My view on "Views on Views"

On Monday night I attended "Views on Views", a lecture/debate about the current review of Vancouver's protected view corridors hosted by SFU's City Program. The discussion was lively and both sides of the argument made good points. I previously thought the view corridors in general were a good idea, but that a lot of them were pointless for how little a view they gave. After the lecture, I must admit, my "view" has changed. Here's why:

1. Although a protected view is based on standing at a certain point, and is just a glimpse from that point, views are dynamic, so as you're walking or driving along, you're seeing more than just that slim shot.

2. Most of the small glances are from along the south shore of False Creek looking towards the north shore. The downtown blocks most of the mountains, but these views give glimpses to the mountains. And lets face it, without those glimpses the monotony of the glass towers in that part of the city would be overwhelming. The views remind us where we are and distract us from what is otherwise a wall of buildings.

3. The view corridors really haven't prevented any projects from being realized, and in fact you could argue that a building like the Shangri-La ended up more beautiful because it was forced to become triangular in shape to avoid a view corridor. As an architect I can attest that the best projects are often the ones that have the most challenges, because you are forced to become even more creative than you already are. The Ritz Carlton tower also twisted the way it did in order to avoid the view corridor on it's higher levels.

4. We have a lot more land yet to develop in this city to be worried only about how much space there is downtown to continue to grow. (That was the main reason the corridors were brought up for review - to see if there was any opportunity for more and/or taller towers downtown). In particular, the area east of downtown all the way to Clark Drive was pointed out as a prime area for development, negating any need to allow bigger buildings downtown.

Those are the points that struck a chord with me. There were good arguments on the other side
as well, such as allowing buildings to go taller into the view corridors requires them to be slimmer, blocking less of the view and creating more public space at ground level. But as Larry Beasley put it best, once the views are gone, they are gone, and it only takes one building to do that.

There are still a few open houses happening before the Planning Department makes their presentation to council, so go check them out and give your opinion. Apparently there has already been a lot of support expressed for actually adding view corridors, and now is the time to do it, before downtown starts expanding east.

Open Houses:

Thursday, October 15: 4 - 8 pm
Saturday, October 17: 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday, October 18: 12 - 5 pm
Vancouver Public Library
Central Branch
350 West Georgia Street

Tuesday, October 20: 6 - 9 pm
False Creek Elementary
900 School Green

http://www.vancouver.ca/views