© Nic Lehoux

The Sunset Community Centre was conceived as a link between nature and the vibrant multi-cultural communities that surround it. Unique yet not foreign to its surroundings, Sunset Community Centre is an elegant and transparent building, carefully sited on a major thoroughfare to give the building visibility and accessibility to the community. The back and sides of the building serve as a background for outdoor activities with its spectacular southern views and setting among the fields, greenhouses and planting beds of the adjacent Vancouver Park Board site.

Architect: Bing Thom Architects
Location: 6810 Main Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Project Team: Michael Heeney, John Camfield Venelin Kokalov, Francis Yan, Arno Matis, Eric Boelling, Shinobu Homma, Marcos Hui
Structure Engineer: Gerry Epp & John Miller, Fast + Epp / StructureCraft
Mechanical/Electrical Engineer: Jason Weir, Roger Sum, Stantec
Landscape Architect: Blair Guppy, Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg
Builder: Peter Bazilewich & Alex Strega, Haebler Construction
Code Equivalency: Ken Chow & Susana Chui, Pioneer Consultants
Cost: George Evans, LEC Quantity Surveyors
Parking: David Tam, Bunt & Associates
Acoustics: Bob Strachan, Brown Strachan Associates
Commissioning: Kevin May, Airmec Systems
Geotechnical/Civil Engineer: Steven Fofonoff, GeoPacific Consultants
Project Area: 30,000 sqf
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Nic Lehoux, Ergi Bozyigit

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© Andrew Doran Photography, Photo Courtesy of Hariri Pontarini Architects

The Ontario Pavilion for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games was designed as a physical and experiential gateway to Ontario. The pavilion provided a unique impression of Ontario’s lively character and had over 170,000 visitors. With an exterior translucent screen projecting varying degrees of visibility, the structure prompted visitors to shift their perception of what defines transparency.

Architects: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Partner-in-Charge: Siamak Hariri
Collaborators: Lord Cultural Resources, Ellis Don Corporation, Nussli Event Construction, Infinite Stage Design, Iredale Group
Project Area: 14,600 sqf
Photographs: Andrew Doran Photography, Hariri Pontarini Architects

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© Hubert Kang

This LEED Silver project is the Vancouver office of Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA). Natural light and outside views for every worker in the open-plan studio provides psychological benefit, while natural ventilation decreases costly dependence on HVAC equipment. The double-height studio with clerestory windows fills the space with a warm glow of sunlight, while a filter-coating added to the windows reduces glare on computer monitors.

Project description, drawings and images after the break.

Architect: Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA)
Location: 1508 West 2nd Ave, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Project Area: 300 sqm
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Hubert Kang

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© Hubert Kang

The design for the West Vancouver Community Centre involved a set of ambitious design goals. The client wished to consolidate a number of disparate facilities, to provide a front door to their recreation campus, and to take an aggressive approach to social health and environmental innovation. The project’s technical and administrative challenges came to define the Centre’s role in West Vancouver’s distinctly West Coast social fabric. This is a culture that enjoys a strong tradition of both civic activity and physical wellness. The preeminent architectural elements in the project, the three-storey atrium and the circulation spine, reflect these traditions.

Architect: Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA)
Location: 2121 Marine Drive West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Project Area: 8,000 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Hubert Kang and Lucas Finlay

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© Shai Gil Photography

The new Langara Student Union is designed as a focal point and center of the main quad at Langara College. It flows out from between two existing buildings bringing students from the 49th Street entrance into the heart of the campus and public square – drawing life into the outdoor space.

