Archive for the 'Urban Design' Category

Life in False Creek North
June 25, 2008

There’s no doubt that False Creek is one of the most admired locations for planned residential communities in North America - from the South Shore project designed in the 1970s, to the South East ‘Olympic Village’ now under construction. But the largest of them all can be found on the North Shore - Concord Pacific [...]

Vancouver or Dubai?
June 9, 2008

Dubai - a computer rendering of the Burj Dubai neighbourhood

Vancouver - Concord Pacific Quayside.
Read The Battle for the World’s Skyline here. 
 

The Swedish House
June 6, 2008

Sean Hodgins, the head of Century Group, is undertaking a public process on the future of the “Southlands” in Tsawwassen (the old Spetifore lands) - including a recent charrette with Andres Duany, the New Urbanist architect who also conducted a similar exercise for the East Fraser Lands last year. 
New Urbanism, often wrongly dismissed as a [...]

Leaving money on the table
April 8, 2008

This bit of pavement doesn’t rank as “New Stuff” quite yet: it’s the southern end of the Carrall Street Greenway (design here) - a critical link between the False Creek seawall and, eventually, Burrard Inlet and Coal Harbour, completing the loop around the Downtown Peninsula.  Eventually, thousands will be biking, blading and walking on this [...]

New Stuff 4 - Seattle Townhouses
April 4, 2008

Down to Seattle last weekend: dismal weather, but an opportunity to see some of the city’s newest development.
It’s a good news/bad news story.  The new light rail line connecting Downtown with the Airport is nearing completion.  At least there’s enough on the ground to get a sense of what’s coming - and “on the ground” [...]

New Stuff 2 - the Olympic Village Passerelle
April 1, 2008

It’s just one element along the finished seawall next to what will be the Athlete’s Village for the 2010 Olympics (and then Millennium Water) - but it’s a grabber:

Yes, it’s a bridge.  But since passage is limited to those on foot and paw, I prefer the French term - passerelle.   Though they have a long history [...]

Made in Oregon
March 31, 2008

The peripatetic Charles Montgomery visits Portland.

No. 3 March
March 5, 2008

Back again - and working on Paris for upcoming Price Tags. 
In the meantime, went to hear Copenhagen architect Jan Gehl in Richmond (Stephen Rees does a nice summary here).  And was surprised at the impact of the Canada Line guideway down No.3 Road.

Now I understand why Richmond Council wanted an at-grade right-of-way - even if [...]

Does Gordon Campbell know about this?
January 31, 2008

Greg Hamilton sends along an article on the latest plan for St. Petersburg:

“The heart of the city quarter will be a new civic space under a unique glazed roof. “

“This unique crystalline glass tensegrity structure will imbue the space with a delicate lightness and changing light, reflecting the weather, time of day and the passing [...]

The Steps at Yaletown Park
January 25, 2008

As James Kunstler would observe (see below), you can tell a lot about a civilization by the quality of the “public realm” - the spaces jointly shared by every citizen.  As opposed to the privileges of “the consumer,” who has no repsonsibilities for the commonwealth except, of course, to consume it.
Here’s a particularly nice addition to [...]