The Olympics have quickly taken on an emotional depth not many of us expected, having been inured by the ceaseless cynicism leading up to the Games. Now, in a single day, tragedy and controversy, elation and pride.
The Opening Ceremony was brilliant – brilliant conception, brilliant effects. And no one has made a big deal out of the fact that the producer was Australian, perhaps because it was somehow appropriately Canadian. Someone from afar interprets who we are. David Atkins achieved a small miracle in making BC Place work, creating an atmosphere that was gripping and surreal for those who were there – a moment that will attach itself to the history of the building.
My favourite moment: the slam-poetry dude, Shane Koyczan. Words – his and Donald Sutherland’s quotes – grounded the symbolism for us, articulating this experiment, Canada, that seems to be working. Oh, and Wayne Gtesky in the open, in the rain, trailed by jubilant kids, on the way to light the second cauldron. Harvey Oberfeld on his blog thought it “a ridiculous flaw that could have had disastrous consequences.” I thought it wonderful – a statement that we will not totally insulate ourselves from each other in the name of security.
This morning, sun! And so many reasons to fill the streets. The evidence is in the public spaces – new and reinvented – packed with people on feet.
On the other hand, as Georgia and Hamilton Streets at noon reveal, there’s still little traffic:
In fact, it was so easy for a couple from Coquitlam to drive into Chinatown and find parking this morning, they expect that once people realize that there are open roads, we’ll see congestion rise all through next week.
Blocks of Robson are divided up into separate parts for pedestrians and vehicles (that’s what the fences are for), and so far there’s enough space for both heading towards Granviile.
Can’t say I’m enchanted with the orange bollards – engineering utilitarian. Let’s spend some bucks for an upgrade, given that we’re more likely to be doing this kind of thing more often.
Robson and Granville has become the new go-to intersection in Vancouver, now that the
Mall is rebuilt. (It used to be Thurlow and Robson, the corner where people would go spontaneously to celebrate a hockey victory, knowing that’s where other people world go.) Granville and Robson is where the lights are. Finally, projections on the cold white walls of the old Eaton’s building, now Sears. That only took 40 years.
New spaces have been finished just in time, and old spaces outfitted with new art. The CBC Plaza has been transformed (anyone got a picture of the old entrance?) into a series of outdoor rooms, integrating concrete brutalism with the Vancouver-style condo towers that paid for the renovations.
Special recognition to ‘The Wall’ – a joint venture 
of the CBC, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation and JJ Bean. Artists will use that blank expanse of concrete for art that “responds to and reflects upon Vancouver’s built environment” – with chairs to sit and coffee to drink while you respond and reflect.
Over on the south side of the Library, a work of art that literally speaks for itself:
The reason I saw the lack of security as a flaw was because VANOC/police can’t have it BOTH ways. For 45,000 miles across Canada they said a small army of police preceding, all around and following the torch/torchbearer was essential .. even when it was being carried by “ordinary” people in small towns etc. And then, with one of the world’s most famous athletes carrying it on a pickup truck totally exposed and highly vulnerable for more than a mile, there was virtually no security beside him/truck…just a police car preceding and one following (until if you noticed a second one finally arrived). If a drunk or troublemaker had grabbed the torch or injured Gretsky as the world watched .. a lot of people would have wondered why there was no security there, where it would be justified, but very heavy everywhere else, when it really was not needed. That was a bad security flaw …but thankfully they got away with it . Imagine if they hadn’t.
The new CBC building is great. Not to criticize your photography too much, though the picture posted here wasn’t able to capture it very well, but that contrast you describe between the modernist CBC building and the glass TV towers is really interesting. That along with the greenery, water fountain and that cute little JJ Bean Kiosk, designed to look somewhat like a early 20th/late 19th century Vancouver shack is kind of neat. It’s a huge upgrade on what was there before and it sort of evokes a history of Vancouver architecture.
The Sears building used as giant screen with the FutureShop screen gives a very “Dundas Square” (Dundas#Yonge in Toronto) feeling to Robson#Granvile and that is good
Here we have found a way to take advantage of a block haus to improve the urban space and give a new life to a space. We just need to elaborate a bit more on it.
I’m not sure I’d get all excited about the Sears building. To my understanding, the projections will be gone when the Olympics are over. In fact, much of what we’re seeing now will disappear, at which point we’ll return to the dullness and dreariness that characterizes so many parts of this city.
The projections onto both the Robson side and the Howe side of Sears look great. Not hopefully the City of Vancouver will allow such advertising or other projections more frequently.
what could possibly be more canadian than Wayne Gretzky in the back of a pick-up truck with no (or little) security..priceless.
Also never mind the first gold medal on Canadian soil…its also the first gold medal on Manning Park Snow!
Go Canada!!!!!!!