1608 & 1616 West Georgia Street | 126.6m + 122.2m | 38 fl | Proposed

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I don't understand the hate. Those look amazing and curved glass would look spectacular. I also like the size of the podium facing West Georgia Street.

This area is going to look incredible in just few years.

agreed, i really like it.

seems like lots here hate different things than the normal.

[Metro-One]

That are clean and I think they will age well.

They are not spectacular though compared to several other recent proposals in Van.

That said not every project can be (or should be) Vancouver House, The Butterfly or the Kengo Kuma Tower.

[misher]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

That are clean and I think they will age well.

They are not spectacular though compared to several other recent proposals in Van.

That said not every project can be (or should be) Vancouver House, The Butterfly or the Kengo Kuma Tower.

Vancouver House bugs me everytime I see it! Very annoying! Its drawing the eye in a bad way.

[Galaxy]

I agree with Klazu! This one is a really good proposal and will definitely add to make the area around it great. I hope the curved glass is actually curved glass and the developer doesn't cheap out and do something else. The cut out in the base of the podiums is cool to which breaks the block up a little. The top of the towers looks cool as well and should be to all forumers who have lately blasted jobs for using the lightbox and or some of the other more common tower toppers around metro developments. Although some of those balconies do remind me of what the Oakridge development is planning to do so I am going to reserve judgement on the balconies until they are actually built.

[osirisboy]

I also really like it. Good size. And the podium looks much better than most

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by vanman

I think we can all agree that these twins are an improvement over the original proposal.

EH, I'm not sure. That's generic and safe, but for some reason this one also looks awkward. But then again, I thought so about Oakridge before it grew on me, so I'll reserve my judgement.

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

They better replace the White Spot they are demolishing !

No mixed-use commercial space on this site, unfortunately, it seems.

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by vanman

I think we can all agree that these twins are an improvement over the original proposal.

I think this design could be recycled and built in a place like Surrey or in Burnaby even in Joyce Collingwood. I only say that because this design was a simple clean design that would have been pretty affordably built which would result in more affordable units. I love ornate and designs that stretch the boundaries of design but some times having a plain simple design can be good as well because not everyone is going to buy Mercedes cars but Toyotas provide the same utility and function at a price that won't leave a hole in a person's pocket for decades to come.

In any case still, love the new building and looking forward to it being built in the future!

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

agreed, i really like it.

seems like lots here hate different things than the normal.

How is this different than the normal? It looks very, very much like a normal Vancouver building with a few curves added.

[misher]

Originally Posted by csbvan

How is this different than the normal? It looks very, very much like a normal Vancouver building with a few curves added.

Surprised we still have open balconies. In the end it makes much more sense to just have a window in a room you open or an enclosed balcony. Much easier to maintain, harder to throw a chair off of. We don't want to encourage smoking anyway and the shared rooftop deck can have a communal bbq. The firebreak required for balconies in Vancouver must be incredibly expensive.

[zahav]

It is not accurate at all to say "this area is becoming a deadzone". It is a totally different type of area, it's not like False Creek or Yaletown. It is on a major street (Gerogia St. is almost like a highway here) and close to office only. It is not super busy pedestrian wise but it wasn't ever, the comment about it becoming a dead zone implies these building somehow are taking it from a super busy area to nothing, and it's not that

[dleung]

Towers are meh, we've been seeing that wavy shit for years now.

Podium is a horrendous slab that has nothing to do with the tower. Not to mention quite a odd/mean fit compared to the generous gardens and plazas that give that stretch of Georgia its unique character. Like, it's not going to form part of an urban street-wall ever, so why even go that route?

Podiums have been getting worse these days. Let the tower visibly come into the ground, and flank it with mid-rises, or townhouses stacked over retail, or townhouses stacked over townhouses, or just 3-storey townhouses. Not some long thing that somehow manages to make the streetscape even more out-of-scale than the towers themselves.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by dleung

Towers are meh, we've been seeing that wavy shit for years now.

Podium is a horrendous slab that has nothing to do with the tower. Not to mention quite a odd/mean fit compared to the generous gardens and plazas that give that stretch of Georgia its unique character. Like, it's not going to form part of an urban street-wall ever, so why even go that route?

Podiums have been getting worse these days. Let the tower visibly come into the ground, and flank it with mid-rises, or townhouses stacked over retail, or townhouses stacked over townhouses, or just 3-storey townhouses. Not some long thing that somehow manages to make the streetscape even more out-of-scale than the towers themselves.

Well said and you beat me to it. Looks like an extension of the Aquilini Centre. So tired to this wavvy crap, if it looks 'meh' in the drawings it tends to look far worse in the finished product. Wavvy is become the norm in the burbs, it's far past it's 'sell-by-date' in Coal Harbour, a burgeoning 'starchitect' zone. The only thing these building will achieve is they'll successfully and completely block the view of 'The Alberni' from Georgia.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by dleung

Towers are meh, we've been seeing that wavy shit for years now.

Podium is a horrendous slab that has nothing to do with the tower. Not to mention quite a odd/mean fit compared to the generous gardens and plazas that give that stretch of Georgia its unique character. Like, it's not going to form part of an urban street-wall ever, so why even go that route?

Podiums have been getting worse these days. Let the tower visibly come into the ground, and flank it with mid-rises, or townhouses stacked over retail, or townhouses stacked over townhouses, or just 3-storey townhouses. Not some long thing that somehow manages to make the streetscape even more out-of-scale than the towers themselves.

