Archinect - News

A new soccer training center for the Vancouver area designed by Formline Architecture

2024-01-14T14:00:00-05:00

The City of Port Coquitlam in British Columbia, Canada, recently unveiled the final proposed design for one of the province’s largest training and recreational hubs for soccer.

Designed by Indigenous-led, Vancouver-based firm Formline Architecture, the facility will serve as a state-of-the-art soccer and community hub and B.C. Soccer’s new headquarters, with office space for local soccer club Port Coquitlam Euro-Rite FC. The project includes the reconfiguration and improvement of the surrounding Gates Park, which is located just west of downtown Port Coquitlam.

New renderings reveal that there will be a 1,200-seat grandstand covered by a sculpted wooden roof. This space will feature locker rooms, washrooms, a lobby, a meeting space, and other amenities. Additionally, a state-of-the-art synthetic turf field will be constructed to FIFA international competition standards, replacing an existing underutilized grass field. There will also be a multi-use public plaza for community events ...

Omer Arbel balances nature and form in this award-winning Canadian Pacific Northwest house

2023-12-01T18:42:00-05:00

Vancouver-based Omer Arbel Office (OAO) has completed work on their award-winning project 75.9, a new construction of a private home located adjacent to a hayfield in rural British Columbia.

The design scheme won in the 'Future Project House' category at the 2019 World Architecture Festival.

Image courtesy Omer Arbel Office (OAO)

The complex was completed this year at an undisclosed cost and features a monumental column resembling a lily pad, produced via a proprietary concrete pouring method. A demonstration column had to be constructed on the site in order to get the clients' final approval. The result is an aesthetically pleasing four-volume arrangement recovered by the landscape that blends process and material into a singular modern and bucolic harmony.

Image courtesy Omer Arbel Office (OAO)

“For 15 years, we’ve developed a method of working with materials at the scale of an object,” Arbel says of his...

Canada's traditional shopping centers are turning into mall cities

2023-06-07T14:00:00-04:00

“It’s less about e-commerce than it is about how people want to live and what they want to experience [...] People want to connect, they want to be social, so we’re trying to give them more reasons and more opportunities to do that.”

The movement is not without its detractors, however, as planning experts like the University of British Columbia’s Dr. Penelope Gurstein balance the media’s mostly effusive coverage for such projects with criticism that they are marketed towards affluent retirees and wealthy overseas buyers whose apartments are vacant much of the year.

The government has attempted to mitigate this via a new ban on foreign property ownership. Still, most feel the industry is well-positioned to adapt, as evidenced by the 420 units of below-market-rate units that were included in the 28-acre Henriquez Partners master-planned Oakridge Park development in Vancouver.

“Ten years ago, I was expanding malls, 20 years ago I was building malls, five years ago we were talking about demolishing malls,” one developer tells the Globe and Mail. “You can’t predict the future.”

In British Columbia, an ecological restoration company is seeking a remote designer

2023-05-31T10:57:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Staff Architect - Wastewater Division at Parsons Corp, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Intermediate Architectural Designer at Seed the North.

Seed the North project site, British Columbia. Image courtesy: Seed the North

The successful candidate will join Seed the North’s architect-led ecological restoration company located in northern British Columbia, Canada. Set on a 160-acre property, the company is overseeing the construction of a seed orchard and campus, for which they require a remote-working experienced designer.

Why the role interests us

The open role at Seed the North offers us an opportunity to explore an example of architects and designers delivering projects with an emphasis on responsible timber use. The company operates under a design-build model, work...

Green construction startup Nexii achieves zero-waste certification with Squamish Manufacturing Plant

2023-03-31T13:21:00-04:00

Nexii Building Solutions Inc. has become the first construction manufacturing company in North America to achieve the Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) Gold Certification for Zero Waste for its Squamish Manufacturing Plant in British Columbia, Canada.

Administered by Green Business Certification Inc., the TRUE Certification for Zero Waste evaluates a company’s waste reduction efforts, including the use of extensive recycling and composting programs, materials used, and the diversion of waste from landfills.

