Downtown Vancouver Updates

[officedweller]

Here's the whole building:

Before:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/333-seymour-street-vancouver-salesforce

After:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/333-seymour-street-vancouver-salesforce

Roof - after:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/333-seymour-street-vancouver-salesforce

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

it's annoying that all these new stairs need a ridiculous amount of hand rails.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

it's annoying that all these new stairs need a ridiculous amount of hand rails.

The stairs were wider before, and the handrails were further west. Now the stairs are narrower, and the rails will be on the corner. Hand rails seem to be a convenient and safer addition rather than something to be annoyed about.

[officedweller]

Before, as shown in the pic, the stairs have an openness and could be used for seating, etc.
but with the handrails, they are more only for transversing up and down, because people can't divert around people sitting.

[dleung]

The square hat on top makes things even worse and hides the dome... the more I know about this, the worse it gets! The existing dome and buttresses on top are cool, as are the shiny round columns. Why do they have to neuter the closest thing this city has to Archigram-era machine architecture... all for a mean reduction of public space just to gain a bit of interior square footage

Originally Posted by Changing City

Hand rails seem to be a convenient and safer addition rather than something to be annoyed about.

IMO not a "more is always better" situation as it limits places to sit/chill on an architectural feature.

One handrail on each side of a wide set of steps is plenty for those who need it. Other than that, one would only put intermediate ones in between if egress capacity demands it (doubtful, but maybe that's the case).

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Before, as shown in the pic, the stairs have an openness and could be used for seating, etc.
but with the handrails, they are more only for transversing up and down, because people can't divert around people sitting.

Right. But as the stairs in future will be far less wide, people sitting on them will effectively be causing an obstruction. The corner stairs can safely accommodate sitting without a problem. As somebody with no 3D vision, I can assure you that not having any handrails, or enough handrails - is what's annoying (and dangerous).

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

does anyone here know why, before CoV redid Granville St, that the trees seemed to be doing pretty good? i was looking at the old google street view and its crazy how many trees there were on Granville... 2007 street view i knoe they planted trees, though they died pretty quick.

[officedweller]

Public objections lead to the trees being saved north of Georgia St.

The straightening of the road was the main reason given for the removal of the trees south of Georgia, together with "inappropriate species" such as pine trees and poplars/birches having been planted in the 1970s.

At the open house at the time, the City staff vehemently said the new trees would not be saplings and would be at least 3 inch caliper.
They were more like 1.5 inch caliper, so they were really saplings and many died.

I think the designers just wanted a clean slate so the light pipes would be highly visible.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The straightening of the road was the main reason given for the removal of the trees south of Georgia, together with "inappropriate species" such as pine trees and poplars/birches having been planted in the 1970s.

At the open house at the time, the City staff vehemently said the new trees would not be saplings and would be at least 3 inch caliper.
They were more like 1.5 inch caliper, so they were really saplings and many died.

I think the designers just wanted a clean slate so the light pipes would be highly visible.

thanks for the info. this was a bit before my time of reading about projects/etc. so i don't know much about decisions pre-olympics.

though i find it a shame, i do prefer the curved street, trees, etc. it feels more like a traffic calmed street than it does now. it now feels like a busy street that has just been closed, where as looking at streetview it actually feels like there was a plan to make it calmed/relaxing. though i am a fan of trees so i could be biased. the species seemed to be thriving when i look back in old photos/street view. so they may have been "inappropriate" to someone, but they certainly looked like they were happy.

personally, i dont find really any of granville street that inviting, where as the streetview makes it look more inviting.

[unpermitted_variance]

Really sad to see what they're doing to 333 Seymour. The building in its "before" state was one of the more underrated and unique of the modern buildings downtown, and the redesign strips away everything that makes it interesting. The ground floor area looked amazing before, although I don't know how much that translated into it being an active space. Either way, very disappointed with just about everything about this; they're turning it into another bland glass tower with visually clashing elements everywhere.

[Coldrsx]

Awful.

I recall visiting my dad there back in 97' and really liked that building.

Substance to bland.

[officedweller]

It would have been cool to see the chrome clad building next to the stainless steel clad building.

[Metro-One]

This is probably the worst reclad I have seen in Vancouver in a long time.

This is just as bad as pre war buildings that were reclad in the 60s and 70s to look like plain boxes.

Disgraceful. The reclad of the golden towers in Metrotown is second worst.

[officedweller]

Smithe & Richards Park

More bridge up.

By me today:

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by dleung

The square hat on top makes things even worse and hides the dome... the more I know about this, the worse it gets! The existing dome and buttresses on top are cool, as are the shiny round columns. Why do they have to neuter the closest thing this city has to Archigram-era machine architecture... all for a mean reduction of public space just to gain a bit of interior square footage



IMO not a "more is always better" situation as it limits places to sit/chill on an architectural feature.

One handrail on each side of a wide set of steps is plenty for those who need it. Other than that, one would only put intermediate ones in between if egress capacity demands it (doubtful, but maybe that's the case).

Agreed, everything about this is vandalism. I've actually lost some respect for PCI, who usually take care to respect design integrity more than most developers/asset managers.

[officedweller]

They may have taken over from Morguard - so not involved at the design stage?

[s211]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

Agreed, everything about this is vandalism. I've actually lost some respect for PCI, who usually take care to respect design integrity more than most developers/asset managers.

Didn't PCI take over from Morguard mid-design? I wonder if they inherited the scope or not.

[jollyburger]

That Blenz in the 1090 West Georgia closed down (?) I assume they are going ahead with that new commercial space on the ground floor?

[officedweller]

Cineplex RecRoom
on Granville

Pic by a friend of mine today.

Note how you can see the old windows on the Coronet Theatre facade (on left) before it was renovated to art deco style.
Changing City may have pics of the previous version.

[mcminsen]

Here's a previous post I did with some historical photos.

Originally Posted by mcminsen

A little history on the Globe/Paradise/Coronet theatre.



Globe Theatre 1937

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


Globe Theatre under renovation 1938

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


Paradise Theatre with new facade 1939

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


Paradise Theatre 1946

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


Paradise Theatre 1959

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


Coronet Theatre 1964

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm


2016

Source: https://www.pstos.org/instruments/bc/vancouver/globe.htm