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Vancouver, BC

Josh Emig

I'm considering a move to the northwest, and the recent discussion on Portland answered tons of questions about that city. I started a thread on Vancouver on the old Archinect, but it wasn't as productive as the Portland thread.

Vancouver interests me because I know it's the place to be for mountain biking and snowboarding. I've also heard the climate in the city is relatively mild, and I've heard that it is most similar to NYC in its energy level, density, etc. But the latter points are sort of unverified third-party hearsay.

Specifically I'm wondering about the architecture/design job market in Vancouver and how difficult (or easy) it is for an American to work and live there.

 
Jul 10, 04 9:06 am
oregon

I lived with a guy from Vancouver once. He was a fucking psycho and had a horrible accent - reminded me of philip and terrance from south park (eh?). That drove me insane, anyone who says 'eh' after every statement is bound to get on your nerves.

This doesnt answer any of your questions, but if you're at all intolerable of the canadian accent i would think twice before moving there.

Jul 10, 04 9:44 am  · 
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sewage

I always thought of Vancouver as a cross between Seattle and San Francisco.

Jul 11, 04 3:30 am  · 
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CREAM

oregon-
have you ever considered how fucking annoying american accents sound? yeah i thought so. maybe you should travel more instead of basing prejudices from TV shows.

Jul 11, 04 3:40 am  · 
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blank

the public- well not sure if this will help, but here's more third party info for you: vancouver is supposed to be more in ny in those respects, unlike toronto (the clean unpolpulated ny clone). as far as arch jobs, i dont know, but in the general creative/design field there should be many. alot of movie production houses have done work there (i believe the entire run of the xfiles was) due to low costs and large spaces. it all depends on what youre looking for- many architects just look for firms for jobs, where movie set design is, in my opinion, way cooler. and whistler/blackcomb is supposed to kick ass!

Jul 11, 04 1:10 pm  · 
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oregon

CREAM

Apparently Canadian schools have failed to teach you how to read in addition to failing to teach you how to speak properly. My prejudices are only based on first hand experience - what i stated above was an analogy, assimilating the experience with something everyone can relate to.

Some americans have annoying accents, i completely agree. However, the Canadian accent in itself is completely different than most others. Canadians have some sick obsession with littering their speech full of extra sounds at the end of statements as if to vocalize question marks and periods. A little tip for Canada, you dont need to verbalize punctuation, those are symbols that arent supposed to correspond with any sound in the English Language. eh?

I've been to Vancouver multiple times and i currently live somewhere in Asia, cant travel much further than that my friend.

AND finally, it was a joke, so i'm glad it made you upset.

Jul 12, 04 10:11 am  · 
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le bossman

gentlemen, gentlemen,

can we please relax? come over to my motel sometime, and bring your bolo ties...and drink some of my elixer

Jul 12, 04 10:14 am  · 
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oregon

will there be snacks?

Jul 12, 04 10:28 am  · 
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oregon

To answer the post, vancouver is very nice, dont know about the job market but it definitely wouldnt be a bad place to live

Jul 12, 04 10:30 am  · 
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le bossman

well, there will probably be some stale pretzles, but also chips and salsa

Jul 12, 04 10:46 am  · 
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oregon

will there be any CREAM? HA - dont mind me i'm out of my mind

Jul 12, 04 11:39 am  · 
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gasp

oregon is an asshole, eh?

Jul 12, 04 11:47 am  · 
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cracker

"oregon" is an ignorant idiot.

Jul 12, 04 11:57 am  · 
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whistler

We don't call it Vangroovy for nothin'. I grew up there and nothing compares for natural scenery. I think whoever compared as a cross between Seattle and San fran is pretty close. The place is hoping with work at the moment, with the 2010 Olympics and the condo scene is crazy with projects sellingout years in advance of completion. Check out aibc.ca for the local Architecture issues / Jobs etc. Its a town with a few established old school firms, but most of the new school stuff is from smaller younger firms who are out to make a name for themselves. Lots of alternate design careers available and probably a safe bet if you want some variation in work.

