320 Granville St |115m | 32Fl | Completed

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

that's a pretty busy block, 3 office towers going up

Excuse me, but which three precisely? 320 Granville, 601 West Hastings, and the third? Is that the very large one next to the classy old RBC building on Hastings?

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Excuse me, but which three precisely? 320 Granville, 601 West Hastings, and the third? Is that the very large one next to the classy old RBC building on Hastings?

Yes, the one next to the RBC building. There is also a lobby refresh of 333 Granville, and kiddy corner to 333 if that Ice Cube Pic or whatever they're calling that project in the parking lot in front of Steamworks goes ahead then there will be 4 projects in the radius of this single area.

[s211]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Behold the new (temporary) view, which probably none of us has seen before.




Sept.16 '18, my pics

I see a lot of newly-created view corridors looking at significant historic buildings that should be submitted to the City for instant approval and never removal.

[officedweller]

If it weren't for the view cones, they could put 320 Granville on stilts and preserve that view of The CP Station.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by officedweller

If it weren't for the view cones, they could put 320 Granville on stilts and preserve that view of The CP Station.

* clap clap clap clap clap*

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by officedweller

If it weren't for the view cones, they could put 320 Granville on stilts and preserve that view of The CP Station.

Those view cones are some of the most ridiculous things i've ever heard of, as though people are catatonic

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Those view cones are some of the most ridiculous things i've ever heard of, as though people are catatonic

Yes, and what bothers me about the view cones is that they not only limit height, but more often "dumb down" a great design.
Nevertheless, I would not want to see ultra-tall 85 storey buildings in Vancouver. I think they'd gash the skyline and look ugly. I'd just like to see the viewcones "tweaked" upwards a bit.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Yes, and what bothers me about the view cones is that they not only limit height, but more often "dumb down" a great design.

It's not black and white. In the examples of Shangri La and particularly the Trump Tower, they made otherwise mundane proposals much more interesting.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

If it weren't for the view cones, they could put 320 Granville on stilts and preserve that view of The CP Station.

There would still have to be a lot of structure for seismic reasons. 601 West Hastings has a view across the corner, and is under a viewcone. There's no reason why this building couldn't have had a similar treatment, but I don't know why Bosa would have volunteered to do that. It would just make the whole project more expensive.

[officedweller]

I think 601 Hastings is a narrower site (i.e. less buildable square footage), so they probably had more height to play with under the view cone with their lower density.
320 Granville is already maxed out on height under the view cone, so they would have to chop density to provide a view of the Station at grade.

[officedweller]

From Granville twitter today:


https://twitter.com/GranvilleStreet


https://twitter.com/GranvilleStreet

[jsbertram]

dig down a little further, and you might discover that cordova from gastown westwards to the shaw tower is actually a viaduct.

[officedweller]

Yeah, there was that closure a few years back - potentially weak supports.

https://globalnews.ca/news/316784/concer...ds-to-partial-closure-of-cordova-street/

[Vanville]

Some of the photos I took of the area yesterday. It is interesting having that corner opened up. There is scaffolding next to Sinclair Centre, I can't remember if it is part of an old project.

[jollyburger]

The scaffolding next to Sinclair is new went up this or last week.

[Vanville]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

The scaffolding next to Sinclair is new went up this or last week.

I see, probably some exterior restoration work being done. Might be convenient to have an elevated pedway from this location over to the new tower or to the sidewalk next to it. But that might look too busy.


I'll reserve judgement on the alterations to the base of 333 Seymour till they are finished. Keeping the chrome columns would have been more cohesive to the original design. Visually they appear to function as "straps" connecting to the dome on the roof, especially when looking down at it from Vancouver Lookout.

[officedweller]

I wonder if the arch on the north side of the Royal Bank was ever a window?

[Vanville]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I wonder if the arch on the north side of the Royal Bank was ever a window?

Hmmm. This is the only photo I have come across so far that may have given us the answer. Unfortunately the signage is in the way. It is possible that it may have been a window before the lower structures were torn down for the parking garage.
Image: Royal Bank Building Looking South from Cordova and Granville
VPL Accession Number: 10879
Date: July 15, 1931 Frank,Leonard

[officedweller]

Thanks for looking.

[jsbertram]

makes you wonder why the architect would put an arch on the north side to match the hastings st arch & entrance to the banking floor, unless there was a nice view of the mountains from the banking floor, and it was later bricked up because the view was lost to the parkade alley wall