Fifteen Fifteen (1500 W Georgia) | 134m | 43fl | U/C
 

Brand new proposal for West End by Ole Scheeren's office. They call this "Vertical Living".

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren1.jpg

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren2.jpg

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren3.jpg

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren4.jpg

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren5.jpg

http://www.designboom.com/wp-content/upl...a-vancouver-skyscraper-designboom-02.jpg

Source: http://www.wallpaper.com and http://www.designboom.com

The international architects have arrived, and the city will be better for it! I like the idea of having these iconic towers placed throughout the city, in different residential neighbourhoods, so that each gets its "showpiece" building (i.e. this building in Coal Harbour, Vancouver House in Downtown South).

I wonder what material they will be using for the blank walls. That could be an important detail with this building.

Website: http://www.buro-os.com/1500-west-georgia/



Project: 1500 West Georgia, Vancouver
Type: Mixed-Use High-rise Residential Development
Status: Commission: Februrary 2015
Client: Bosa Properties Inc., Vancouver
Location: West End, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Site: 4,020 m2 lot bounded by West Georgia Street, Nicola Street, Alberni Street, and Cardero Street
Scale: Gross Floor Area: approximately 30,600 m2 (329,400 sq.ft.)
Floors: 48 residential floors above 2 ground levels, 6 basement floors
Program: Residences (235 units), Residential Amenities 210 m2; Ground Level Retail and Public Program 960 m2, Public Plaza Basement Parking (6 levels); Building Services

Awesome renders!
I love this building - interesting interplay of shapes and nice usable floor plates (no crazy angles). I especially like how well resolved this building is at the pedestrian levels. Something Trump, Vancouver House and Shangri-la miss.

Impressive and unusual ... but a bit like apples and shoe polish in a salad.

Well said, csbvan! I like the open entertainment space at the bottom and the patios on top of those boxes. Some of those patios might be pretty damn scary to be on during a windy weather!

Thanks for starting a new thread, Klazu.

I like this!

Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!!!!

Just in time to save Vancouver from another 'Rogers Arena Tower' !!! ...may these great towers finally put-to-rest the era of 'seaform spandrel'.

Anyone have an extra pair of pants? I need to change mine.

Happy that they managed to keep the water feature, this tower and the one replacing the Securiguard building is going to be amazing additions when driving downtown from LGB

There will always be generic condo towers that will exploit spandrel for horrendous results, but it is up to this kind of landmark buildings to make up for that and be the the recognizable characteristic of a city.

We complain a lot, but there has actually been several great buildings go up in the past few years: MNP Tower, Trump Tower, Telus Garden (office tower) and in the near future Vancouver House, the Origami Tower and 1500 West Georgia are all amazing buildings. And they are all going up in Downtown and not in the suburbs. They may build it taller in there, but they build it plain and bulky. Downtown Vancouver still shows example in architecture as it should.

I am at least very appreciative of how much great architecture we are seeing in this city. There is just so much being built all over Metro Vancouver right now that generic bulk is bound to happen. We live pretty amazing construction boom times in Vancouver and Canada.

I totally agree! And there are so many more interesting development sites left for future in this area. This is only the beginning. :cheers:

Is this serious...what in the hell is that thing.

Adding these here as well...

It's like a giant jenga tower ahahaaha.

^totally.

I like it because it is a departure from most 'Vancouverism', but in all honesty it is awkward.

Needs a wee bit of refining.

About time we get something like this! :worship:

News article:

http://www.archdaily.com/641728/buro-ole...future-of-vertical-housing-in-vancouver/

Wow, thanks for posting and starting the thread.

The plaza space looks good.

My only criticism is that there does seem to be a lot of blank wall at different places on the tower
(east and west facades near the corners, and wrt some of the "tubes").

One thing the architect doesn't quite seem to understand is that the open concept "wrap-around" corner view is key.

Apart from the "tubes", the inset balconies and blank walls have a very retro 60s vibe about them.

http://i.imgur.com/2jDRklo.jpg
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Beach+A...!1s0x5486722e9770fef3:0x77039d947c816f86

http://i.imgur.com/T10hVuu.jpg
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Alberni...!1s0x54867187a9ea9f8b:0x50d2b0e81df335ac

And thus, the skyscraper-lover community rejoices and celebrates........

High-resolution renderings added on first page!

I am sure this building will look fantastic at this location, but it could look even better as the opposing gateway tower to Vancouver House. Imagine those protruding boxes hanging over Granville Bridge loops. Now that would be interesting!

http://vuosiamaailmalla.fi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/beach_and_howe4.jpg

I am pretty sure the honeycomb pattern on the box at the bottom is meant to compliment the tower going up on the other side of West Georgia. I think they will look fantastic, but now I wish that also the other side would see something twice as tall.