The place is more about lifestyle which to some maybe the reason to be here but from a career standpoint it is at a point in the continent which is pretty far removed from most places you can take that as good or bad. the point is that it probably isn't as progressive as other places but it has its own pacific northwest vibe, with a strong asian influence.

The Architectural elite ( Arthur Erickson, Patkaus ) are a good place to start to look at what is considered good design in these parts. They all aren't as good as the above but an excellent inspiration.

As for the Mountain biking and Skiing I think it stands on its own merits and hype. ( except its better )

Jul 12, 04 12:21 pm  · 
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anatomical gift

Why is oregon an "ignorant idiot?" Because he made a joke about Canadian accents? For the record, I believe linguists have proven that the midwestern accent is the most free from local vernacular variation.

Jul 12, 04 12:39 pm  · 
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CREAM

tactually i would credit my wondeful chicago- manual- of- style challenged style of typing on internet chat rooms to a classic good ole, USof A public school system education.

and the terence and philip reference was from tv, so my point about your prejudices based on tv wasn't somethin i just pulled out of my ass.

"Apparently Canadian schools have failed to teach you how to read in addition to failing to teach you how to speak properly. My prejudices are only based on first hand experience - what i stated above was an analogy, assimilating the experience with something everyone can relate to."

'what i stated above was an analogy, assimilating the experience with something everyone can relate to? sure. you're about as clear a writer as i am, honey.

Jul 13, 04 1:57 am  · 
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bRink

Vancouver is a great city. They have great restaurants, lots of nice beaches,... The mountains are right in front of you and form a beautiful backdrop for the city... It's not like Calgary where you might have mountains in the distance, in Vancouver, their right in front of you... And you can get a season lift pass for a little over $200 Canadian, and if you have your board, you can snowboard every day after work on the mountain... It's one of my favorite cities in North America... I'd live there if I could get a good job there.

As for Americans working in Canada, I think it shouldn't be a problem with NAFTA and all... As long as you can get a job offer.

Jul 23, 04 10:15 pm  · 
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A

Cheers to you Oregon.. I work with an engineer who's Canadian and I laugh every time he asks about the prO-ject. As far as accents, midwestern USA is the most free of dialect. Growin up in the mid-west I've traveled to England and talked to locals there who have commented on how "it's nice to talk to someone without an accent." Not sure if I like that. An accent adds a certian character in my opinion.

As for Vancouver - beautiful city. If you love skiing it's the place to be. If you like drinking it's also the place to be. Not nearly the metropolis that Seattle is. Absolutely nothing like New York, a common complaint when directors are told to use downtown Vancouver to double as a NYC city street. I would say it's somewhat like Portland but minus all the California refugees.

Jul 24, 04 12:27 am  · 
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oregon

i'll always be your honey CREAM, see you at dinner?

Jul 24, 04 12:24 pm  · 
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David Zeibin

I don't know. I guess making fun of Canadian accents is "all in good fun," but it's still disappointing to see a bunch of adults act like 14-year-olds and make fun of cosmetic differences. Cheers to you, indeed... $0.02

Anyhow, Vanouver: I'm moving there in two weeks for school. The thing I like best about it is the very temperate cimate. Cool summers (not like the blazing hot ones on the Canadian prairies) and rainy, rainy winters. Some folks don't like the winters as it can a little gloomy sometimes.

Re: mountain biking/snowboarding: I don't do either, but I've never heard anyone say it doesn't live up to the hype...

And I wouldn't rank it with NY. Vancouver is a vibrant city but it does sleep relatively early. Some areas are filled with a lot of wealthy, older people who are settling down it seems (the ones buying up all the condos being built; "whistler" isn't kidding - there's construction everywhere), and I think many parts of the city cater to them. But everything is still nice and urban, the shopping is fantastic, and the transit system is fabulous from my experience (it's slower to drive your own vehicle in Vancouver probably 75% of the time).

In terms of entertainment and such, you'll still get all the major acts since the only Canadian stops of big acts that aren't monster-big yet are Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. If indie is more your speed, Van hosts quite a bit of that, with a number of record labels in the area too.

And I'm a big fan of the west-coast style. You can visit the Patkaus here. And Erickson here.