Architects: Teeple Architects Inc in association with IBI/HB Architects
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Principal in Charge: Stephen Teeple (OAA, FRAIC )
Project Team: Myles Craig, Luc Bouliane, William Elsworthy, Rob Cheung, Jeff Christiansen, Billy Quan, Martin Bruckner
Structural: WSB
Mechanical: IMEC Mechanical
Electrical: Genivar
Geo-Tech: Geo Pacific
LEED: Enermodal Engineers
Landscape: Francesco Martire – Teeple Architects Inc
Envelope: Morrison Hershfield
Food Service & Waste: Teeple Architects Inc
Cost: Bird Construction Company
Code: LMDG
Construction Manager: Bird Construction Company
Owner: Langara College
Project Area: 17,900 sqf
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Shai Gil Photography

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Our friends at goodweather are working on a documentary and an exhibition about the Vancouver-based architect Daniel Evan White. His work will be featured in a major retrospective upcoming at the Museum of Vancouver on February 2012. There’s a trailer for the documentary now that we want to share with you. See more about Dan White right here.

© Shai Gil Photography

From the project’s inception, Langara College was looking to address the educational and spatial needs of the school, as well as create a sustainable environment to incorporate the new Library and Classroom program. In addition to designing the building, Teeple Architects designed a master plan that offers a strategy to realize the environmentally responsible vision of the College’s future. The decision to create a LEED Gold Campus, supported by sustainable built and natural features, was the starting point for the overall Langara scheme.

Architect: Teeple Architects
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Principal in Charge & Project Architect: Stephen Teeple (OAA, FRAIC)
Project Team: Cheryl Atkinson, Myles Craig, Luc Bouliane
Associate Architect: IBI/HB Architects
Structural Engineer: Glotman, Simpson
Landscape Architect: Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg
Mechanical Engineer: Cobalt Engineering
Electrical Engineer: Spantek
General Contractor: Bird Construction
Project Area: 80,000 sqf
Project Year 2007
Photographs: Shai Gil Photography

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© Farah Nosh

Architects: Bricault design
Location: Vancouver BC, Canada
Project area: 124 sqm
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Farah Nosh

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Marianne Amodio Architecture Studio

Architects: Marianne Amodio Architecture Studio
Location: Vancouver BC, Canada
General contractor: Woodworks Custom Developments
Project area: 6,500 sq. ft.
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of Marianne Amodio Architecture Studio

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Courtesy MCM Partnership

MCM Partnership has shared with us their design for the Great Northern Way’s new campus building, the Center for Digital Media. Follow after the jump for additional rendering, graphics and a description from the architect.
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© James Dow / Patkau Architects

The Gleneagles Community Center is located on a small, gently sloping site adjacent to a public golf course. Patkau Architects organized the program on three levels to minimize the building footprint. By subtly reshaping the cross-sectional topography of the site, the lower level and the intermediate level are both located on grade. More photographs and drawings following the break.

Architects: Patkau Architects
Location: West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Client: Corporation of the District of West Vancouver
Project Team: Omer Arbel, Greg Boothroyd, Joanne Gates, Samantha Hayes, Patrick O’Sullivan, John Patkau, Patricia Patkau, David Shone, Craig Simms
Project Manager: Maurice J. Ouellette Consulting
Landscape Architect: Vaughan Landscape Planning & Design
Structural Engineering: Fast & Epp Structural Engineers
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering: Earth Tech Canada Inc.
Civil Engineering: Webster Engineering Ltd
Code Consultant: Gage-Babcock & Associates
Specifications Consultant: Susan Morris Specifications
Audiovisual Consultant: McSquared System Design Group
Signage Consultant: Gallop/Varley
Contractor: Country West Construction Ltd.
Photographs: James Dow

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The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver is on track to open in the summer of 2011. CIRS aims to be the most innovative and high performance building in North America, a “living laboratory” where professors, students and partners demonstrate leading-edge research and develop sustainable design practices, products, systems and policies. The building will push the frontiers of sustainable construction materials and building techniques. It will draw much of its heat from the ground, electricity from the sun, ventilation from the wind, water from the rain–all while reducing the university’s energy use and carbon footprint.