Originally Posted by connect2source

Well said and you beat me to it. Looks like an extension of the Aquilini Centre. So tired to this wavvy crap, if it looks 'meh' in the drawings it tends to look far worse in the finished product. Wavvy is become the norm in the burbs, it's far past it's 'sell-by-date' in Coal Harbour, a burgeoning 'starchitect' zone. The only thing these building will achieve is they'll successfully and completely block the view of 'The Alberni' from Georgia.

I sort of agree with both of you, both about that "trendy"(?) wavy stuff, and about the big ugly podium. What kind of design woud YOU choose for this location? I'm interested.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

I think this design could be recycled and built in a place like Surrey or in Burnaby even in Joyce Collingwood. I only say that because this design was a simple clean design that would have been pretty affordably built which would result in more affordable units. I love ornate and designs that stretch the boundaries of design but some times having a plain simple design can be good as well because not everyone is going to buy Mercedes cars but Toyotas provide the same utility and function at a price that won't leave a hole in a person's pocket for decades to come.

In any case still, love the new building and looking forward to it being built in the future!

This is a pretty complex design, though. One would think the conventional box-type variants would be just as clean and more affordably built...?

Originally Posted by connect2source

Well said and you beat me to it. Looks like an extension of the Aquilini Centre. So tired to this wavvy crap, if it looks 'meh' in the drawings it tends to look far worse in the finished product. Wavvy is become the norm in the burbs, it's far past it's 'sell-by-date' in Coal Harbour, a burgeoning 'starchitect' zone. The only thing these building will achieve is they'll successfully and completely block the view of 'The Alberni' from Georgia.

But I actually like Aquilini Centre...

[Feathered Friend]

A community open house will be held on May 23, 2019 from 4:30 - 7:30 pm at the Coast Coal Harbour Vancouver Hotel, 1180 West Hastings Street.

https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applic...rgia/index.htm

Details about the open house have been released.

[Feathered Friend]

West End Residents Feel Curved Towers Hit the White Spot

1608-1616 West Georgia Street & 1667 Alberni Street
Every post Darren and I write is a collaborative effort; one of us takes the lead, and afterwards, the other offers their suggestions. So, I have to start by saying this headline was all Darren, I am not taking any of the blame for this horrific dad joke. That said, I should not be too hard on him. After all, he arrived at this event first and saved me some the best food we have ever seen at one of these events.

While it was not from the White Spot this proposal will be replacing, the shrimp rolls, Boursin, and smoked salmon that were provided should convince everyone that attending an open house at the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel is a worthwhile experience. I am sure the roughly 50 people who came out to this event enjoyed the night, and it likely helps its application is a really good one too.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2019/0...he-white-spot/

[officedweller]

Just a note that West Georgia is a ceremonial street with plazas and opens spaces, rather than continuous retail.
The retail high street is the nearby Robson Street.
(i.e. the major thoroughfare isn't trying to be all things to all people. There's a separation of use so you're not having people trying to "calm" West Georgia Street (think Cambie Village or Kerrisdale). Burnaby has taken the same approach with the Dawson retail high street paralleling Lougheed Highway.)

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

It is good to avoid retail on W Georgia St. too important of a goods mover road. it is literally the only street that goes E/W and has entrances on both sides of downtown. it needs to avoid retail.

it is also good that all loading is done on-site vs on public land. there isn't enough space for that with the pace of development.

i also hope the City never lowers the maximum. the market will and should dictate if people want/need parking. not some arbitrary rule based on a politicians whim.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

It is good to avoid retail on W Georgia St. too important of a goods mover road. it is literally the only street that goes E/W and has entrances on both sides of downtown. it needs to avoid retail.

it is also good that all loading is done on-site vs on public land. there isn't enough space for that with the pace of development.

i also hope the City never lowers the maximum. the market will and should dictate if people want/need parking. not some arbitrary rule based on a politicians whim.

Yes. More of this.

If it turns out that parking stalls are expensive waste of money for developers, I'm pretty sure they will be first in line to get out of having to pay to build them.

As for the towers - love them. Which kind of surprises me. Its neat to see something curved like this. Everything in that area will have very striking edges once built out.

[Feathered Friend]

EVALUATION: Support with Recommendations (8/3)

THAT the Panel support with recommendation of the project with the following
recommendation to be reviewed by City Staff:

• Recommendation to revisit the form and character of the podium form in relation to
expressing the tower form at the ground plane.
• Reconsider the middle portion of the podium on Georgia Street to bring it in line with the
existing open space typology of towers flanking open space.
• Revisit and rethink the port cochere to reduce the vehicular nature including
consideration of the location of the vehicular ramp.
• Design development of the north east corner to animate the street on the ground plane(eg. Retail)
• Reconsider usable open space for the tower’s amenities.
• Consider opening up the bike space to connect to the bike lane on Georgia Street.

Related Commentary:
In general the panel supported the project at the rezoning stage.
Panel members found the podium relentless, expressed concerns regarding the lack of public realm on Georgia Street and that the existing typology along Georgia Street of towers flanking green space has been ignored.
Panel members expressed concern regarding the port cochere being too vehicular focused and did not address the pedestrian experience and connection to Georgia Street.
Some panel members noted that the towers resemble an office expression rather than a living space.
Many panel members commented that the podium missed on verticality. Some panel members commented that the towers feel cut off at the podium.
Panel members showed concerns for the lack of consideration for pedestrians experience throughout the site.
Many panel members expressed concerns regarding the lack of public amenity spaces.
Some panel members noted that the site lacks envelope detailing and sustainability
features.

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/udpmi...19approved.pdf