Hope that helps a little... This is a pretty good forum for those on the outside needing to know info about Vancouver from those on the inside.

Jul 24, 04 1:41 pm  · 
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bRink

Huh... "Midwestern USA is the area most free of dialect"...?

Lol... I can hear your midwest accent even in the way you type: "growin' up in the midwest"... :p

Are you sayin' that just because you grew up in the midwest, and everywhere else in the world has an accent thats somewhat different than the accent you grew up with that the midwest must be the only real pure english and everybody else has an "off" accent? That's pretty funny...

By the way, I grew up in the midwest US too...

As far as accents go, Canadian english is actually recognized as more of an international standard than American english... In fact, Vancouver is the city with most foreign language schools (and the largest population of international students studying at ESL schools) in North America. Canadian english is widely considered more proper than American english, and that's why Vancouver has been recognized as one of the worlds best cities to go to to study english as a second language...

Jul 25, 04 5:07 pm  · 
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A

bRink, I wasn't trying to imply that the way mid-westerners speak is the 'right' way to speak English. Just was trying to convey my experience with Britons who commented on how the mid-western USA dialect was clearly pronunciated and easy to understand. National news networks have caught on to that as well with most of their anchors coming from the mid-west. Tom Brokaw is from South Dakota of all places. I am aware that Peter Jennings is Canadian so I do know Canadians can speak very well. I think all the joking was more centered on the Canadian slang speaking. Saying 'Eh' can be just as annoying as saying 'Dude' all the time.

Jul 25, 04 10:54 pm  · 
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I ♥ Vancouver

Jul 26, 04 1:52 pm  · 
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rizzdizzl

a lot of people in the midwest have ridiculous accents....dont you remember the old SNL skits....Da Beeeaarrssss!!!!!!!!. Interestingly i grew up in chicago and have found out that the only people with accents are gym teachers and mayors. Secondly Nelly and that other guy chingy have created this fake facade of midwesterners saying "thur" and "hur" instead of there and here. Apparently some people on the east coast picked up on my accent (i think they were confused after watching too much BET) and started mocking me. Therefur the only way to get them back was to speak ridiculously way out of proportion of my original accent. Heeeeyyyyy Gurl.....let me get that booty.. over thuuurr!!!!!! Also pretty much anything outside of midwestern cities is bumpkinville.....and we know about the cletus the slack-jawed yokal talk. However nothing is as annoying as Canadian accents???eh, well actually rhode island accents are just as horrible if not more obnoxious.

Jul 26, 04 6:54 pm  · 
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beatmeofficer

vancouver city council just approved south false creek's (beautiful downtown waterfront location) development plan. it calls for 4000 new sustainable units (roof-top gardens, passive heating, etc), of which 66% (!) must be price-capped for low-middle income earners.

this is FANTASTIC for so many reasons. CONGRATS VANCOUVER!!

alternatively, perhaps you feel only people who earn 200 g's a year or more should be able to enjoy this amazing city:

"Market pricing for 100% of the units would be preferrable in my educated opinion. It may just encourage some of the lazy, unmotivated people of Vancouver to get off their backsides and actually make an effort to earn the money required to support a decent lifestyle instead of taxing it out of people like me who work 55 hours a week so I can afford a nice place to live.

If you want this new development shielded from out of town purchasers or realestate speculators that is fine. Put a restriction on purchasers that they must currently reside in Vancouver and they or their immediate family must reside in the new property. BUT DO NOT GIVE IT AWAY TO THE LAZY, WELFARE RECIEVING DISCONTENTS THAT THE CURRENT CITY HALL SEEMS SO EAGER TO CATER TO."

Jul 28, 04 11:50 pm  · 
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David Zeibin

Oooo. Hopefullly those units are just being finished by the time I start making some real cash...

Who wrote the other bit, beatmeofficer?

Jul 28, 04 11:58 pm  · 
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charlize

Is this discussion about moving to Vancuver or accents???

Well, Im not canadian or american. But I do love the first ones.


THE PUBLIC, I hope you find your way, best of luck.

Jul 31, 04 12:05 am  · 
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