These are some of my ideas for the the Vancouver Central Waterfront, the area between Centerm and Canada Place. The railyards on the waterfront are an anachronism that beg for redevelopment proposals, and there have been a few over the years like a casino, stadium, bland office towers and transit hub. I started these ideas when the casino was proposed in the 90s, and I have revisited them over time. This time spurred on by the return of the Icepick, a office tower many people seem to loathe, but I don’t think is too bad. I promised to post my scratchings, so here they are.
The principal principle of my proposal is bridging the railyards to connect downtown to the water. To do that I propose to build out a triangular area and bring the street grade to water level.
On this triangle I propose a tight grid of narrow streets around small blocks that get even smaller toward Crab Park. The park is expanded but directed inward. Looking at the image above, the grade descends from downtown to the water at the right. On the bottom chord of the triangle, the grade must be high enough to clear the railyards, and along the left chord of the triangle, the downtown grade is preserved to the northern point as the vantage point should be a bit higher than the wharves on either side. The Centerm expansion is assumed and shown in blue, and completion of the Harbour Line and removing the Seabus terminal is also assumed.
