14-10-24

I've walked by this Brutalist high rise dozens of times. I've taken photos of it before too but I've never stepped foot in it. Today I did for the first time and it was a well thought out building that benefited from the luxuries of a pre-real estate boom Vancouver. The footprint of the building, for example, wasn't completely developed. There was public space and a promenade of sorts. With land being worth more than gold in this city that would never happen again. Maybe the public fore-court wasn't the most incredible architectural space possible it was still better than another Starbucks and McDonalds. The foyer was the same, spacious and afforded light from skylights that wouldn't be possible with a denser lot development.

The elevators were lined with real wood, not sawdust filled veneered panels. The walls were concrete, full of substance and weight, not ground up dust compacted and held together with paper and paint.

It felt invested in, this building. It felt good to be inside it. It felt good to walk up to it.

Inside the building I was afforded a view to the north from the 11th floor. I should have taken a photo but I didn't . What I noticed was a wall of glass and concrete that is downtown. It was nearly impossible to distinguish one building from another, they were all greenish and inoffensive and homogeneous. I've speculated before that so many movies are filmed in this city because it doesn't have anything iconic to give it away on the screen. I mean, yes, there's the pair of stadiums but it's pretty easy to find a camera angle where they are blocked out by another greenish glass block rising from the street.

I'm glad this building exists. I'm glad that there's so much concrete making up its structure that it's unlikely to be demolished any time soon. And I'm glad I finally stepped foot inside it today.