Architectural Highlights

AIBC WALKING TOURS

100–440 Cambie St., Vancouver
604-683-8588

For $5 and a couple hours of your time, the Architectural Institute of B.C. will walk you through the city’s beginnings in Gastown, the industrial lands of Yaletown, or the unique storefronts of Chinatown.

 

CANADA PLACE

999 Canada Pl., Vancouver
604-775-7200

Built as the Canada Pavilion for Expo 86, Canada Place — known for its distinct 27-metre-high fibreglass sails — is primarily used as a convention centre and cruise-ship docking point, but views of the harbour are impressive from its perimeter. An expansion tripling the convention centre’s size will host world media during the 2010 Games.

 

LIONS GATE BRIDGE

Nearing 70, the grande dame of Vancouver bridges is still a beauty, especially since she was decked out with lights (a gift from the Guinness family in 1986) and, more recently, received $100-million of reconstruction work. From Stanley Park you can walk across to the North Shore for the full experience.

 

MARINE BUILDING

355 Burrard St., Vancouver

Architect George Nairne intended the 27-metre lobby of this 1930s building to resemble a treasure-filled Mayan temple, featuring etched brass renditions of turtles, crabs, and sea horses, elevators inlaid with 12 British Columbia hardwoods, and lavish murals celebrating historic voyages of ships like the Golden Hind. A $20-million renovation in the 1980s restored its glory, allowing the Marine to retain its status as one of the world’s great art deco monuments.

 

SAM KEE BUILDING

8 W. Pender St., Vancouver

When the City of Vancouver appropriated all but two metres of owner Chang Toy’s property in 1912 to widen Pender Street (without compensation for the leftover strip), he built the Sam Kee Building on the ground that was left, in protest. At just 1.5 metres (five feet) deep, it’s the world’s shallowest commercial building, according to The Guinness Book of World Records.

 

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

8888 University Dr., Burnaby
604-291-3111

Concrete has its limitations, but as Arthur Erickson’s first major project (designed with the Acropolis and Italian terraces in mind), the SFU campus is renowned as a benchmark of integrative architecture.

 

VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver
604-331-3603

One hundred million dollars buys a lot of critical commentary. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie and completed in 1995, the Vancouver Public Library’s main branch was the most expensive public project ever approved by the City. Its Colosseum-like appearance sparked a local and international scuffle that continues to this day, with many critics sniffing that its striking design is too derivative and, well, too striking, but Vancouverites — mostly — love it. The nine-storey spiral structure of taupe-hued concrete incorporates 315 arches, as well as an atrium plaza and outdoor amphitheatre-style courtyard.