Coal Harbour Iconic Image Laura Barker | AJ Taaca

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Coal Harbour in Vancouver BC is located north of downtown facing the Burrard inlet. The site is sandwiched in between the famed Stanley Park and Canada Place. The Harbour is now apart of the city’s redensifying projects aimed at creating a liveable and vibrant downtown.

The area includes three neighborhoods with mixed income housing , a marina, parks, and outdoor public space. The architecture of the area is indicative of the ‘Vancouver Tower’ known for their slender profi les and transparency.

Statistics

82 Acres 2,100 Housing Units 1.5 Million Square Feet of Offi ce Space 500 Room Hotel 400 Marine Berths 300,000 Square Feet of Retail

PAGE 1 | COAL HARBOUR “Coal Harbour is a series of three distinct neighbourhoods in a garden-like setting...”

Diagrams, photos, margina- lia (arial 10 pt,)

Context & History

Like the Seattle Waterfront, Coal Harbour was the site of industrial uses like as being the terminus of the Canadian Pacifi c Railroad. Marathon Development, the real-estate company of the Canadian Pacifi c Railroad is the lead developer of the site.

The redevelopment of Coal Harbour during its planning process was a high political process. From the very start public was very skeptical of Marathon Development’s plans and were very involved in planning process.

Designers and Clients

Developers (most recent): Westbank Projects, Pinnacle International, PCI-Pal- ladium Projects, Amacon, Grand Adex, Noel Development Architects: VIA Archi- tecture (formerly Baker, McGarva, Hart), Bing Thom, Hancock Bruckner, James K M Cheng, Howard Bingham Hill, IBI Group, Musson Cattell Mackey, Paul Merrick Public Realm Design: Matrix Urban Design, Don Vaughan (City Consultant) Principal City Staff: Larry Beasley (Overview); Michael Gordon, Jeannette Hlavach (Area Planning); Ralph Segal, Jonathan Barrett (Urban De- sign/Development Planning

Design Features

During the planning stages of the Coal Harbour development, the surround- ing contexts were taken into strong consideration. There were distinct adjacent neighborhoods that planners needed to take into account: to the east, the exist- ing Central Business District; to the south, a dense up-and-coming residential area; and to the west, an area with relatively little development. Three distinct districts were created in the planning of Coal Harbour in response to the adja- cent existing uses.

PAGE 2 | COAL HARBOUR A walkway/bikeway that continues along the waterfront from Stanley Park to Coal Harbour Downtown Vancouver links Coal Harbor’s three districts together and to the surrounding areas. The Triangle West area to the south provides a mixed-use transition between the new Coal Harbour development and the established neighborhood of West End.

The City of Vancouver had an existing policy in place to protect water and mountain view corridors down north-south streets, which became a central urban design principle in the planning of the Coal Harbour development.

In addition, planners also considered public viewsheds to landmarks and views from upland properties in the design of the site. View corridor overlays played a major role in establishing building locations and public space. For this reason, a majority of the buildings in the Coal Harbour development are tall, narrow tow- ers surrounded by public space to allow for wide view corridors between build- ings.

A series of focal points in each of the three districts were a major design feature along the waterfront walkway. The idea was to create a promenade along the waterfront with a diversity of experiences. Some of the elements included along the waterfront to create this experience are:

- Park space - Marina activity with associated commercial uses - Over-water restaurant - Community center - Floating dock accessible to the public - Block-long waterfront street - Extensions of street ends to the water to create promenades linking the city to the water

PAGE 3 | COAL HARBOUR “a series of focal points along the site’s continuous waterfront walkways...”

Neighborhood Data Lessons Learned

Bay Shore Gardens Many elements of the Coal Harbour waterfront project have applicability to the Seattle waterfront. First, a diversity of uses along the waterfront promenade activates the Coal Gross Area: 9.3 ha (23 ac) Harbour waterfront and creates a diversity of experiences. In addition, Coal Harbour Population: 1,500 celebrates the distinct character of each district, including the use of focal points along Density (upa): 38 the water to emphasize each district’s individuality while connecting along the water- Housing Units: 880 front. The Seattle waterfront is also comprised of distinct districts, and the idea of cel- Non-market Units: 111 ebrating this diversity with nodes along the waterfront is something that is exemplifi ed Parks/Open Space: 1 ha in the Coal Harbour project. (2.4 ac) Vancouver’s practice of prioritizing public access to the waterfront has created a con- Triangle West tinuous seawall walkway/bikeway all the way from Downtown to Stanley Park. Prioriti- zation of public waterfront access in Seattle is key in developing a cohesive pedestrian Gross Area: 7.5 ha (18.5 ac) network along the water. In addition to creating continuity along the waterfront, another Population: 4,000 (est.) strong element of Coal Harbour’s development is the use of the existing street network Density (upa): 160 to create promenades to the water. Creating connections to the waterfront is equally as Housing Units: 3,000 (est.) important as creating cohesiveness along the waterfront, and Coal Harbour does an excellent job of both. Marathon Lands Gross Area: 16.6 ha (41 ac) While there are areas of diverse uses along the Coal Harbour waterfront, the rest of Population: 3,800 the project is heavily residential. It would be important to consider including a greater Density (upa): 56 mix of uses in order to create a richer fabric throughout the site. Another thing to think Housing Units: 2,300 about is building typology along the waterfront. Vancouver prescribes tall buildings Non-market Units: 450 along the waterfront, with small footprints to preserve view corridors to mountains and Parks/Open Space: 6.5 ha water. While this places an emphasis on long views, which are intrinsic to the character (16 ac) of both Vancouver and Seattle, it also creates large open spaces around each building. Open space is good in some contexts, but pulling the buildings apart diminishes the character of the public space on the street. With the Seattle waterfront, we should think about ways to preserve viewsheds while also creating a rich urban environment where the buildings touch the street: the local views are just as important to consider as the long views.

Credits Articles:

Moura Quayle and David S. Fushtey. “Gardens on the Sea: Coal Harbour.: Landscape MouraArchitecture, Quayle v. and 81 (FebruaryDavid S. Fushtey. 1991) p. “Gardens48-49. on the Sea: Coal Harbour.: Landscape Architecture,Elizabeth Shotten. v. 81 (February“Taking in 1991)the View.” p. 48-49. Canadian architect, v. 46, n. 4 (April 2001) p. Elizabeth20-25. Shotten. “Taking in the View.” Canadian architect, v. 46, n. 4 (April 2001) p. 20-25. Web: http://www.thehulbertgroup.com/coal_harbour.php http://www.civitasdesign.com/ http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/currentplanning/urbandesign/br2pdf/coalharbour.pdf http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/guidelines/CD-1/M002.pdf http://www.seecoalharbour.com/

Images http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/currentplanning/urbandesign/br2pdf/coalharbour.pdf

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