Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre | Completed

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Ummm, Expo86, Canada Place, The Science Center, Skytrain, the Cruise Ship Terminal, GM Place, the Convention Centre, The Winter Olympics, the Shangri-La hotel, the Canada Line, the Olympic Village, BC Place.....do you want me to keep going? If you want half-assed you need to come to Victoria. "Half-assed" should be our city's logo.

I don't know if this is the right location for the seaplanes or not but I do think the idea of a floating airport is pretty cool.

Not what I would consider recent:
Expo86
Canada Place
The Science Center
Skytrain
the Cruise Ship Terminal
GM Place
BC Place

Convention Centre (This is what's being discussed!!)

Considered by many to be half-assed:
The Winter Olympics (successful doesn't mean not half-assed)
Shangri-La hotel (many here disappointed with it)
Canada Line (platforms?)

Most would consider as not half-assed
Olympic Village

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by delboy

Oh give it arest. As nice as it is, the convention centre is hardly iconic. its barely even noticable from ariel shots and looks more like a soccer pitch. Canada place is way more iconic and can easily be identified with vancouver

I think the renderings look great and coal harbour needs something to break up the god-awful sterile nature of the area. Over priced condos, beyond most peoples reach, are to be blamed for vancouver's steady march to resort only town, not a few boats.

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Ummm, Expo86, Canada Place, The Science Center, Skytrain, the Cruise Ship Terminal, GM Place, the Convention Centre, The Winter Olympics, the Shangri-La hotel, the Canada Line, the Olympic Village, BC Place.....do you want me to keep going? If you want half-assed you need to come to Victoria. "Half-assed" should be our city's logo.

I don't know if this is the right location for the seaplanes or not but I do think the idea of a floating airport is pretty cool.

Expo '86, Science World, Canada Place, the original SkyTrain line - not sure why you're bringing up something that was built 25-years ago, what's being discussed is what has been recently built.

GM Place - nice for the city, but sub-standard compared to arenas even when it was built. And for a North American metro for >2-million, having an indoor arena is nothing unique.

Convention Centre - aren't we discussing this right now? nice in many more ways than one, though the marina/plane terminal duo will most certainly ruin its architectural concept.

Winter Olympics - overall successful as twoNeurons pointed out, but half-assed in certain aspects such as not having the new Olympic Stadium roof done in time or how the Pacific Coliseum still looked like an antiquated POC or how tens of millions were cut in decorations, which many complained as it didn't give the city a unique "Olympic look and feel" that many previous hosts have had (come to think of it, you can't even find a permanent set of Olympic rings anywhere). This was a barebone Olympics.

The Shangri-La Hotel - what exactly is so special about it? In a major city, it's just like any other tower. Nice, but overrated.

Canada Line - absurdly short platforms, underwhelmingly poor station designs.

Th Olympic Village - the one exception.

BC Place - once again, not done in time for the Olympics. You can throw as many excuses to how we didn't have time or how it was too risky and expensive to do the retrofits, but we did have 7 years and it was quite obvious that BC Place was a pretty important venue for the Games. There's something quite retarded about building a new roof right after the world has left instead of building it in time for the Games.

And even with the $550-million budget, we still can't afford new seats? A new glass facade (replacemen of windows)? Now this project should top the list of what's half-assed.

[BCPhil]

The sea plane terminal is being built with floats that won't have pilings; they'll be completely flat, so I think that will actually be kind of cool. I hope they do the same with the marina though.

The seawall level of the convention center is several stories worth above water, and the plaza level higher than that. Float planes and the terminal will hardly even block view of the concrete pillars and service level around the convention center bottom, and the Sea Wall and glass windows will be well above the tops of any plane.

The glass windows of the convention center are well above the top of even the megaisty yacht. But the view from the Seawall might be a bit obstructed by the masts of sailing yachts. So the marina does worry me a bit, but the view from the top of the plaza will still be amazing.

By moving the sea plane terminal it will make the park area of the seawall feel more park like, and the business area of the Convention Center feel more busy. I think the sea planes infront of the CC will work great, and not block the view from or of the Convention Center. The marina, maybe from, but the building will still look majestic, and more like part of a functioning city.

I hope they make the marina more of a terminal, not where some select few get to keep their boats all year with a sterile, uninviting feeling. I would rather see boats constantly coming and going like the sea planes, with dinner cruises and ferries to places like Bowen Island. I also bet a privately run ferry to Stanley Park would work well there too.

