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We all know that buildings don't always turn out like the renderings. Last-minute changes and real-life materials can all cause discrepancies between the vision and reality of a project. In our Flash Forward Friday feature, we take a look at how different projects stack up.
When internationally recognized architectural practice Foster + Partners unveiled plans to build their first residential development in North America, urban-minded Vancouverites grew giddy in anticipation. The British practice, helmed by Sir Norman Foster, has earned a stellar reputation for their high-profile contemporary designs around the world. Proposed for the corner of Hornby and West Hastings Streets, illustrations of the 35-storey Jameson House by Bosa Properties displayed how the building would interact with an existing heritage base, a similar relationship that played out at their famous Hearst Tower project in New York City.
The 26 storeys within the residential tower meets the Ceperley Rounsfell Building and the Royal Financial Building, two 1920s Beaux-Arts structures that were restored as part of the project. The eight storeys of offices above the ground-level retail program culminate at the same height as the cornice of the adjacent building. The evolution in the building's interior function is externally signified by a change in form. The smooth facade of the offices morphs into four curved piers, arranged diagonally to optimize views and shade. The top two storeys house penthouse apartments and supplementary landscaped roof terraces. Additional plantings in amenity garden spaces are irrigated naturally via a rainwater harvesting system.
"Vancouver has a spectacular location, surrounded by mountains and the sea. The design makes the most of the city’s fantastic natural setting, with balconies and deep bay windows looking out towards the landscape," said Lord Norman Foster. "Jameson House further develops a number of key themes that have been integral to our work for many years. The project combines restoration with new construction; it is high-density and mixed-use, offering a sustainable model for urban living; and it demonstrates innovation, both in its evolution of the high-rise building and its progressive environmental agenda."
Completed in 2011, the skyscraper executed the vision established in the renderings with apparent ease, the only discernible difference being the level of exterior vegetation on the balconies. The building is certainly one of the most memorable recent completions in Vancouver, proving how simple and practical design interventions can produce an eye-catching landmark.
We will return in the near future with another comparison!
