Vancouver Architecture

“Vancouver has a strong character of its own, given by the drama of its location, the character of its landscape, its curious sense of floating on the edge of the known world, confronting vast oceanic space. Its mistiness is psychical as well as physical; distinct outlines, hard abstractions, clear thought are not its style. It is unlike any other Canadian city.”

– Ron Thom

1. Vancouver House 1480 Howe Street By BIG - Bjarke Ingles Group Completed 2019

The Beach and Howe tower is a contemporary descendant of the Flatiron Building in New York City – reclaiming the lost spaces for living as the tower escapes the noise and traffic at its base. In the tradition of Flatiron, Beach and Howe’s architecture is not the result of formal excess or architectural idiosyncrasies, but rather a child of its circumstances: the trisected site and the concerns for neighbouring buildings and park spaces. Visit the Vancouver House website.

2. Evergreen Building 1285 West Pender Street By Arthur Erickson Completed 1978

Sitting amongst the blue glass towers of Coal Harbour is Arthur Erikson’s Evergreen building. From its most photogenic angle, it is a pyramid of overflowing concrete gardens, the windows of offices just barely peeking through the greenery. The terraced face of the building is cut on a diagonal across the site, ensuring a choice view for tenants towards Stanley Park and the North Shore Mountains. Thanks to its fans, the project has managed to resist pressures to convert or demolish the structure to make way for condominiums. Visit the Evergreen Building website.

3. Crown Life Building 1500 West Georgia Street By Rhone and Iredale (Peter Cardew) Completed 1977

The Crown Life building is a 20-story glass office tower that still looks as clean and contemporary now as it did when it was built back in the 70s. Its wedge-shaped floor plates and tall slender columns make it a graceful character on the Georgia stretch. The annex retail space across the reflecting pool from the tower was originally intended to act as the base of a pedestrian bridge that would stretch across Georgia Street – unfortunately, that feature of the building never made it to construction. The sloping brick bank along the street side water feature has become an unexpected landmark for skateboard films in the city.

4. Marine Building 355 Burrard Street By McCarter Nairne and Partners Completed 1930

You may recognize the Marine Building as the Daily Planet Headquarters from the popular TV show, Smallville, or you may just know it as that big old Art Deco building on West Hastings. Back when this tower was built, it enjoyed almost a decade of being the tallest building in the British Empire. It may no longer be the tallest but it is definitely the most impressive example of Art Deco architecture in the city and maybe even the country. From the interior fixtures to the carved stone, all of the buildings details showcase marine symbols. We strongly recommend lingering in front of the impressive brass doors of the main entry and admiring the illustrative carvings in the surrounding stonework.

5. Vancouver Convention Centre West 1055 Canada Place By LMN Architects (Lead Design Architects) MCM Architects and DA Architects + Planners (Local Architects) Completed 2009

Located across the street from your hotel, the Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building is another architectural landmark in the city. The extensive project has been one of the largest projects to take place in the city in the last decade and the city has gained some valuable public space in the process. The green roof unfolds and climbs upwards from Coal Harbour towards Canada Place, peeling back in places to allow for an outdoor program and views towards the North Shore. The sloping glass façade is definitely an impressive addition to Vancouver’s waterfront, especially when experienced from The Seawall along the building’s lower level.

6. Jameson House 838 West Hastings Street By Foster + Partners Completed 2004

Vancouver really wouldn’t be the same without Coal Harbour. The glass towers here have become a symbol of our local urban vernacular. It is the kind of place in Vancouver that you would only expect to find a tower designed by the renowned UK firm, Foster + Partners. The Jameson House, with its flamboyant curved glass façade and condominium units worthy of a James Bond scene, is the epitome of high-end living.

7. Waterfall Building 1540 West 2nd Avenue By Arthur Erickson with Nick Milkovich Architects Completed 1998

A later and lesser-known Erickson project, the Waterfall Building near the entrance to Granville Island is a beautiful mixed-use residential project. The building consists of concrete and glass live/work units arranged around a bright courtyard and sky-lit gallery. An opening along West 2nd street provides views of the gallery behind a veil of water and invites those wondering by to enter the central courtyard.

8. Beaty Biodiversity Centre 2212 Main Mall, University of British Columbia By Patkau Architects Completed 2009

The Beaty Biodiversity Centre shows a great deal of restraint while still keeping consistent with the Patkau’s famous attention to detail and design rigor. The museum component of the building proudly displays its enormous Blue Whale Skeleton from behind fully glazed walls while the buildings behind host laboratory and research program behind screened facades. Over the years since its completion, the naturalistic landscape has grown in, providing a fantastic contrast to the rawness of the building.

9. Pharmaceutical Sciences Building 2405 Wesbrook Mall, University of British Columbia By Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and Hughes Condon Marler Architects Completed 2012

This building is unlike anything Vancouver has seen before. Dark, reflective glass and a staggered block façade give this building its high impact aesthetic while still keeping a clean and restrained form. At the base of the building, stunning board formed concrete folds into the building, giving way to an impressive wood-clad lobby.

10. Museum of Anthropology 6393 NW Marine Drive, University of British Columbia By Arthur Erikson Completed 1978

The Museum, located on a very impressive campus site overlooking the Strait of Georgia and the North Shore Mountains, has both academic and public functions. Among its unique features is the visible storage of all artifacts. This eliminates the need to rotate collections from public display to private storage. It also recreates First Nation villages around a pond on the Museum site including vegetation consistent with their original locale. The focal point of the Museum is the high ceiling Great Hall housing massive totem poles. Large glass windows, towering up to forty feet in height, provide an unobstructed view and enable the totem poles to be seen in daylight against a natural exterior setting.

11. Vancouver Public Library 350 West Georgia Street By Safdie Architects Completed 1995

The heart of the Vancouver Public Library (as shown below) is a spiraling grand urban room that draws the public into Library Square as both a quiet place for study and contemplation and a vital community meeting place. The book stacks and services are organized within a nine-storey rectilinear central volume, wrapped by a multi-storey colonnade containing reading and study areas, as well as retail and community-facing programming. The Library is topped by a public park and grand reading room.

Read the full story and history of the Vancouver Public Library here.