Fifteen Fifteen (1500 W Georgia) | 134m | 43fl | U/C

[Genauso]

Originally Posted by officedweller

October 5 UDP Minutes:

• Consideration should be given to reducing the massing and density;
• The two buildings, Crown Life and the proposed should either be more complimentary or contrasting in form and materiality;
• Design development to make the building thinner and more elegant;
• Design development to better activate the base of the building along Georgia;
• The intent of the 6500 sq. ft. floorplate is not met well in the middle of the building;
• Extend the brick along Georgia Street but to maintain the Georgia edge with its landscaped form;
• Special attention should be paid to the design of the plaza to create a base for the new tower and to act as the integrating element for the composition of the two buildings;
• Design development of the materiality and the approach to details to work with the materials of the plaza.
• Design development to improve sustainability.

I am not a fan of the shipping crates hanging out of a tower design, maybe because the theater box is gone.

But you better have a good reason for telling someone what they cannot build, provided they meet every zoning/viewcone/FSR/safety/etc. standard

materiality is not even a word.

There is some constructive criticism to prevent the street level from being a dead zone.

After that it's different ways of saying "build the building I would have designed, which is super skinny". Not because of FSR limits, not because of shading concerns. Because of a single unexplained opinion.

UDP should learn when not to speak if they don't want to be ignored.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Wtf does this mean?

"Currently this building does not seem to advance the story of what Vancouver’s identity wants to be."

Originally Posted by Jebby

It means it's not bland enough.

"NOT BLAND ENOUGH" That's exactly it, ironically. You hit the nail on the head, Jebby. It's all very sad, really, and rather pathetic when it comes right down to it.

[excel]

So Vancouver claims it's trying to densify and the first point calls for reducing density. Not sure I understand.

[privatejet]

4 months to post the minutes.....really...and then the Planning department gets upset when they get criticised for being cosy with developers and not engaging with the public....

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Wtf does this mean?

"Currently this building does not seem to advance the story of what Vancouver’s identity wants to be."

...and the Roger's Arenas tower do?

[Vin]

UDP: Design development to make the building thinner and more elegant;

LOL!
Yeah, but that's only because the City slashed the height down to this stubby thing.


I suggest the developer build this in Burnaby, and double the height.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Wtf does this mean?

"Currently this building does not seem to advance the story of what Vancouver’s identity wants to be."

It means that the current city government has let it's pompous attitude go to it's head and now believes that it is the pure embodiment of the people who live here and can speak for all of them.

However most now realize that they do not stand for the vast majority of people in this city. They clearly have no clue of what Vancouvers' identity wants to be. We basically need the opposite of what they say now. We need different people to run this city now as we are clearly plateauing.

[SFUVancouver]

The UDP isn't the same thing as the municipal government.

[osirisboy]

Doesn't the city appoint who is on the udp?

With all these ridiculous comments that the udp has made I hope people will finally stop telling us that it's wrong to criticize and blame them for screwing up proposals

But I'd like to know what this "story of vancouvers vision" is all about. Who says it's vancouvers story?

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by connect2source

...and the Roger's Arenas tower do?

Exactly! If their idea of Vancouver's vision is bland squat towers then it's time replace the ppl making recommendations on these projects

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

The UDP isn't the same thing as the municipal government.

An obvious statement however they are clearly connected.

[Genauso]

If it's a tough, thankless job: How much support do we need to get a seat on the UDP for a forum member? I bet it's pretty good pay for light work just like School Board, Parks Board, etc. I'm not interested because I don't have enough opinions, but I'll back others.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Genauso

How much support do we need to get a seat on the UDP for a forum member? I bet it's pretty good pay for light work just like School Board, Parks Board, etc.

It's an unpaid volunteer position staffed by rotating senior members from the architectural, planning and real estate community.

So it's not going to happen.

If it makes you guys feel any better a lot of UDP members are not fans of the view cones and many of the comments about towers dimensions are minuted criticisms of the stubby imposed massings.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Wtf does this mean?

