Gastown tower rejected by Vancouver's urban design panel @cbcnewsbc

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

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From PlaceSpeak — Building a sustainable and prosperous waterfront @GeorgiaStraitBC

Georgia Strait Alliance's Waterfront Initiative is a collaborative effort to build a vision for a sustainable and prosperous urban shoreline in Vancouver and to develop an action plan to make this vision a reality. We are inviting all those with an interest in the future of the city's waterfront to work together—First Nations and all other levels of government, businesses, civil society, and citizens.  More at: PlaceSpeak - Building a sustainable and prosperous waterfront

From Price Tags — Arthur Erickson on False Creek development – 1983

Fascinating Jack Webster interview with Arthur Erickson in 1983, discussing the development of B.C. Place (when it was a proposed megaproject to be developed by the Province) for which he was the consulting architect. Renderings start at 9.45. (A very-80s Dave Podmore, head of planning for B.C. Place, shows up – that’s him pictured.) Full post at: Arthur Erickson on False Creek development – 1983 | Price Tags

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#Nanaimo waterfront park needs an independent open design competition.

Post by Nanaimo Commons.

From March 16 City of Vancouver — Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts Study

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#Vancouver Seawall "Canada's best public place" - it's also a neighbourhood & multi-modal corridor. @BrentToderian

#Vancouver's Seawall has been named Canada's best public place - but it's also a neighborhood & multi-modal corridor. pic.twitter.com/zATF7zAeSg
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) September 8, 2014

Nanaimo’s seawall parks and neighbourhoods are first rate and our best asset. Our City Hall has just passed an upzoning for a pie-in-the-sky “Hilton” hotel development on the waterfront and our City Hall is considering privatizing large portions of our waterfront Georgia Park.

This stealth privatization is being done on 3 fronts: 

• an outright “lease” turning parkland over to the developer for a loading zone area (semi’s and delivery vans servicing a 330+ room hotel, patio areas for hotel cafes and lounges and a “grand staircase” creating a flow from the hotel lobby directly down to the waterfront promenade).

• portraying the aggressive extension of its lobby into and onto our parkland by a “grand staircase” connecting to the harbour side promenade as a community benefit. “Connectivity” between Front Street through the hotel to the staircase. This staircase is to be included in lands under their control by a 60 year lease agreement.

• perhaps most objectionably of all, the agreement with Staff to apply the very modest Community Amenity Contribution created by the huge uplift in value created by City concessions to be spent only on areas immediately surrounding their property and in concert with their landscape architects.

Staff report to Council here. 

Up-zoning to 114.3 m height and FAR of 12 approved Sept 3 at a well attended public hearing, a large majority of delegates speaking against the height and massing application and the park give-away . Sale of land currently designated lane-way that runs the property perimeter on the north and east sides (which alternatively could have been added to this park area which has been overdue for a redesign for at least 15 years). If there was a strong evidence based argument on which the City made these decisions, I didn’t hear it expressed by Council, it wasn’t made by the proponent at the public hearing and I see no sign of it in the Staff report.

The park lease provision, if the idea itself isn’t pulled off the table now just weeks before the municipal election, will require a referendum. Opposition to the loss of control over parkland, especially a much-loved and popular waterfront park, is strong, broad and spreading.

More background and further thoughts here. 

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Industrial Revolution: The Design and Influence of #GranvilleIsland @DIALOGvancouver

This is what the South Downtown Waterfront Initiative visioning statement means when it says that the site, done right, has the potential to be truly transformative for Nanaimo...

Industrial Revolution: The Design and Influence of #GranvilleIsland http://t.co/J2KQtG6G7t #dialog
— DIALOG Vancouver (@DIALOGvancouver) August 26, 2014

Just incredible #GranvilleIsland mural taking shape via @designboom http://t.co/QR9GEe7XCN @Van_Biennale @OsGemeos pic.twitter.com/avoXcvFjls

— DIALOG Vancouver (@DIALOGvancouver) August 26, 2014

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From The Globe and Mail —‘The Flats’ Rises From a Post-Industrial Cradle

Vancouver's large industrial site between Main Street and Clark Drive and along Great Northern Way is undergoing an urban renewal process. While not a waterfront site like Nanaimo's South Downtown Waterfront, it offers a useful study. Of particular interest, the relocation of the campus of Emily Carr University of Art and Design, housing for a range of incomes, rapid transit, and the integration of the plan with existing industrial uses. Below, Kerry Gold's story in the Globe.

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A new neighbourhood is emerging amid the squat, old industrial buildings that lie to the east of Vancouver’s gentrified and trendy Main Street area.

Framed between railway tracks to the north, wide thoroughfares Clark Drive to the east and Great Northern Way to the south, and Main Street’s growing wall of condo towers, the area nicknamed “The Flats” is set to become an arts-and-tech oriented enclave of students, restaurants, galleries, breweries, coffee shops and limited residential.  More at: ‘The Flats’ rises from a post-industrial cradle - The Globe and Mail

Robson Redux Design Competition April 3

April 3: @Viva_Van showcases entrants in the Robson Redux design comp. See new ideas for the 800-block. Tickets: http://t.co/CI2RDiDHmk
— VPSN (@vpsn) March 16, 2014

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City of Vancouver —Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts Study

Open design competitions are a widely used method to develop guiding visions and eventually master plans for city sites prime for redevelopment. Here's the approach taken by the City of Vancouver asking the general public and architect and planning firms around the world for innovative ideas about what to do with the Viaducts and surrounding areas of the downtown eastern core.

Submission Gallery: Here are the submissions which were received during the re:CONNECT competition. Click on an image to view the submission in full. Submissions are displayed in the order they were received. Vancouver Viaducts & Eastern Cores.

re:CONNECT invited the citizens of Vancouver, to join with local and international designers to ignite discussion and dream new possibilities for the future of the Viaducts and the City's broader Eastern Core. Design ideas were received and citizens were invited to vote and comment on your favourite ideas for this area of the City.  More at: The Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts Study | City of Vancouver and The Sidewalk Ballet: City of Vancouver Design Competition: Viaducts & Eastern Core