I didn’t expect much from this new building at the southwest corner of Granville and Robson (the rendering was disappointing), so the result is a pleasant surprise. (More on what came before here at Changing Vancouver.)
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It’s still not a building worthy of the site, but it does a good job of relating to its context. The podium takes on the same massing and height as its neighbour to the west, and the office component relates well to the building heights on Granville. The colours match up nicely with the neighbour to the south in gorgeous terra cotta, while the setbacks allow the heritage façade some dignity. The splayed angles on the first floor play off the trolley wires that fill the intersection.
And a little green neon at night adds some colour to our Great White Way.
Not bad but as usual with many modern designs, it looks best from this distance, where the fat sharpie lines of the grid pop. Up close, from the distance of the pedestrian on the sidewalk to the wall, not too much to catch one’s eye, unlike the more traditionally styled buildings adjacent, that have engaging levels of fractal-like order and detail at every level of apprehension, right down to the doorknobs. Alas another building to be looked at once, registered, and then more or less forgotten since repeated looks reveal little more.
Great point. I’ll take the old building any day, why couldn’t it be re-designed to suit the new program of retail/commercial? Ironic this entry follows a post “Vancouver is the greenest … again.” I think it was Patrick Condon who said “The most sustainable building is the one that isn’t torn down”. Article in the Province a few weeks back, when you demolish a 2,500-square-foot home, you are sending 60 tonnes of debris to the landfill. Not to mention the loss of intimate design scale you eluded to.
A step above the disposable “placeholder” buildings that have proliferated along Granville in apparent anticipation of an up zoning at some unknown point in the future. Still, the detailing at the sidewalk level is not much above “power centre” levels, perhaps in keeping with the target market of the anchor tenant.