Forwarded to me by James Bligh …
“I saw this commercial at a movie theatre the other night and almost gagged.
First of all, it compares a Concord Pacific project to the Arc de Triomphe, the Bird’s Nest, and the Gherkin. What level of delusional hubris have these marketing teams achieved to think they can convince people that this project is going to live up to that kind of reputation?
Second, note how quickly the ad pans over downtown Vancouver; you wouldn’t want to notice that ‘the arc’ looks just like every other tower on the peninsula now would you?”
You need only recall the words of John Huston’s incestuous Noah Cross from Chinatown, “Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.” If this condo manages 50 years without being demolished for something bigger, it’ll be landmarked. Architectural critics of the future will express genuine disbelief that the Vancouver skyline could have ever existed without it.
I saw this ad, too. It was so over-the-top that I almost laughed out loud. I wondered why they were advertising it, though: I’d be willing to bet that no one in the theatre audience could have afforded to think about living there. It seemed like a pretentious and offensive brag.
That’s what I laughed at, no one watching the 10:50 screening of star wars on a Thursday night is buying in that building lol. The whole thing is laughable.
… Or at 10am on a Sunday when I saw the same ad … Though I missed most of the wonderment because I was being a bad boy checking my phone 🙂
If they’re going to put such BS in front of us I think it’s totally within our rights to do whatever we like, including looking at our phones. (I must have been at the same showing as you.)
Apart from the cheesy ad (which goes a step beyond the pretty people looking enjoying the “good life”?) this building should look quite good IF it keeps the rendered dark coloured cladding like its sister project across the off-ramp – One Pacific – which has shaken up the standard light blue/green-coloured glass and spandrel theme of most new condos.
One Pacific will also have an LED light feature on the corner facing the bridge.
Unfortunately, the Urban Design Panel has already complained about the darker colour palette on The Arc. So we’ll see if this building ends up with lighter blue/green-coloured cladding and with the ubiquitous colour of most other new towers downtown (Telus Garden’s condo being the biggest disappointment, and biggest departure from its renderings).
Here’s a pic of The Arc building model from the Vancouver Courier today.
It looks like the UDP got its way and the “overly dark” spandrel used on One Pacific across the street won’t be used on The Arc (it’s twin “gateway” tower at Cambie Bridge) but will be replaced by generic light blue/green (ugh).
http://images.glaciermedia.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2263129.1464207660!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_804/ab-scale-model.jpg
PS – the nighttime lighting (white banding) on One Pacific was tested the other night – looks great.