Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project | Completed

[Metro-One]

The Marina will definitely complement the project nicely.

[vansky]

the architectural part of this project isn't as impressive as the planes and the boats.

[djmk]

i do not know if this has been discussed before (and if it has i'm sorry), the one thing i do not like (and its minor but the marina discussion brought it up) is that there is no real access for the public to the water.

it seems to me that this city has a weird relationship to its beaches. we have so many kms of waterfront and most of it walled off from the public. coal harbour and most of stanley park have fabulous walkways but very limited areas to "soak your feet". i'm not saying there should be swimming, just areas easier to touch the water.

[officedweller]

You can next door at Harbour Green Park (the docks are accessible there). I would classify the area nearer Canada Place as "working harbour" and more dangerous.

[Metro-One]

Well many large cargo ships do go by the area so i think the sea walls are also used for wake protection. The areas where you can soak your feet are in sheltered bays that experience reduced wave /wake activity. That is my guess. Also the water appears to drop off relatively fast along the sea wall stretches.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ wow, if only...

in this picture posted by mr.x2 a while back, people can actually have open access to the water. albeit, i think it looks bad, but i think we are losing this connection/relationship with our water.

[Locked In]

Originally Posted by Login650

Rendering of the marnia - I believe this is the final design:

http://www.colliersmn.com/PROD/ccbrk...+Emailable.pdf

On page 3 of the brochure, it states: "Expansion will triple existing capacity, with delegate capacity increasing to nearly 370,000 persons".

Can someone who knows all about the Convention Centre please put this number into context?

[lightrail]

Originally Posted by Allen

Here are some of my pics taken on Jan 17th

What an ugly mess. Did they actually get an architect or just some kid with Google Sketchup to design this? I like the roof, but the design is awful.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Locked In

Can someone who knows all about the Convention Centre please put this number into context?

Floorplans of the centre are shown here:
(for comparative purposes, only the plans showing both Canada Place and the expansion together show relative size, since the scales are appear different for the detailed floor plans).
http://www.vcec.ca/downloads/brochur...s_brochure.pdf

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by lightrail

What an ugly mess. Did they actually get an architect or just some kid with Google Sketchup to design this? I like the roof, but the design is awful.

Excuse me...you call this an ugly mess? Well this is a model that is
in the old Convention Centre currently. Perhaps it's the angle of my
shot that makes it look bad...

I will get pics of the real structure up for you.
It looks great with all the other buildings in the Vancouver Skyline

[Metro-One]

Yeah, i really like the new Convention centre, i can not wait to walk through it.

[Hed Kandi]

..

[Whalleyboy]

Originally Posted by Allen

Excuse me...you call this an ugly mess? Well this is a model that is
in the old Convention Centre currently. Perhaps it's the angle of my
shot that makes it look bad...

I will get pics of the real structure up for you.
It looks great with all the other buildings in the Vancouver Skyline

I think hes probably just use to canada place which in my opinion is still 1000 times better looking
not saying this building is bad
the rendering in the link does make it look better then the model
but compared to canada place its not as catching to the eye

[vanlaw]

I have to admit. This has grown on me a lot since the glass started going up - starting to look really good.

Originally Posted by djmk

it seems to me that this city has a weird relationship to its beaches. we have so many kms of waterfront and most of it walled off from the public. coal harbour and most of stanley park have fabulous walkways but very limited areas to "soak your feet". i'm not saying there should be swimming, just areas easier to touch the water.

We have it very good in Vancouver. Although I understand your issue with the fact that there is not enough "beach", so to speak, the amount of access we have to waterfront is unbelievable. If you start out at Canada Place and do the whole seawall out to the end of Spanish banks, the amount of full access to the waterfront is pretty impressive, with only some of the parts of Kits/Pt Grey being held privately..

Go to Seattle and you basically have to take a ferry to one of the islands to get your feet wet. Almost all of their waterfront is privately held.

[johnjimbc]

I've never been in a large city in North America with this much public access to the water, both via seawall and public beaches. It's one of the things special about Vancouver. As far as the convention center goes, the idea of it being completely open to the water sounds neat until the first toddler, retiree, or even roughhousing teen out on the town tumbles off the sloping plaza into the water and hits their head on a rock. Not to sound like a nanny ; ) but there are some places where it's best to exercise a bit more caution. I think a convention center hosting hundreds of thousands of random visitors a year probably qualifies.

I think the design is really quite cool. Anything more overtly prominent would either need to match Canada Place or it would just clash. As it is, the two are different enough that they can sit near each other and not compete.

The new structure by itself is really classy, especially as it comes together. None of the models can capture elements like the large wood beams on the underside of the ceiling line, the scale of the glass walls, the glimpses of the roofline plantings, etc, that make it so impressive up close. And the understated yet encompassing presence it has as you approach the structure from the direction of Stanley Park and Coal Harbour is very impressive.

I am glad they did something new and different. I'd much rather see that than another convention center monolith like has been built in dozens of other cities.

[LeftCoaster]

Also most of the natural coast line around Vancouver is not beach but slimy seaweed covered rocks, not exactly inviting territory... and other than false creek there is actually decent access to the water I find, tons of beaches both man made and artifical.

[Vancity]

I have to admit as well, that the Convention Centre has grown on me as well. When I first saw the renderings, I thought it was pretty ugly, with all the sharp angles, and the flatness of it (I was comparing it to the Convention Centre in HK), but the more I look at it, the more I appreciate it's uniqueness. I like the model (when everything is done) that Allen posted up. It's going to look great from an aerial shot point of view. I'm excited, and can't wait to see pictures of when this entire thing is done.

Most of the Conventions will probably be "relocated" to the new Convetion Centre, from BC Place, right? I mean, the Monster Truck event(s) will still be held in BC Place (that's the only place it can be held at). It'll be nice. The new Convention Centre will bring in more people to the city....now if we can only work on the entertainment, and commercial districts...

[mr.x]

^ some BC Place events will move to the new convention centre, but most will stay. BC Place caters to a completely different convention/events market than the convention centre, not to mention that the new convention centre is a ton more expensive.

[Vancity]

Vancouver is special in that way, where so many people (locals and tourists) have access to the waterfront/beaches here. A city like HK doesn't open its waterfront, because the water there well....it's even less inviting. Don't want to be swimming in that stuff, let alone touching the stuff.

[Vancity]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ some BC Place events will move to the new convention centre, but most will stay. BC Place caters to a completely different convention/events market than the convention centre, not to mention that the new convention centre is a ton more expensive.

Ahhh, gotcha. Thx.