Previously on Archinect: Startup raises $155 million to become ‘rising star’ in prefabricated construction

As stated in a press release, Nexii was able to significantly reduce waste produced by its plant by diverting over 90 percent of waste from landfills. The company also reached this milestone by developing business and education resources for all of its staff and creating a zero-waste purchasing policy.

"We're extremely proud to have achieved the Zero Waste certificat...

DIALOG & Group2 selected to design $54 million mass timber student housing facility

2023-02-17T13:25:00-05:00

The University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) in British Columbia has selected Canadian firms DIALOG and Group2 to design and the construction companies Clark Builders and Turner to build a six-story, CAD $73 million (USD $54 million) mass timber student housing building.

Located on the University’s Abbotsford campus, the facility will feature 398 beds, increasing on-campus student housing from 200 beds to 598.

Architect and DIALOG partner Marion LaRue said the firm aims to create a welcoming and efficient student housing building that utilizes leading techniques and materials.

The building will include lounges, shared kitchens, study rooms, and mixed-use and cultural spaces. It will also integrate passive house building certification standards.

The project will utilize the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method, which increases efficiency by engaging all parti...

Perkins&Will begins construction on mass timber gateway to University of British Columbia campus

2023-01-04T11:15:00-05:00

Construction is underway on the $180 million Gateway Building at the University of British Columbia, designed by Perkins&Will and Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Intended as a “principal point of entry” to the UBC campus, the design of the six-story, 267,000-square-foot mass timber building seeks to balance sustainability, personal well-being, and Indigenous collaboration.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

The scheme comprises two five-story wings connected by a central naturally-lit six-story atrium, which includes a large interconnecting staircase and lounging spaces. The building’s mass timber structure is fully expressed in the interior; a decision driven by the importance of timber for the Indigenous Musqueam people on whose territory the UBC campus sits.

Image credit: Perkins&Will

“This was the first capital project where we did what we call ‘deep engagement’ with the Musqueam,” UBC’s director of planning and design Gerry McGeough told Canada’s Journal of Commerce. “We went through a whole seri...

The high-priced plan to replace the Royal British Columbia Museum is meeting backlash

2022-05-24T18:04:00-04:00

The momentum behind the proposed new Royal British Columbia Museum project said to be Canada’s most expensive in modern history appears to be slowing after Premier John Horgan’s recent announcement “landed with a thud” in political circles and the news media.

The Art Newspaper is reporting that the government’s updated plans to demolish the existing 1968 structure and replace it with a brand new design has levied a considerable amount of backlash in Victoria, British Columbia, where critics are taking a stand against the enormous costs of the project now five years in the making.

Labeled a “billion-dollar vanity project” by local Liberal Party leader Kevin Falcon, the currently $789 million CAD ($615.8 million USD) would author a full-scale modernization of the 135-year-old institution that would leave its doors closed until the year 2030. Horgan has said he laments the project’s newfound status as a “political football,” pointing desperately to its mass timber construction and new ...

The Fibonacci House is the world's first Airbnb listing of a fully 3D printed home

2021-07-06T20:14:00-04:00

Dutch construction technology start-up, Twente Additive Manufacturing (TAM), has announced that their Fibonacci House, Canada’s first 3D printed, concrete tiny home, is now the world’s first fully 3D printed home to be listed on Airbnb.

Photo: Twente Additive Manufacturing

The design of the house was inspired by the famous Fibonacci Sequence, which can be seen through its spiral form. It features curved walls, along with a robust structure that allows the home to be completely sound and climate roof. The Fibonacci House is located in Procter, British Columbia, a location for one of Twente’s research and development and production facilities.

Photo: Airbnb

The design of the house deliberately uses the least number of straight lines possible. While it is limited in area, the Fibonacci House fits a spacious living area with a furnished kitchen. Its two mezzanine areas are able to accommodate room to sleep for up to four people.

Photo: Airbnb

The bathroom aligns with the middle of the Fib...

Sale of first home designed by acclaimed Canadian modernist, Arthur Erickson, stirs concern among preservationists

2020-09-10T13:33:00-04:00

Sold late August for nearly $2.75 million, Arthur Erickson's Filberg House in Comox, British Columbia was designed in 1959 and is said to be the first residential property designed by the Vancouver-born architect. The recent sale of the home has stirred up some concern amongst Erickson fans. Some worry about the future of the residence, specifically in regards to its historical preservation.

