Vancouver wants your views
The SFU City Program is hosting an evening to discuss perhaps the most important issue on the public realm in this city – revising the view corridors.
VIEWS ON VIEWS: Perspectives on view corridors in Vancouver
October 5, 7 pm
Venue: SFU Segal Business School, 500 Granville Street (at corner of Granville and Pender), Vancouver.
Last October, City Council decided to review heights and protected views in the Downtown. As part of the public process, the SFU City Program is hosting an exchange of views by two (possibly three) advocates who, with their different perspectives, will help the public understand the trade-offs and issues.
City Planning Director Brent Toderian will set the stage with a briefing about the history of view protection and the issues Council wishes addressed. Past City Planning Co-Director Larry Beasley and architect Richard Henriquez will argue their positions with passion and insight. More on the study here.
Admission is free; reservations are required. To reserve, go here.
I never really understood the logic of these view corridors. For any given density it seems to me that taller building is the best way to protect the views. Tall and skinny is better than short and chubby.
I disagree that tall and skinny is always better than short and chubby. I think if you have only one type it gets kind of boring, really. There should be views of buildings, too, and different types rather than a wall of tiny glass pinnicles.
The view corridors are there to protect those “wow” moments, like when crossing granville bridge by foot and stopping at the peak to just take it all in. I rather like them. They might use tweaking, but certainly should be retained in general.
If I had time I’d go to this little meeting, unfortunately I don’t though.
That said I think the view corridors are an unfortunate byproduct of our silly provincial attitudes towards retaining what makes Vancouver “special.” Seriously, if we were to do away with them would the mountains suddenly disappear? I kind of get that impression from some of their advocates.
If we truly want to be “world class” then why do we constantly limit the size of buildings in our downtown core for the sake of “protecting view corridors?” Space, residential and commercial is at a premium and the only way to increase it is to build up. Also, if we want to address the affordability crunch in Vancouver (especially important as we’re not a high-wage town) we’ll have to increase our density to some degree, again that will require building up.
The mountains will always be there, but keep in mind that Vancouver is allegedly a city hence it has to fulfil city-oriented functions. If people want to see the mountains without any obstructions, they’re only a thirty minute bus ride away. Not to mention the fact that you’d be able to see them from the waterfront anyways and I doubt that having a couple of buildings obscuring part of the mountains would block them out altogether. If people want some completely romantic naturist scene or something though, they can always move to some small town or something.