"Currently this building does not seem to advance the story of what Vancouver’s identity wants to be."

I read that as:

We local architects are full of ourselves, don't like your design, and don't want to be upstaged by an outsider.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Yeah, stupid comments by UDP. Basically they want it smaller and less noticeable. Adding spandrel should also help. Idiots...

Hahahaha!

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by Genauso

If it's a tough, thankless job: How much support do we need to get a seat on the UDP for a forum member? I bet it's pretty good pay for light work just like School Board, Parks Board, etc. I'm not interested because I don't have enough opinions, but I'll back others.

UDP panelists are volunteers. There is no remuneration.

Panelists are appointed by their respective bodies (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, Vancouver chapter; Urban Land Institute, Vancouver chapter; and Architectural Institute of British Columbia, Vancouver chapter; BC Society of Landscape Architects, Vancouver chapter). I'm not sure how the practicing public artist is selected. The Vancouver City Planning Commission has a seat on the UDP and they select the representative internally.

[giallo]

Seafoam Green Spandrels: The Vancouver Story

[jlousa]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I read that as:

We local architects are full of ourselves, don't like your design, and don't want to be upstaged by an outsider.

*l* I had a good laugh at this. You don't seriously believe our architects couldn't design somethings cutting edge and risque? They don't because local developers hire local architects to their bread and butter buildings. When they want to go highend they contract those buildings out to outside starchitects. Erickson, Bing Thom, JKMC, all have their best works showcased in other cities it's just the nature of the beast.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I read that as:

We local architects are full of ourselves, don't like your design, and don't want to be upstaged by an outsider.

Well they throw them a bone with big projects partnering with a local firm to do the grunt work.

[officedweller]

I know, I was joking a bit in saying that, but the words in the minutes had an undercurrent of "you don't know our culture/vibe/etc.", and the consequence of that is to adapt or go away.

An analogous situation would be when Millennium hired Robert Stern to design the Olympic Village and he proposed a high-end fishing village.

Brent Toderian: The week I arrived, there was controversy in the newspapers about the competing visions for the architecture of the Olympic Village. Robert Stern had visited the city as a possible architect for the site and had made some comments about the Vancouver model of city building. The vision of a quaint fishing village had been floated in the media, and suddenly the debate was on. From the city’s perspective, we had envisioned a world-class sustainable community for the False Creek area long before the Olympics were ever a gleam in our eyes. It was intended to be the greenest community in North America. So the city’s vision was for a contemporary, West Coast, highly sustainable community with architecture that is of its time and not seeking to replicate a marketing theme. Ultimately, Robert Stern left the project.

https://placesjournal.org/article/the-olympics-and-the-city/

Iconic architecture can also come in small packages, especially when the world is watching. The design of the 2010 Olympic Athletes' Village has been a process fraught with kingmakers, loads of money and the inappropriate selection of the original architect. The Millennium Group purchased the 2.5-hectare site for the otherworldly sum of $193-million. Its owners, Vancouver brothers Peter and Shahram Malek, have produced a previous portfolio of Beaux Arts wannabes in Burnaby, Vancouver and West Vancouver, so it wasn't surprising that they selected as architect the American star of "modern traditionalism," Robert Stern, who is also the dean of Yale University's school of architecture. Stern swept into Vancouver, declared the absence of meaningful architecture and called for the 11-block site at False Creek to be transformed into a fishing village. Thankfully, local architects screamed and the city's powerful urban design review panel balked. Stern was unceremoniously dismissed.

Now, Stern's joint-venture architect, Paul Merrick Architects, is being put through the wringer to transform parts of the so-called fishing village into something that looks like it belongs to Vancouver. Two days ago, the architects submitted plans to the panel for a series of pavilion buildings with flat roofs that serve as heavily landscaped gardens. Things are looking up, says Scot Hein, head of the city's urban design studio. "An innovative and exuberant architecture has replaced what was there before. The French classical fishing village has gone by the wayside."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/time-to-build-outside-the-box/article1069102/