Architectural photographer and board member of the Arthur Erickson Foundation and a long-time friend of the architect told CBC that he strongly believed the home should be preserved and that "It should be with architectural people who can decide who is best to have it. I would love to see the city of Comox take it over and have it as a center."

The Mid-Century Modern home has 14-foot ceilings and 280 degree views of its 7+ acre lot. The Filberg House also boasts more than 700ft of waterfront, overlooks the Salish Sea, Comox Bay, Mt. Washington, and Beaufort Mountain range. It has 4 bedrooms and...

Crowdfunding effort helps create a 22,200-acre nature preserve in Canada

2019-09-09T13:00:00-04:00

The B.C. Parks Foundation, an independent charity that works with B.C. Parks, was able to raise $3 million to buy [1,977 acres] in Princess Louisa Inlet from a private seller.

According to CBC News, the B.C. Foundation aims to bundle the new nature preserve with a series of surrounding properties to create a 22,200-acre provincial park around the entire inlet.

Battle over "stramp" accessibility upgrades in British Columbia takes shape

2019-09-03T16:00:00-04:00

A battle over proposed design and safety upgrades to an out-of-compliance "stramp" design by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson from the 1970s is taking shape in British Columbia, Canada.

Simon Scott, the director of Erickson's Foundation, said of the late architect: "He wanted to make public spaces accessible and enjoyable," according to CBC. Erickson's Robinson Square steps, however, have been deemed unsafe.

"The ramp that zigzags across the steps at Robson Square in downtown Vancouver will not be modified to address accessibility concerns because of the 'architectural significance of the site,'" reports CBC. Arnold Cheng, an accessibility consultant brought in to survey the steps has countered this reasoning to CBC by pointing out that precious historical works of architecture, such as the Louvre in Paris, have undergone many design changes over the years.

So far, it looks like the provincial government in B.C. has only approved the addition of "more signs and assistance for peop...

Diamond Schmitt Architects' Emily Carr University of Art + Design campus elegantly embodies multidisciplinary ethos

2017-09-07T14:19:00-04:00

Art thrives when it collaborates with or takes inspiration from other discliplines, a tenet that is physically expressed in the new campus of the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, located on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the campus reflects the spirit of its namesake artist, Emily Carr, by creating a series of both formal and informal spaces that can be glimpsed as one approaches and enters the building. This abundant transparency and visual linkage, combined with the purposeful interconnection between program areas, creates an institution that physically rejects a static approach to learning.

As Donald Schmitt, the Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects explains, "The building’s design creates a multitude of places both indoors and out for informal gathering, presentation, making and remaking, which is at the heart of Emily Carr’s multidisciplinary arts learning. The needs and collaborative spirit of students and faculty inform ...

The Rainforest Solutions Project wins the 2016 Fuller Challenge Award

2016-10-06T20:11:00-04:00

Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC, and Stand.earth formed the Rainforest Solutions Project as part of the Tides Canada Initiative. The coalition has spent nearly two decades developing a sophisticated legal and policy framework called Ecosystem-Based Management to tackle the persisting struggle over Canada's treasured Great Bear Rainforest, while also negotiating the conflicting interests of multiple groups.

Winning over six equally worthy finalist teams, the Rainforest Solutions Project addresses both natural and cultural preservation, and it enforces stronger ecological responsibility in industrial economic pursuits. The Project resulted in a landmark 250-year agreement between all stakeholders — government, First Nations, environmentalists, and logging companies — to conserve and sustainably manage the 15 million-acre Great Bear Rainforest.

“Selecting the Rainforest Solutions Project...comes at a critical point in the evolution of the Challenge itself, as design is being recognized as an integral part of business and society,” the Fuller Challenge Review Committee wrote in a statement.

Learn more about it on Bustler.

Previously:

2016 Fuller Challenge finalists announced

2016 Fuller Challenge announces 19 semi-finalist initiatives

GreenWave's 3D ocean farm initiative wins the 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge

Vancouver's unused railway to become public greenway

2016-03-10T13:07:00-05:00

The City of Vancouver has reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway that will transform a contentious stretch of old rail corridor into a public greenway. Under the deal, the city will pay $55 million to purchase the land on the railway route, which extends for nine kilometres from False Creek near Downtown Vancouver to Marpole on the city's south side.

