Vancouver Convention Centre
Vancouver Convention Centre | |
---|---|
Waterfront | |
Website | |
www |
The Vancouver Convention Centre (formerly known as the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, or VCEC) is a convention centre in
East Building
The East Building is located in Canada Place, which it shares with a cruise ship terminal, and the Pan Pacific hotel. It has 12,400 m2 (133,000 sq ft) of space, including a 8,500 m2 (91,000 sq ft), column-free, dividable exhibition hall, 20 meeting rooms, and a ballroom.
The East Building served as the venue for a series of religious gatherings which hosted His Highness Prince Karim
The East Building also served as the main press centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
West Building
The West Building is directly adjacent to Canada Place and consists of 110,000 m2 (1,200,000 sq ft) total interior space including 20,490 m2 (220,500 sq ft) of convention space, 8,400 m2 (90,000 sq ft) of retail space along a public waterfront promenade, and 450 parking stalls. Surrounding the building are 37,000 m2 (400,000 sq ft) of walkways, bikeways, public open space and plazas, for a total project area of 5.7 hectares (14 acres) of land and 3.2 hectares (8 acres) over water. The project also supplies infrastructure for future water based developments including an expanded marina, a float plane terminal, and water-based retail opportunities. The design architect for the expansion is
The West Building opened to the public on April 4, 2009, and had a final cost of $883,000,000 CAD (exclusive of land). The building hosted the International Broadcast Centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics. Connecting to the centre is the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel.
Adjacent to the West building is the "Jack Poole Plaza"[2] (formerly known as Thurlow Plaza),[3] in honour of Jack Poole, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2009. He was responsible for securing the bid of the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics for Vancouver.
Sustainability
The new West Building expansion is certified
The 2.4-hectare (6-acre) "
All wastewater from washrooms, retail, and restaurant activities in the building is reclaimed and recycled for use in toilet and urinal flushing, and green roof irrigation. The treatment facility uses a membrane bioreactor process, manufactured and supplied by GE/Zenon, consisting of two 2-zone (anoxic/oxic) bioreactor tanks (with internal recycle) and an ultra-filtration (hollow-fibre) membrane tank, followed by a chlorine contact tank that serves to remove colour and disinfect the
The building's heating and cooling system feeds through the deep water of the harbor, using it as a constant temperature base to reduce the amount of energy used for heating and cooling.
Along the waterfront, the shoreline ecology is fully restored from its previous brownfield state and supports a historic salmon migration path. An artificial reef structure rings the building perimeter, consisting of a series of concrete steps. Each step is planted with marine species adapted to a specific depth below the water, resulting in a kelp forest characteristic of the natural shoreline and supporting a diversity of harbor fauna. Underneath the building, which is set on pier foundations, runnels are set into the tide flats creating a tidal ecosystem zone that flushes daily and feeds the reef.
The site of the expansion is a former marine and rail industrial area, most of which was covered in impervious surfaces and contaminated. The expansion led to a decrease in the site's impervious surfaces by almost 30 percent, mitigating total suspended solids and phosphorus content from stormwater and reducing the site's heat-island contribution.
Awards
In 2002, and again in 2008, the VCEC was awarded the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) "Apex Award" for the "World's Best Congress Centre".[4] In April 2010, the West Building expansion received an Award of Excellence from the Urban Land Institute. It has also received multiple awards from the AIA Seattle chapter.
References
- ^ "What Makes it Green?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
- ^ "Vancouver Convention Centre » Jack Poole Plaza". Archived from the original on 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
- ^ VANCOUVER CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE (VCEC) CD-1 GUIDELINES - 100 THURLOW STREET
- ^ AIPC Apex Award. Archive retrieved on 2008-07-06.