PIECES FROM A LIFE ON THE WEST COAST

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 FAIRMONT WATERFRONT HOTEL

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

English Bay Art with Callan
Saturday, February 20, 2010

English Bay sits comfortably between downtown's shoreline and Kistilano Beach. On one coast you experience the vibrant pace of the city, and on the other, you have an opportunity to be in a calmer atmosphere, walking to the sound of the ocean.

Callan and I met up on a grey Vancouver day to simply walk until our hearts were content. Starting from Granville Island, we took the small ferry across the water and walked along downtown's shore. A sculptural art display had been set up along the beach, and at each gigantic piece of art, we stopped, pondered, discussed and moved on. We had just come from one of Granville's small art stores, so creativity seemed to be following us around Vancouver. This was all before the Olympics, so there weren't any crowds, just locals enjoying the coast.
One of the most charming aspects of our walk through the sculptural pieces, was that we were able to experience them together, but simultaneously experience them in our own individual way. I took pictures, Callan would climb on the different parts of the sculptures, and we'd both walk up, touch and interact with each piece differently...standing above, below, inside, beside or far away; leaving with a very unique appreciation for the art.

The second piece of art we visited looked like an industrial piece of steel that had been tumbled in the ocean. You could walk over the ribs of the copper-toned art piece, and attempt to climb up it's steep curves. Callan would run back and forth on each side, slowing inching up the walls. He was a good sport for me, and kept going until I was satisfied with taking pictures.

The last set of sculptures were phenomenal. It was a group of metal men, all larger than life size, laughing and making strange gestures. They were huge, almost disturbing, but absolutely entertaining. Callan and I walked amongst them, and even more so watched how people walked through them. Callan told me that the funniest thing was that when anyone walks up to these sculptures, the first thing they do is mimic them. We laughed, and agreed that the artist would be very happy to know that.

Posted byPiper at 11:18 PM 0 comments

Cloud Coverage
Thursday, January 28, 2010

My boss sent us this at work today. With the Olympics coming up, Vancouver is getting amazing media coverage and publicity. This video was sent to all the staff because it has several of the office buildings my firm designed in it; but I'm posting it because it's a very different and powerful view of Vancouver's city landscape. When you look at the clouds, you can only imagine the rain we get.

Posted byPiper at 12:31 AM 0 comments

Downtown at 6:00
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Today, I listened to a song by Seabears as I waited for the 22 bus to pull up to my stop...still waiting after the 44 was already full and passed by twice. One of the best things about waiting for your bus downtown is being there when 6:00 rolls around. All the office buildings, including the one I work in, typically have automatic timers to turn off the lights on all their floors at 6PM sharp. This is to avoid wasting energy, and if there are still people present on the floors, they just have to go turn them back on.

When you stand down on the street at 6:00, like I do waiting for my bus, all the towers that are lit up in the early evening go black, and for a split second, it's dark and quiet. Floors go dark one after another until all the tall office towers are like large shadows against the already dark sky.

It's almost a phenomenal event to see them all go black and dim; and the most interesting thing is that no one notices. On the streets, everyone keeps their heads down to mind their own business; I feel as if I'm the only one who is looking up.

Then, only 10 seconds later, the lights slower flicker back on.
Lifeless to glowing. Silent to loud.

You can't really capture this with pictures. It's a small thing you have to experience. But I thought I'd share the song I was listening to today when 6:00 came around; for some reason, it seemed appropriate. ...I don't know why.

Seabears - Arms

Posted byPiper at 10:18 PM 2 comments

Evenings at Granville Island
Saturday, January 23, 2010

Being back to Granville Island's public Market for the second time in a week speaks highly of its atmosphere. But this time, coming later in the evening, the market was a much different place. Rather than it being busy with shoppers and the typical day crowd, it was slow and calm, with people sitting down in and outside the market...eating, drinking coffee and looking out across the water. The inside of the market is dimly lit and the shop owners walk about talking to their co-workers, slowly cleaning up from the day. Outside, buskers take to the open courtyards and fill the spaces. Slow, soft jazz tunes of the 1950s and 1960s, like "Moon River", echo out across the water as people sit at the benches close to the shore.

Louis Armstrong - Moon River

So easily you could fall in love with the city.

Posted byPiper at 9:43 PM 0 comments

Burrard Street Bridge and English Bay Docks

It's weird walking underneath the Burrard street bridge when I ride across it on a bus every day to get to work. It twists my perspective a bit and makes it difficult to place myself in the city when, I'm in fact, lower then the main land; on the same level as the water rather than the streets. When you take the short path between the Burrard Street Bridge and the Granville Street Bridge, you come across a plethora of boats all resting in the water at the docks. The masts stand tall like the buildings in the background, bridges extends from the stone pathways to the boats, and the smell of fresh fish and chips fill the air as you walk towards the main entrance of Granville Island.