Library Square
Completion date: 1995
Budget: $110 million
Overview
Occupying a full city block, Vancouver’s Library Square complex includes the city’s main library branch, a federal office tower, retail concourse, and three levels of underground parking. This downtown centrepiece of urban life has become a much-loved meeting place and tourist destination, and a workspace for a broad spectrum of community uses.
The DA Difference
Our team collaborated with Moshe Safdie Associates Ltd. on development and construction. While Moshe Safdie authored the design approach, DA developed it to accommodate the myriad programs housed in this 710,000-square-foot complex, and to meet the functional requirements of a main branch library in a major city. The result was a network of vertical and horizontal conveyors to move the library’s holdings of 1.3 million books and audio/visual materials throughout its seven floors, and a series of walkways to help Library Square’s 2.5 million annual visitors navigate the building’s interior and exterior public spaces.
Kang Quan New Town
The master plan for this 3,500-unit residential and commercial project in Beijing, China was designed to preserve and enhance the surrounding environment through the use of natural materials and colours, and the introduction of a linear greenway to link the unique neighbourhood clusters.
Kwantlen University College: Langley Campus
Completion date: 1993
Budget: $21.5 million
Overview
The campus consists of academic, careers, and vocational buildings constructed as wings attached to a circulation spine. The wings are separated by light-generating courtyards, which are landscaped as part of the campus horticultural training program. A centrally-located agora, or student gathering place, opens onto a creek and sprawling meadow, while the administrative offices, library, bookstore, and cafeteria are situated to encourage interaction between students, faculty and visitors.
The DA Difference
The bucolic setting of this project presented some unique environmental considerations. Sensitive soil conditions and adjacency to a flood plane dictated that the complex be limited to two storeys. Working within these limitations, DA was able to incorporate the property historic and natural features into the design. Single-storey concrete-framed buildings with lightweight second-storey steel-framed forms clad in corrugated metal reflect the common materials found on many agricultural structures in the region.
Carnegie Centre
Completion date: 1979
Budget: $1.4 million
Overview
A provincially designated heritage building, the Carnegie Centre is an enduring part of Vancouver’s history. Built in 1903, it was the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library until 1957, and then became the City Museum. It later sat empty for ten years before being given new life as a community centre. Work on the renovation began in 1976. The new facility, with its recreation and meeting rooms, classrooms, workshops, auditorium space and mini library, opened to the public in 1980. Aesthetically, both the design of the new addition and the re-shaping of the old interiors echo the original. Rustication of walls and the use of the arch and high ceiling spaces are repeated in the new wing.
Beatty Mews
Completion date: 1997
Budget: $60 million
Overview
This development in Vancouver’s Quayside Neighbourhood consists of two high-rise housing towers, an eight-storey residential building, and several townhouses. Its landmark status as the eastern terminus of the “high street” section of Pacific Boulevard is reinforced by contemporary, clearly expressed architecture, and by a central water feature which ties the development to False Creek. The project is successful in achieving a high degree of residential livability due to street and bridge geometry, the water views to the south, and a pedestrian walkway that winds through the site.
The DA difference
Our team was instrumental in working with the City of Vancouver to revise the approved development plan, so that a mid-rise eight-storey linear building would define the edge of the site, rather than the 12-storey point tower previously recommended. This resulted in a development that better reflects the scale of the neighbourhood. Considerable design effort was required to ensure that each distinct building type expressed its own character within the overall urban design concept.
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