Summer Light

It has been over a month since I last posted, and all summer since I have written anything substantial! It has been a busy and wonderful few months off I must admit. August has been full of vacation (more on that later!), one week back with friends in town visiting, and then off to the field with work, which is where I am now! July was all about Vancouver. The weather was absolutely amazing and I took full advantage of it! I fell in love with Vancouver all over again and explored so many new places (more on that as well!). Needless to say, it was a great summer... and now that fall is here, I can't help but wish I could go back and start summer all over again!

With summer still in my mind (as I sit in a rain/wind storm) I stumbled upon this image, which I am just loving! The light in this image reminds me of summer mornings... the time of day I relish the most!

Via a life's design

I read a little bit about this house and made me fall in love with the hole house, not just this room!

• Beautifully located - bay side Maryland
• Inspired by historical small structures that lined the shores of the Chesapeake Bay for the past centuries.

The front of the house... rather large! Via Southern Living

• The back of the house- which faces the water is lined with windows and has multiple porches. I love the idea of multiple smaller areas, which makes things much cozier.

Via a life's design

What I was thinking then... In mourning

I have been really busy lately, hence the lack of posts.... But it doesn't mean that I haven't been writing... I do, but then something takes me away and I never finish the post. And then the post information becomes irrelevant and I feel like I can't post it any longer. Well, I have decided that I want to post these, even if what I am talking about is long past gone! So here is the first in a series if "What I was thinking then...." I'll write the date I intended to post these to give some context.

May 20th 2009


On the way home from visiting with a friend tonight, I heard that Arthur Erickson has passed away... Some of my first blog posts were on his work, and I always love when I walk by his buildings in this city. I dreamed of one day meeting him, either at an event, or just passing him on the street. I am so sad, not only because I will never be able to meet him, but because a part of Vancouver (namely Vancouverism architecture) has passed away along with Mr Erickson. I hope that those who work with his firm still push his vision forward, but I wonder, where their designs will go now that their founder, and visionary is gone...

Arthur Erickson was a Vancouver, B.C. native. He studied at UBC and McGill, and did work all over the world, but he also came back and in my opinion changed the face of the Vancouver skyline. Many people recognize Arthur Erickson's work only by the concrete that he used, and many people don't like his designs that much, so I thought I would show some of his work without concrete - I love these ones because they meld so well into the natural landscape, really making the view and nature the focal point. Aurthur Erickson's ability to design with the natural environment as the primary focus is what he should be known for, because he pushed that concept to knew heights... literally!

I hope that Arthur Erickson is smiling down at this beautiful day and is proud of the way he has shaped his home town.... and many of the homes in his town.

All of the images are from Arthur Ericskson's website. When I think of a Vancouver house, these are what I think of.... His lines are so impeccable!

More Vancouerism in Vancouver

Surprise Surprise, I am posting about Vancouverism again. There is just so much to show though! Below are some buildings that are part of the Vancouverism show in London right now. There is so many good pieces of architecture in Vancouver!

Marinaside False Creek (Concord Pacific)
Spectrum
The Olympic Oval
The display in London around Canada House (okay! - this one is not in Vancouver - but maybe it was made in Vancouver??)



Surrey Central City

Sunset Community Center

Where is Arthur Erickson?

To follow up on my post yesterday about Vancouverism, I'm posting some of Arthur Erickson's buildings. Maybe you will recognize one when you pass it on the street....

MacMillan Bloedel Building Downtown Vancouver

Museum of Anthropology UBC - UBC campus, north coast

The Waterfall Building - near Granville Island
Law Courts - Smithe and Hornby

Robson Square - Robson street...
He really liked his concrete.

Vancouverism

Vancouver is being recognized internationally not only for the Olympics or for one of the top places to live - now it is being recognized for its architecture. London is now displaying our buildings in a show called Vancouverism: Westcoast Architecture and City Building. Part of the exhibition is outside. Bing Thom’s cider wall wraps around Canada House in London… it’s 61 meters long and 8 meters high – hard to miss!

Canada House with Vancouverism Display

So what is Vancouverism? From what I can tell it originated from Author Erickson’s sketch called Project 56 in which he imagined a downtown of soaring, 50 to 70 story, slender towers – and a hyper concentration of buildings and people. From John W MacDonald's Blog - Arthur Erickson

But it is even more than that – as I found out in this great article - it's the way Vancouver, one of North America’s youngest cities has broken all the rules of North American urbanism. For example: no freeways within Vancouver boundaries, the separation of urban planning decisions from elected government officials, and social bonus zoning. Because without these there would be no incentive or need to build tall, high density, urban towers. Vancouver skyline

Vancouverism is not all due to municipal plans, there are many outside factors at play here – one is the geographic boundaries; tucked between ocean and mountains - the space naturally encourages denser living; another is Expo 86 – high rise buildings needed within the site small area to satisfy the event was the real blue print for other high density neighbourhoods; and the 1991-1997 influx of Hong Kongers and Taiwanese who were not afraid to live in high density areas. One of Arthor Erickson's designs

All of these factors actually made Vancouver the most densely populated downtown core in 2005 – superseding Manhattan, which has now taken the title back after some rejuvenation of its own.
Manhattan

So how does the show (which collaborated with two young Architects (Bing Thom and James Cheng) at Erickson’s firm) define Vancouverism? It quotes New York Times’ definition on December 28, 2005: “Vancouverism is characterized by tall but widely separated slender towers interspersed with low-rise buildings, public spaces, small parks and pedestrian friends streetscapes and facades to minimise the impact of high density.” Sounds like the city I live in!!

The Vancouverism show will be in London for the rest of the summer, where it starts its European and North American tour, finshing in Vancouver around the Olympics.... which makes my opening line quite ironic.