Westcoast Transmission Building
1333 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique, V6E, Canada
Reconnu formellement en:
1996/08/27
Autre nom(s)
Westcoast Transmission Building
Westcoast Energy Building
The Qube
Liens et documents
s/o
Date(s) de construction
1968/01/01 à 1969/01/01
Inscrit au répertoire canadien:
2008/02/13
Énoncé d'importance
Description du lieu patrimonial
The Westcoast Transmission Building consists of a twelve-storey dark-glazed rectangular tower suspended by cables from a central concrete entry/elevator core. It is prominently located on a multi-leveled plaza on the north side of West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver.
Valeur patrimoniale
The Westcoast Transmission Building is significant for its historical, technical and aesthetic values, most notably for its unique cable suspension system of construction. This system was a widely-endorsed response to increasing seismic design requirements, and makes the building one of Vancouver's most identifiable landmarks in the downtown core.
Constructed in 1968-69 for the Westcoast Transmission Company Ltd., this landmark building is indicative of the continued expansion of Vancouver's central business district during the corporate building boom in late 1960s and early 1970s, which was fuelled by the transfer of corporate headquarters to Vancouver. Resource development companies such as the Westcoast Transmission Company, incorporated in 1949 by a Special Act of Parliament to build British Columbia's first gas-processing plant at Taylor, British Columbia, and Canada's first large pipeline, are particularly representative of the city's corporate expansion.
The building exhibits the Modernist interest in structural innovation and technology. Its dramatic suspension bridge construction facilitated a continued view of the North Shore from Georgia Street, but more importantly, symbolized to the public a corporate response to severe earthquake hazard. Its simple glazed curtain wall box draws attention to the structural innovation, which garnered international recognition as the recipient of the 1970-71 Design in Steel Award from the American Iron and Steel Institute.
The building's structural consultant, Bogue Babicki, of the architecture firm of Rhone and Iredale, is representative of the convergence of European engineering and design expertise with local design challenges, facilitated by the post-WWII immigration of professionals schooled in the European experimental approach.
Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program
Éléments caractéristiques
The character-defining elements of the Westcoast Transmission Building include:
Siting, Context and Landscape
- Location to the west of the central business district
- Open plan at plaza level with views from the street to Burrard Inlet retained under the suspended building
Architectural Qualities
- Uniformly coloured cubic volume
Architectural Elements
- Glazed curtain wall using dark-coloured glass and spandrel glass
- Exposed bundles of structural cables
- Column-free underground parking
- Vertical transportation and service spaces grouped into the central concrete core
Reconnaissance
Juridiction
Colombie-Britannique
Autorité de reconnaissance
Ville de Vancouver
Loi habilitante
Vancouver Charter, art.582
Type de reconnaissance
Répertoire du patrimoine communautaire
Date de reconnaissance
1996/08/27
Données sur l'histoire
Date(s) importantes
s/o
Thème - catégorie et type
- Économies en développement
- Commerce et affaires
Catégorie de fonction / Type de fonction
Actuelle
- Résidence
- Édifice à logements multiples
Historique
- Commerce / Services commerciaux
- Bureau ou édifice à bureaux
Architecte / Concepteur
Rhone and Iredale
Constructeur
s/o
Informations supplémentaires
Emplacement de la documentation
City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program
Réfère à une collection
Identificateur féd./prov./terr.
DhRs-173
Statut
Édité
Inscriptions associées
s/o