Didn't realize that they were putting the original ones back. Thought I saw those new modern minimalist lamp-posts on those recent photos taken. Are they supposed to be temporary? Or will there be both the modern lamp-posts as well as the historically-accurate globes? Now that would be bizarre.

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Those would look quite obtuse as the architectural style is Streamlined Art Deco with a bit of Spanish Revival and those are high style Victorian lamps.

Some of them perhaps, but not all. Art Deco was used a lot with Edwardian or even Victorian style lamps, although not as ornate as the earlier versions.
These styles would be very nice on Burrard Bridge:
http://ep.yimg.com/ay/hooksandlattice/street-lights-street-lamps-and-lighted-post-fixtures-8.jpg
https://sites.create-cdn.net/siteimages/25/7/6/257684/8444554.jpg?1397980098

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Vin

Good to know, thanks. Didn't realize that they were putting the original ones back. Thought I saw those new modern minimalist lamp-posts on those recent photos taken. Are they supposed to be temporary? Or will there be both the modern lamp-posts as well as the historically-accurate globes? Now that would be bizarre.

both are staying as seen in the renders. these have been posted before, showing both styles.


source

[officedweller]

The spacing of the tall street lamps seems to bear no relation to the spacing of the historic lampposts
- so the overall effect may be a bit odd if the irregular spacing is noticeable)
(i.e. probably based solely on technical lighting factors and to minimize the number of them)

The renders also show that the tall street lamps will hoist the colourful banners.

Originally Posted by Vin

[christmas]

855 Granville







Not sure what they are up to here

[christmas]

238 West Broadway



Source : Changingcitybook.com

[officedweller]

Thank for the updates!

New Burrard Bridge lamppost from Price Tags:


https://pricetags.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/deco-decorating-on-burrard/#comments

[SpongeG]

i cannot figure out the cross street? is it davie? where is this?