UBC has set some of the most aggressive GHG reduction targets in the world, with the goal of eliminating 100% of GHG emissions by 2050. The UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI), the group responsible for integrating sustainability research, teaching and learning, and operations, will be housed in CIRS.

For more information, visit CIRS official website.

Chad Falkenberg

Interior designer: Kelly Reynolds
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Client: Brad Friesen
Project area: 92,9 sqm
Project year: 2009 – 2010
Photographs: Chad Falkenberg

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© John Sinal

Architects: Campos Leckie Studio
Location: Crosstown, Vancouver, Canada
Site characteristics: Urban split-level loft
Program: Convertible spaces – 2 bdrm, nursery, 1.5 bath, kitchen, living, dining, roof deck
Project area: 2,000 sq. ft.
Project year: 2009
Photographs: John Sinal

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© Ihor Pona

Architects: Square One Interiors
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Project area: 535 sq ft
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Ihor Pona

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© BC Hydro

To promote their Power Smart month of October, BC Hydro has launched an interesting public campaign for energy efficiency by converting two shipping containers into live experimental spaces in Vancouver.  For fours day, actors will live in the 3×6 meter containers “to showcase how – and how not – to live and work in an energy-efficient manner.”   The two containers are meant to depict the extreme opposites of energy consumption and show the simple steps people can take to increase their efficiency.   As the containers are fully glazed on one side, passersby can see how the actors go about their daily routines – one completely wasteful with a constantly blasting television and all the lights on, while the other actor uses natural daylight for illumination and adds extra layers of clothing for warmth.  Displays are fixed to the exterior of each container to provide simulated consumption readings, allowing the public to see the difference in the energy use when comparing energy-efficient living to inefficient and wasteful behavior.

More about the experiment after the break. read more »

© Nic Lehoux

The 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics taking place in Vancouver, Canada open today and we’d like to introduce you one of the most important venues designed for the event.

The Richmond Olympic Oval designed by Cannon Design, is located on a 32 acres of city-owned land along the banks of the Fraser River. Olympics have been a big opportunity for cities, and the facilities built for the event have the challenge to start a new development, as it has been in this case. The Oval will be the centrepiece of a major new urban waterfront neighbourhood featuring a mix of residential, commercial, and public amenity development. The new Oval neighbourhood will be a destination and meeting place offering diverse indoor and outdoor recreational activities, shopping, and services.

After the games, the building will become an international center for sports and wellness, and thanks to its flexible design it can be used for a wide variety of sport and community uses.

More details after the break:
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Romses Architects has designed “Harvest Green Project-02′ as a part of Vancouver ‘The 2030 Challenge’. Harvest Green Project is rooted in a concept that challenges the status quo of how energy and food is produced, delivered and sustained in our city, neighbourhoods, and individual single-family homes.

Taking cues from the citys eco-density charter, and in particular, it’s new laneway housing initiatives, the Harvest Green Project proposes to overlay a new ‘green energy and food web’ across the numerous residential neighborhoods and laneways within the city as these communities address future increased densification. The city’s laneways will be transformed into green energy and food conduits, or ‘green streets’, where energy and food is ‘harvested’ via proposed micro laneway live-work homes.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »

The ‘Harvest Green Project’ by Romses Architects was a winning entry in a recent competition held by the city of Vancouver: ‘The 2030 Challenge’ to address climate change plans and to guide greener and denser development, reducing carbon emissions for the future.

The concept of ‘harvest’ is explored in the project through the vertical farming of vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish, egg laying chickens, and a boutique goat and sheep dairy facility. In addition, renewable energy will be harvested via green building design elements harnessing geothermal, wind and solar power. The buildings have photovoltaic glazing and incorporate small and large-scale wind turbines to turn the structure into solar and wind-farm infrastructure. In addition, vertical farming potentially adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals. Furthermore, a large rainwater cistern terminates the top of the ‘harvest tower’ providing on-site irrigation for the numerous indoor and outdoor crops and roof gardens.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »