Quote:
Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture
agreed. i am a fan of the original more than the current. if it was restored to its original look, i think it would be amazing. it shows what you can do with a building that provides one of the most important things for our way of life. being open, to see the equipment while at the same time being art.
back in a time when things weren't built as cheap as possible, but to be more than the bare basics.
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The reason it doesn't look the same as when it was built is because today there's Plexiglas, rather than glass. In 1977 (or 1984, depending on which report you believe) a transformer explosion damaged the facade, the plate glass was replaced, and the plastic became opaque over time.and afterwards
In 2012 the Plexiglas windows were replaced with new colourless Plexiglas. For security, privacy film was installed on the Plexiglas in front of electrical equipment, but not in front of the stairwells. The building frame and concrete facings was cleaned. and the mosaic tiles on the north, south and west walls of the substation were repaired.
The 1953 substation is rapidly reaching the end of its life, and there's a plan to replace it with a huge underground facility under Nelson Park. Feathered Friend put some of the details on the
General Infrastructure thread earlier today. Maybe there could be a way of reusing the substation for a different use and making it look more like the original once the equipment is removed. Obviously losing the equipment changes the dynamic, but retaining it once it's decommissioned would create the biggest public art piece in the city, and would seem something of a waste of a potentially valuable space.
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