Vancouver Public Library
Moshe
Safdie and Associates +
Downs Archambault and Partners
Vancouver, British Columbia
Terri
Meyer Boake B.E.S. B.Arch. M.Arch.
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Vancouver Public Library Moshe
Safdie and Associates + Vancouver, British Columbia
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About the building: The new VPL opened in May 1996. It is located in downtown Vancouver at the intersection of Robson and Georgia Streets. PCL Constructors Pacific Limited were the general contractors for the project. The structure itself is a rectangle within an ellipse. The large tower is occupied by the provincial government, as well as the 8th and 9th floors (plus roof garden) of the lower library building. The library building is 35, 150 square meters. The main structure is concrete. The concrete was poured into precast concrete formwork which were ultimately left in place (unlike conventional wood or steel forms). The building colour is from granite quarried in Horsefly, B.C., and crushed granite was used in the making of the precast. Excavation began in 1993. It took 26 months to complete the porject. The cost of the library, retail, daycare and parkade:$106.8 million (Canadian); the cost of the Federal Tower: $50 million (Canadian).
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| View
towards entrance from Georgia Street. |
Looking
up at Georgia Street entrance towards the 6 storey high atrium end wall
and further up the Federal Tower. |
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| Detail
alongside Robson Street. |
Robson
entrance to the library. |
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| Interior
of public atrium on a slightly overcast day. |
Sun
penetration of public atrium late afternoon on a sunny day. |
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| Looking
along glazed library wall as it faces the atrium with bridge over to the
library entrance. |
Looking up
through the skylit atrium roof towards the Federal Tower building. |
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| From the
6th floor of the library looking down into the atrium. |
Detail of
atrium glazing and library wall adjacent. |
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| View out
through fully glazed library wall into atrium. |
Detail of
atrium skylights. |
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| Restricted
6 storey atrium space within the library proper. |
Looking up
towards the skylights of the interior library atrium. |
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The images on this site have been taken for use in my teaching. They may be copied for educational purposes. Please give credit. These images may not be reproduced commercially without written consent.
last updated March 8, 2008 |