Once the unofficial home to community gardens and in situ artworks, under the city's plan the Vancouver's Arbutus Corridor will become a place for cyclists and walkers. It's not the High Line (although much like that project, Vancouver city officials would like to continue thinking that the rail tracks could be still be used for transportation after the corridor is developed).

What else is going on in Vancouver? Creative, intriguing things:

Get Lectured: University of British Columbia, Spring '16

2016-02-08T13:36:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016

Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

The next featured poster comes from the University of British Columbia, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Listed below are upcoming events. Lectures begin at 6:30 p.m.

Feb 22
Chris Cornelius / Studio Indigenous + University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
at 1101 Pharmaceutical Sciences Building: 2405 Wesbrook Mall

Feb 29
Frank Barkow / Barkow Leibinger - Berlin
at Vancouver Playhouse: 600 Hamilton St.
Please note that this is a free but ticketed event.

March 7
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander - Vancouver
at Vancouver Playhouse: 600 Hamilton St.

March 21
Yu...

Get Lectured: University of British Columbia, Spring '15

2015-01-09T12:40:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter-Spring 2015

Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session! Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

The next featured poster comes from the University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

All lectures start at 6:30pm and will take place at UBC Robson Square: 800 Robson Street. Free and open to the public.

Jan 12
Amale Andraos / Work Architecture Company, New York, and GSAPP, Columbia
Margolese Prize Lecture

Jan 19
Vikram Bhatt / Architecture, McGill University

Feb 2
Mikyoung Kim / Mikyoung Kim Design, Boston

Feb 23
Jenny Sabin / Jenny Sabin Studio and Architecture, Cornell University

March 2
Christoph Reinhardt / Sustaina...

Get Lectured: University of British Columbia, Spring '14

2014-03-19T12:52:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2014

Archinect's Get Lectured is up and running again for the Winter/Spring '14 term! As a refresher from our Fall 2013 guide, every week we'll feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current season. If you're not doing so already, be sure to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Our next poster comes from the University of British Columbia, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

UBC SALA has two lectures left for the season. Lectures will take place at 6:30 pm at UBC Robson Square: 800 Robson Street. Free and open to the public.

March 24
Cristina Moreno + Erfren Grinda / AMID (Cero9) Architects

March 31
Benedetta Tagliabue / Miralles/Tagliabue Architects

For further info, click here.

First annual LAMP design challenge/exhibition coming in October

2013-09-11T14:18:00-04:00

This will be an opportunity for those already engaged with architecture to re-imagine their talents in more conceptual explorations and a way for the public to engage with architecture in a format they may have never experienced.

Annika Hagen, Nicole Fox and Tyler Greentree of LAMP (Lighting Architecture Movement Project) from Vancouver, BC will be hosting their first annual LAMP event--a live design installation exhibition and creative challenge--on Thursday, Oct. 3 at the Woodwards Atrium.

LAMP invited four local architectural designers to participate in this one-night gala event. Bryn Davidson, Jorge Siemsen, Oliver Neumann + Cristian Schmitt, and Simon Montgomery were each given a thematic word to reinterpret and lighting packages to incorporate into their projects, and were assigned site-specific areas within the Woodwards Atrium. Other than that, they have complete freedom over their projects. The designers were given three months to create their pieces and have two days to install them in the Atrium. Then on the evening of Oct. 3, the results will be on display for the public to interact with and experience.

You can click here to purchase tickets, watch interviews with the designers, and more.

Beach & Howe Tower Proposal Vancouver BIG Tower Bjarke Ingels Group

2012-02-14T18:37:00-05:00

The proposal is for a mixed-use development. On the Howe Street side, there will be a 49-storey residential tower with a 9-storey podium which includes market rental housing, commercial uses, and a childcare facility. The building height is at 150 metres and will be the tallest building on the southern end of downtown and the 4th tallest building in the city, unless the Ritz Carlton site gets developed before this, in which case it would be the 5th tallest.