Our Downtown Niche
Monday, February 22, 2010
At the end of Burrard Street, downtown Vancouver, you come to the Warerfront where you can currently find the Olympic Flame. My firm always refers to this section of the Warerfront as their 'niche', since they have designed more than 5 buildings in a one block radius of one another, and are currently planning more. Two Fairmont Hotels, the Pan Pacific, Canada Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre are all a part of MCM/Folio's portfolio of work.
I walked down to the Hotels one evening after work. The entire waterfront has been blocked off for weeks for the Olympic Committee, with no access to the awe-inspiring green-roof of the Convention Centre, or the amazing awnings of Canada Place. Feeling quite sneaky, I went inside the Pan Pacific Hotel, up the long escalators, and saw the view I'd been looking for. There is access to an enormous Balcony overlooking the two Vancouver spectacles through the Hotel's restaurant. Walking along the awnings and looking out to the ocean it was quiet; the noise from the nearby busy downtown streets had been blocked by the large buildings backing onto the shore. You could see from downtown all the way to East Hastings, with the Olympic Rings in-between.
THE FAIRMONT PACIFIC RIM
THE PAN PACIFIC HOTEL AND CANADA PLACE
It was wonderful being in spaces my firm had designed, ranging from modern work to buildings from decades earlier. Being in the Pan Pacific and looking at Canada Place was a phenomenal experience, since I listen to how passionate my boss is about those places. The Pan Pacific in particular left an impression on me; you could feel how it had been such a chic Hotel when it was first opened, and how now it is an artifact for the city; beautiful and caught in a time frame.
In the last Panorama, you get a view of the edge of the Pan Pacific, the Vancouver Convention Centre and Canada Place, all facing out to the Water and North Vancouver.
Posted byPiper at 12:29 PM 0 comments