Does the current marina in the West end of Coal Harbor ruin the view of downtown? Absolutely not. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33099862

[Zassk]

I'm not seeing the problem with those renderings. What kind of look do you folks want for this stretch of waterfront? Planes and private boats have a long history in Coal Harbour.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by mr.x

GM Place - nice for the city, but sub-standard compared to arenas even when it was built.

While I agree Vancouver does things half-assed, this is untrue. GM Place was one of many, many NHL arenas built around the same time and was always considered no worse than its dozen cookie cutter counterparts. If anything maybe a bit more interesting due to its location and somewhat different design. It's still in the upper echelon and nothing to be embarrassed about.

And recently GM Place's interior has been among the best as far as scoreboards/lightboards go.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by Pinion

While I agree Vancouver does things half-assed, this is untrue. GM Place was one of many, many NHL arenas built around the same time and was always considered no worse than its dozen cookie cutter counterparts. If anything maybe a bit more interesting due to its location and somewhat different design. It's still in the upper echelon and nothing to be embarrassed about.

And recently GM Place's interior has been among the best as far as scoreboards/lightboards go.

Plus, to me anyway, GM Place still looks like it was built yesterday. They do a good job of keeping the exterior clean and spotless, and the design, style and materials still look modern, much better than many of the mid 90's arenas.

And, unlike many arenas in other cities, GM Place, errr, Rogers Arena was built and financed completely privately. Unlike cities in the States, the Canucks aren't a drain on the public purse.

[Waders]

Looks like the construction work has started.

Workers are starting to remove the glass roof ceiling for the elavator shaft fabrication.
Photo. taken by me.

[whatnext]

Officially announced in the media today:
http://www.vancouversun.com/business...950/story.html

[djh]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Officially announced in the media today:
http://www.vancouversun.com/business...950/story.html

Did anybody see the back-handed congratulations from the complaining-NIMBYs in Coal Harbour, listed in the Comments? They're basically saying that this is a good thing for the area because the planes have ruined their homes with their noise, unsightliness and their pollution!!!

- Who came first, the planes or the residents? So how can you complain about something ruining "your" neighbourhood when they were there first? Surely when you bought your condo you knew there were planes there?!

- What about the "toxic fumes and particulate matter" and subjective unsightliness from the dozens of supertankers?!

- Which bit of "prime park space" have they occupied? I thought they were over the water, and their land operations were over the car park?

- How would moving the planes a few hundred meters east make them less noisy? The noise of planes comes at take-off and landing. Those places will remain exactly the same. All that's changed is their docks that they taxi in/out of!


Grr...if only I could post a reply to their comments...

[ckkelley]

^
As a soon-to-be Coal Harbour condo owner (and likely nimby, hee hee) I want to assure you that I WILL NOT be complaining about the seaplanes. Being able to watch them come and go from my living room is very appealing and you're right, those seaplanes were there long before those condo towers.

[TwoFace]

Originally Posted by djh

- Who came first, the planes or the residents? So how can you complain about something ruining "your" neighbourhood when they were there first?

Not so loud, or the Indians will hear you.
_____________

It’s going to be nice to see that log boom and mobile homes gone, and the seawall reopened through the CC.
Here are the steel walkways going up.

[Canadian Mind]

Why didn't they soundproof the condos near Coal Harbour, English Bay, and around the stadiums? Christ, it's not like the condo owners didn't pay enough to deserve peace and quiet. But saying that I don't think others should be forced to be quieter, close down early, or move because niether the condo buyers, developers, or the city had the forsight to think it'd be worth the extra dime to soundproof the windows.

And for those who say that soundproofing is pointless because people open their windows and balcony doors for cooling/heating, fresh air, etc. it would be up to them to close the damned things when the noise becomes unbearable to the occupant.

Paying 400 000+ for a condo downtown gives you the right to request peace and quiet, but it doesn't give you the right to bitch and moan because you didn't do the research to make sure local noise levels would meet your standards.

[Phil McAvity]

^How many people that live in those condos are even home when the planes are flying? Don't most of those people have jobs that they have to go to?

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Not what I would consider recent:
Canada Place
The Science Center
Skytrain
the Cruise Ship Terminal
GM Place
BC Place

I guess what one considers recent is contingent upon their age. I'm no centenarian but I remember all those things being built so I consider them recent.

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Convention Centre (This is what's being discussed!!)

No it isn't. This thread is about the Harbour Flight Center. Even if it's inside the convention center, it's still not the same thing.