Shannon Mews Update

Busby Perkins + Will has made a formal application to rezone the Shannon Mews site from RS-6 (residential) to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development). The result would increase the FSR to 2.08 from 0.6 which is substantial in what is largely a single family dwelling district.

Here is a rendering of the corner of Granville and 57th from BP+W:

The plan calls for the retention and designation as heritage of the existing mansion, coach house and gatehouse but makes no mention of the 1971 Erickson-designed buildings on the site.

Interestingly, it was Erickson who helped save the original buildings and gardens by proposing a plan that allowed them to remain sympathetically within the 1971 plan. Ironic then, that his designs look set to be brought down to make way for the new development.

As I mentioned in a post last year, it seems like an excellent opportunity for architectural dialogue between original Italianate villa, circa-1970's West Coast Modernism and post-millennial Eco-Density development.

Though the Shannon Mews buildings are not among Erickson's most important work–they were built economically as rental units–they still display many of his characteristic trademarks: clarity of form, respect for siting, economical use of materials.

As with all rezoning applications, the City of Vancouver welcomes your feedback.

Western Living 2010 Designers of the Year

Western Living has just published its 2010 Designers of the Year issue.

Amongst the winners are Marc Boutin (Architect of the Year), Victoria Wood (Landscape Designer of the Year) and Izm (Furniture Designer of the Year).

Special mention goes to D'Arcy Jones (shown above) as the inaugural winner of the Arthur Erickson Award which celebrates the work of an emerging architect or designer.

See Western Living for a full list of winners and profiles.

Telling Details of Clifford Wiens

Just came across this volume on Clifford Wiens at the Charles H. Scott Gallery bookstore on Granville Island. It's the companion piece to an exhibition on Wiens that toured various galleries across the country in 2006-2007, including the Charles H. Scott.

I unfortunately missed the show on this important prairie modernist but the book covers his work from 1955-1995 and includes residences, offices and industrial and religious projects.

Wiens is perhaps best known for his Heating + Cooling Plant (1967, above) at the University of Regina and the Silton Summer Chapel (1969, below) in Saskatchewan. The former is an expressive work that goes well beyond the often perfunctory nature of industrial buildings and features board-marked concrete beams and a unique removable endwall glass curtain. As the architect himself comments, it is "a concrete temple to technology."

The chapel is a lesson in the strength of perceived simplicity: an open air structure, supported by glulams and tension rods that transfer forces up through the centre rather than at the corners. It's a beautiful re-imagining of religious space that maintains an essential connection to the natural world.

Telling Details is published by the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon (kudos for mounting an architectural-based exhibit) and was curated by Trevor Boddy. It includes essays by Mendel Director Vincent Varga and Clifford Wiens, who discusses the deep impact a prairie upbringing had on his architecture.

Though there are a surprising number of errata in the book, the photographs are lovely and it's nice to have something on Wiens; his work seems to have flown under the radar, likely because of its prairie setting. But it's important work and makes me wish for an expanded volume that more fully explores the subject, especially for those who missed the original exhibition.

Photographs: Clifford Wiens

Filberg House Tour

Continuing their excellent series on Vancouver architects and architecture, the West Vancouver Museum and Archives is offering a unique experience coming up in September: a tour of Arthur Erickson's 1958 Filberg Residence.

This much-published house is one of Erickson's earliest commissions and exhibits the arabesque tendencies that occasionally cropped up in his designs. It is a rarified pavilion that has a compelling, if heartbreaking story attached to it. Filberg commissioned the house but did not live to see its completion. His intention was that it become a meeting place for intellectuals and leaders, an ambitious vision that sadly never came to fruition. It was sold, eventually altered rather grotesquely and slipped into disrepair before a later owner fastidiously restored the house to its former glory.

Leaders and intellectuals presumably still don't congregate there, but the house remains a sublime work that sits on a high, south-facing bluff near Comox, looking out over the Straight of Georgia.

The West Vancouver Museum and Archives is offering a day trip to the house or an extended overnight package which allows visitors to experience it at dusk. The trip is being guided by photographer Simon Scott who worked closely with Erickson and photographed his buildings for the essential 1975 Tundra book "The Architecture of Arthur Erickson."

See the Museum and Archives website for details of the tour as well as other upcoming Erickson-related events.

Image: Christopher Erickson www.arthurerickson.com

Twenty + Change: Images

Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Gastown Drive In: Urban Republic Arts Society/pH5 Architecture. Excellent re-imagining of existing urban space. Seeing Hard Core Logo here on a beautiful starlit summer night proved a remarkable way to experience the city.

Anderson House (model): D'Arcy Jones Design. Deft and subtle touch on Saltspring Island, BC.

Anderson House (rendering): D'Arcy Jones Design.

Molly's Cabin: Agathom Co. Northern Ontario lake-side stunner from RJ Thom's son's firm.

Cascade House: Paul Raff Studio. Lush, textural Toronto residence with strong environmental mandate.

Zacatitos-01 (model): Campos Leckie. Understated desert modern prototype, working with the climate and off the grid; from Vancouver design firm.

Main gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design.