It would also be fantastic to have a Flatiron style building at the middle of the intersection.Now, that would be a nice gateway into city! :yes:

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren2.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5585/14969343285_629c4e1782_o.png

so for 1500 W Georgia, are they keeping the shorter office building on the West side of the property that is there right now? it looks like it's staying put.

Hey! I said that first! :P
(before it had its own thread)

The more I see it, the more I like it. Although I like Vancouver House more.

I like the base and plaza/water features best, and I like that it's bold and different. It will be interesting to see how the design evolves, is tweaked etc. and I think once again the materials used will play a huge role in how the final product turns out.

It's very much like what might be built in Melbourne.

I kind of like how retro (while still being modern) it looks. Despite being new, it captures the kitsch of The West End. I think it might look kind of dopey in Yaletown, but for this location I think it's really promising.

What's going on inside that box? A dance floor? A theater?

Agreed. It has a lot of promise but there are a few things that need to get sorted out before this should proceed.

I'm sure Bosa and the architect will work them through during rezoning/UDP though.

Another article on the project:
http://changingcitybook.com/2015/06/11/1500-west-georgia-street/

The blank walls also remind me a bit of Nelson Square.

source : http://www.wongouyang.com
http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag130/Dean_Ellison/com-pto-NelsonS-Ext_zpsf10vgjcx.jpg

Drool worthy!

Very similar, but much taller version of this is going up in NYC. Absolutely love the "jenga" towers.

Totally agree, all of the towers you cite are brand new, under construction or soon to be built, a good trend? Yes!

Once better architecture reaches a critical mass, it will become the new norm and decision makers will be have these great towers as examples which will likely mitigate, or at least result in less poorly designed towers in Vancouver's future.

A city centre should display far better design than the suburbs and this is obviously beginning to happen, although there are isolated examples taking place in the 'burbs like 3 Civic Plaza in Surrey.

I'm enjoying how the little the balconies seem to stand out. Perhaps that is a little to do with the render itself? I quite like what I see, very un vancouver in my opinion.

Global BC News Hour had a story on the project, and some video of the tower that showed details not in the renders.

I will be the outlier here and say that this tower looks stupid. Like, what you would expect when you get a street-side artist with no aim to design a building for an architecture firm. The protruding boxes have already been done numerous times and is nothing unique. It makes the tower look stunted. Worse, one side of the tower is completely flat with no protruding boxes, as if it has an identity crisis and does not know what it wants to be. A simpler, more uniform design is all that was needed.

My thoughts exactly.

Hopefully some of those issues will be ironed out with time.

I like this building because it brings something different to a prominent location in the city. Candidly, though,if not executed well there's a lot that could go horribly wrong.

I find it interesting that of the best new buildings being proposed or built, most are residential. Would be nice to see a few more office buildings (MNP and Telus notwithstanding)

The one in NYC is by Herzog & de Meuron -
designers of the new VAG.

Wouldn't it be brutal if they proposed a mid-rise jenga building for the new VAG?
(and be usurped by this one?)

I really like it. Trump/Shangri-La has already made the West Georgia entrance to the city amazing but this will add another dimension.

And so the debate begins...

I'm trying to like this tower but I find it really hard. It's a really confusing design. I feel the architect was trying to put form over function (what's the point of protruding boxes with blank walls when you can't capitalize on the views?). And yet the form looks messy and cluttered. The main part of the tower just looks like prefabricated units stacked on top of each other. It definitely gives off that 60's or 70's vibe, with a modern take. I suppose that compliments the West End in that sense. Only time will tell, but I don't think this building will age well, at least with the current design.

There are huge windows on all sides of the potruding bozes. It's just their light reflection effect making it difficult to notice.

http://assets3.wallpaper.com/wallpaper/l...y/1500-West-Georgia-by-Ole-Scheeren5.jpg

Am I the only one who isn't getting their panty's in a bunch over this proposal? Looks like the architect downloaded sketchup, discovered the push/pull tool, played around for 10 minutes and produced this. :shrug:

I agree; I think it's awful. It's messy and cluttered like so much of the other junk going up in the city (725 Granville, Telus Garden). It doesn't relate one bit to the simple lines and dimensions of the office building beside it.

Awful, awful, awful.

^^I think that's sort of intentional. I'm guessing that the building is early in the design phase, like in between figuring out the massing and starting to get into the details. To me it's clearly unfinished and wouldn't pass the UDP yet. Bosa is probably just testing the waters with the public. I bet they are worried somewhat that people will go crazy (like they did with 555 West Cordova) and potentially force a costly re-design.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to the first official proposal because it is very promising and different. I love what they are doing at ground level, and with how they plan to integrate the existing water feature.

PS - Ole Scheeren used to be with OMA, if anyone is wondering. Thanks for posting all the pics and everything, Klazu!

I like it.

+1 As I said in another post: "apples and shoe polish"

Oh please let this be built, it looks amazing.