In what seems like the most significant development or rebuilding of public spaces in the city in some time (I’m including the bikeways), here’s another well underway – the transformation of Courthouse Square in from the Art Gallery on Georgia:
Here’s what’s left of the fountain that was more an intrusive obstacle than an amenity:
And here’s what it should shortly all look like:
Simple but flexible. And while it did involve removal of some of the more mature trees, the effect has been to dramatically improve the impact of the neoclassical courthouse in the cityscape.
Every single tree, including the ones on the sidewalk by Georgia Street, was cut down. I sure hope they deliver.
I believe they needed to remove the trees to construct the paving, etc. The rendering shows new trees will be added to the streetscape
Yes, I understand that. I just hope what they deliver is worthy of the upheaval.
That sucks. Those trees on the corner were pretty amazing.
That plaza looks pretty freaking boring. Looks like the plaza out front of Surrey city hall that’s a total disaster of a public space.
I never liked that fountain. Water features are generally nice to have but this one was awful. The statue thing in the middle of it was ugly.
Glad to see it gone.
Hopefully the City will continue with actively programming the space including putting out lots of removable chairs and tables with patio umbrellas so that this space can be well used in the summer time. A big blank plaza makes it hard for people to engage with it on a daily basis beyond using it as a space to pass through.
The loss of the mature Atlas cedars near the building was inexcusable. They were as much part of the heritage as the Rattenbury courthouse. They were rare trees. There had better be an uncompromised rationale for doing so. So far, dead silence, at least in public.
The mature magnolia on the corner of Georgia x Hornby was kept while they removed the Atlas’s, but may have been cut down by now. It has / had a 12+ metre spread. If so, that was inexcusable too. Even Class A heritage buildings took only about five years to build. A tree takes two generations to grow to its fullest potential.
VAG, HAPA and Milkovich need to answer for these actions. Working with heritage trees is part of best practices, and the fact the effort was screened and phased indicates the removal was purposefully planned to attempt to minimize public scrutiny.
Shameful.
It is a basic thing to leave mature trees, especially those that have grown up in that environment and provide great shade among many other benefits. I wonder what the rational was to just scorched earth the whole thing…
From the design rationale: TREE REMOVAL
Existing trees are either in poor or declining condition, are in locations that restrict or preclude uses of the plaza, are inappropriate species for a large urban plaza, or obscure site-lines of the heritage Courthouse façade. It is proposed that all existing trees on the plaza be removed.
You can read all about the plans, reasons etc here: http://development.vancouver.ca/800wgeorgiaa/index.htm
Taken straight from a developer’s notes I see.
Shame the City wouldn’t do better.
I’ll believe the “declining condition” when I read the details in an arbourist’s report. Usually they have to present a hazard to the public or have identifiable, significant disease and be in documented decline to justify removal.
The plaza could have been designed to accommodate the presence of the trees, even with significant grade changes. This is especially true with trees located at the edges. Atlas cedars have an open canopy that affords screened views of the VAG façade. If these two issues were the main excuses used for removal, then they were not acceptable and certainly do not meet professional best practices criteria.
What’s especially galling is that the very good plaza concept would not have been affected except near the building façade. In fact, I contend that the trees would have complemented the design if the area below them was soft planted and edged in interesting ways.
“…or obscure site-lines of the heritage Courthouse façade…”
The same could be said for any street trees in front of any heritage building.
Should all the trees be removed from Gastown?
Excellent point, Guest.
I’ll miss that magnolia.
I’m sure that thousands of office workers downtown looked to it as a signal each year that Spring had arrived.
The trees were removed for the sake of a designer’s “design”.
That means uniformity – row upon row of the same tree.
Similarly, the Granville St. revitalization before the Olympics had proposed to remove all the mature trees on Granville north of Georgia St., but public outcry saved them.
The Art Gallery square will have cherry trees on the Howe St. side, but Springtime colour will be gone from the Hornby side.
The success of the barren plaza will depend on programming (and who’ll pay for that?).
As an aside, the Japanese maple trees that once stood at the Howe & Georgia corner were successfully transplanted to the north side of the Vancouver Archives building at Vanier Park a year or so ago.
Having addressed the tragic loss of heritage trees, a paved plaza is most apropos for multiple events. Let’s hope the services and stage facilities are well designed and robust enough to allow an increase of cultural bookings by orders of magnitude year round. The bosque of trees at the edges will eventually provide shade and will not buckle the paving if subsurface vaults are provided for root growth. The most important space — the centre — is no longer occupied by a meaningless fountain, and the paved surface will finally be able to support the traffic this space gets.
The new square looks great. It’s exactly what the city needs: a central, open, simple, flexible gathering space for political demonstrations and free concert events.
The old plaza was extremely awkward and ugly. It always looked unfinished and uninviting. Hopefully the new space will utilise high-quality paving materials.
At last the Wacky Bennett fountain and faux mountain are gone! While I much preferred the “halo” option – as did many others – I am happy that a large, simple, uncluttered space is finally available to all of us. Not too shady, either. Programming will be by people, hopefully not overly done. Will we be able to celebrate First Night again in style? Looking forward to it.
Kudos to the designers – Hapa and Nick Milkovich!
Given that the halo would play well with this design also … I kinda hope we can bring that back – it was interesting! (which is a rare thing)
That plaza is as tragically boring as the city mandated space in front of the Ridge condos at 16th and Arbutus. Ultimately all it was good for was plunking down a Mobi station smack in the middle of the concrete wasteland.
Or the Queen Elizabeth Theatre plaza.