Northeast False Creek | Proposed

[Feathered Friend]

Should the Plaza of Nations Double Down, Check, or Fold – You Decide

750 Pacific Boulevard
Walking into the former Edgewater Casino was a weird experience. Hannah and I had only been in once before, the night it closed, just to get our first and last look of this Expo legacy. With the new community spaces being proposed, we feel the Plaza of Nations will soon recapture at least part of that Expo excitement.
There has been a lot of coverage on how the site will add an ice rink, a community centre, and the hundreds of homes that will be created, 20% of which will be social housing owned by the city. It’s easy to think that’s all there is to this project, but there are other unique elements that earn its place in the neighbourhood. While this may seem like a new project, it has been a long time in the making. One of Vancouver’s renowned architects, Arthur Erickson, originally sketched a similar vision of this site, it’s only fitting that his protege, James Cheng, now renowned in his own right, is bringing it to life. As a result, the project fully embraces Vancouver’s brand of urban living with some modern touches. Gone is the tower on a podium, instead the buildings have been terraced, allowing for more outdoor green space.The project will actually highlight its green features with educational signage, in addition to the obvious aspects, like the urban forest area that is reminiscent of Habitat Island.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/0...old-you-decide

[jlousa]

I like it, have much higher hopes from CMP to build an integrated community then I do from Concord.

Here are the open house boards, I forgot to post them earlier.
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...use-boards.pdf

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/0...old-you-decide

The thing that jumps out at me looking at the models is the loop road through the middle of the site. Why does it need to go all the way through instead of a couple of short roads with a plaza in the middle?

[osirisboy]

Why wouldn't you want a road that goes all the way through?

To me it makes sense. And hopefully there will be street parking all the way through

[Rico]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Why wouldn't you want a road that goes all the way through?

To me it makes sense. And hopefully there will be street parking all the way through

The road is clearly intended for use within the development only (no one will use it as part of their new short cut to anywhere else). Why not have 2 shorter roads from each side with a plaza in the middle? No one will need to drive from one side of the development to the other so having the road as a continuous loop does not help anyone and makes the public space worse.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Rico

The road is clearly intended for use within the development only (no one will use it as part of their new short cut to anywhere else). Why not have 2 shorter roads from each side with a plaza in the middle? No one will need to drive from one side of the development to the other so having the road as a continuous loop does not help anyone and makes the public space worse.

I tend to agree. Or make it one way, and narrower, maybe parking on one side.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by rofina

I tend to agree. Or make it one way, and narrower, maybe parking on one side.

You mean wider, right? A delivery truck making a U-turn to get out is not pleasant for the driver, or for anybody around them.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Rico

The thing that jumps out at me looking at the models is the loop road through the middle of the site. Why does it need to go all the way through instead of a couple of short roads with a plaza in the middle?

For such a huge development, there would be considerable traffic flowing through, especially since a lot of shops and restaurants are to be built with this development. You also need to consider emergency vehicles: fire trucks are pretty wide and long, making it cumbersome to make a U-ey. Would be a lot easier to enter the site from one side and exit the other end. As Migrant_Coconut had mentioned earlier: works the same for delivery trucks, a well as dump-trucks, etc.

[Feathered Friend]

UDP Applaud Plaza of Nation’s Departure from Vancouverism – City Staff Veto Request for Extra Height

750 Pacific Boulevard
With over 90 minutes of discussion the Plaza of Nations was not only the first item on the agenda of the April 4th UDP meeting it was also the longest. Happily my summary of the meeting is a far shorter read.

As the applicant team introduced the project, they also revealed some new details about the proposal. In our coverage of the open house, we highlighted it was possible that city staff could still allow the density at this site to be increased. Instead, the applicant has chosen to reduce the density by 50 thousand square feet to allow room for more architectural creativity as the design is refined in the future. The terraced design, a significant departure from the Vancouver’s standard podium tower, allows for more green space and has a smaller impact on neighbouring building’s views. Unlike the Convention Centre, these green roofs are intended usable spaces. Similarly the road network will be contractually open to public, even though it will be owned by the development company. As a result it’s possible that the road network could be made from higher quality materials than the typical city owned road. However Pacific Blvd will remain a publicly owned road, with a new a width of 40 meters, of which roughly 24 meters will be dedicated to pedestrian and cyclist use. However, as City Council has already approved the Viaduct Replacement Plan, the panel members did not include the matter in their comments.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/0...-extra-height/

[LeftCoaster]

Too bad about the extra height but glad to see the generally positive comments.

[Vanville]

Anybody mention this one yet? 777 Pacific Blvd. My pic:

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Vanville

Anybody mention this one yet? 777 Pacific Blvd.

It was submitted a year ago - revised a bit in January. Now 40 storeys, 389 units for Pavco, the Provincial agency who own the stadium, designed by Stantec.
There's a bit more (but not a lot!) on the Changing City blog.

[osirisboy]

What's with the Chinese

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

What's with the Chinese

Triggered seeing Vancouver's unofficial 2nd language?

[Canucks223]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Triggered seeing Vancouver's unofficial 2nd language?

Haha Chinese isn't a language. Probably Mandarin? But that is quite bizarre that the City of Vancouver has to resort to using Mandarin on their public notices.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

Triggered seeing Vancouver's unofficial 2nd language?

I do find it peculiar that they would completely omit French, and use Mandarin/Cantonese and English only.

Its a little silly the game some choose to play here pretending that Chinese community does not have a huge input into whats happening in this town.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by rofina

I do find it peculiar that they would completely omit French, and use Mandarin/Cantonese and English only.

Its a little silly the game some choose to play here pretending that Chinese community does not have a huge input into whats happening in this town.

Yeah I haven't noticed a proposal with Chinese on it before. I thought many in that community can read English

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Canucks223

Haha Chinese isn't a language. Probably Mandarin? But that is quite bizarre that the City of Vancouver has to resort to using Mandarin on their public notices.

I find it funny when people try to sound smarter than they are by saying something is "written" in Mandarin or Cantonese*.

Chinese is totally a written language. It can be understood by Cantonese and Mandarin speakers in equal measure.

*Written Cantonese is a thing, but it's not very common outside Hong Kong.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by rofina

I do find it peculiar that they would completely omit French, and use Mandarin/Cantonese and English only.

Its a little silly the game some choose to play here pretending that Chinese community does not have a huge input into whats happening in this town.

omg those people that play those games are just the worst
Yeah I haven't noticed a proposal with Chinese in it before. I thought many in that community can read English.

[idunno]

I've seen quite a few of these that include Chinese characters. Not really a big deal - just catering to the demographics of the city.