The CBC complex on Georgia has never been one of the best-loved buildings in Vancouver. And now it is being transformed by studio expansion filling in the plaza on the northwest corner at Georgia and Hamilton:
And two condo towers on the southwest corner, just east of Library Square:
But the original design credited to Paul Merrick has its defenders – particularly Alex Waterhouse-Hayward. He pens an illustrated appreciation on his blog:
I fell in love with the CBC at night as I took photographs of the curious pyramid-shaped skylights. For me the building is beautiful and functional.
A building’s design has to be respected and it has to be respected in the spirit of the times it was built. We might not like intricately baroque architecture in our Postmodern times. That does not mean that we must demolish baroque churches. …
What has emerged in the last few months is a structure that has to be as ugly as the two buildings that replaced our BC Electric, the BC Gas on Georgia and BC Hydro on Dunsmuir.
More here.
The curtain wall on the broadcast pavillion looks awkward (and meets the old structure awkwardly – the window sizes could have been pixelated like on the towers to meet the smaller grid on the older CBC Building.
Don;t mind the condo towers generally – the concrete columns at their bases have been wrapped with tapered sleeves that give them a finished look not often seen on Vancouver condo towers.
The only drawback to me is the mauve-coloured west side of the taller condo tower. It clashes with the cool gray of the shorter tower and the other sides of the taller tower – what were they thinking? (I’ll bet it was the Urban Design Panel asking the architect to “warm up the colour palette”).
I have to agree with the condo towers colour scheme: it reminds me of vomit and clashes with the other windows. Other than that, looks nice.
As for the CBC expansion, I don’t have any strong feelings one way or the other. I don’t mind that it’s in such a different style – I think that’s rather neat the way the two styles bump against each other – I just can’t see I find the design very interesting at all. It looks rather awkward in the space it’s in, too.
There’s a whole pile of really dull architecture on that block. Both the studio expansion, and the condo towers are unremarkable and forgettable.
The studio expansion is especially dissapointing. For something that is supposed to be somewhat of an attraction, I don’t think it could be any less interesting.
The CBC itself has a reputation for being dull and boring, and they’ve built a dull and boring expansion onto their existing dull and boring building. At least they’re consistent.
It the expansion portion is really pushed onto the existing building. The entire development does seems a little bit too forced.
btw, no more advertising!