Vancouver’s Olympic architectural legacy is less about starchitects and iconic buildings than about the very Canadian values of community consultation and environmental sensitivity - with locally harvested softwood getting top billing.
Cannon Design’s speed skating Oval, with its unique undulating wooden paneled roof – one of the longest clear spans in North America - wins points for reusing wood salvaged after a voracious pine beetle infestation destroyed half of British Columbia's pine forests.
The Olympic Park Day Lodge, by Merrick Architects, combines cutting edge green design and stunning views of the surrounding Callaghan Valley. At its centre, Glulam beams follow the upward tilt of the roof, engaging with the coastal mountain range and offering a cathedral like sense of spaciousness and majesty.
At the core of the Walter Francl-designed Trout Lake ice rink, is an arch formed from 70-foot Glulam beams and supported by a concrete buttress wall. Geometry in motion, the building almost disappears into the sloped topography. Organic modernism at its best, the curvilinear white clamshell roof echoes the snow-capped mountains.
Finally, the Athlete's Village is home to a community centre designed by the late Arthur Erickson - destined to eventually become a new mixed-use neighbourhood after the 2010 games - along with a 1.2 million square foot waterfront convention centre and the stylish new Hillcrest curling and Kilarney ice rinks. Olympic architouring looks set to be a key event.
The Bombardier Learjet
Interior of the Learjet
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The Bombardier Learjet
The Staircase House by Cindy Rendely, Toronto
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Coast restaurant, Vancouver
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Supernova by Douglas Coupland
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Talking sticks by Douglas Coupland
Penguin Pretty Vacant by Douglas Coupland
Coyote by Douglas Coupland
Patricide by Douglas Coupland
Penguin Cumshot by Douglas Coupland
Penguin Clash by Douglas Coupland
Matricide Silver Skate by Douglas Coupland
Matricide Beer by Douglas Coupland
Drip Maple Syrup
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Form & Forest by D'Arcy Jones Design
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The Keefer Hotel, Vancouver
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Laneway House, Toronto, by Kohn Shnier architects
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Richmond Olympic Oval by Cannon Design
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Territory table and chairs by Samare Design, Montreal
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Territory lounger by Samare design
Territory desk and chair by Samare design
R-Mountie bench and throw by Samare design
Still House by Level Design, Vancouver
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Sunset Cabin by Taylor_Smyth Architects, Toronto
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40R_Laneway House by Süperkul, Toronto
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SHIFT Cottage by Süperkul
The Trans Canada Trail
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Nylon Haneda by WANT luggage
Newberry White by WANT luggage
Nylon Haneda by WANT luggage
Dumont black by WANT luggage
Carl Phare's wooden rollercoaster, designed in 1958, Vancouver
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Fashion by Ying Gao, Montreal
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Tweed meets speed in Miss Moonshine, a boat dressed in Savile RowMiss Moonshine is a speedboat that blends tweed, mahogany, and raw power with a heritage steeped in racing and smuggling
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Piaget’s two new ultra-thin Altiplano timepieces tick all the right boxesPiaget unveils the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon and the Altiplano 910P, which honour the maison’s ultra-thin watchmaking heritage
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‘Stone, timber, silence, wind’: welcome to SMK Thy, the National Gallery of Denmark expansionA new branch of SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark, opens in a tiny hamlet in the northern part of Jutland; welcome to architecture studio Reiulf Ramstad's masterful redesign of a neglected complex of agricultural buildings into a world-class – and beautifully local – art hub
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La Maison de la Baie de l’Ours melds modernism into the shores of a Québécois lakeACDF Architecture’s grand family retreat in Quebec offers a series of flowing living spaces and private bedrooms beneath a monumental wooden roof
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Peel back maple branches to reveal this cosy midcentury Vancouver gemOsler House, a midcentury Vancouver home, has been refreshed by Scott & Scott Architects, who wanted to pay tribute to the building's 20th-century modernist roots
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A spectacular waterside house in Canada results from a radical overhaulSplyce Design’s Shoreline House occupies an idyllic site in British Columbia. Refurbished and updated, the structure has been transformed into a waterside retreat
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Hilborn House, one of Arthur Erickson’s few residential projects, is now on the marketThe home, first sketched on an envelope at Montreal Airport, feels like a museum of modernist shapes, natural materials and indoor-outdoor living
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This Canadian house is a precise domestic composition perched on the Nova Scotian coastBishop McDowell completed a new Canadian house overlooking the Atlantic, using minimal details and traditional forms to create a refined family home
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In Canada, The Nest is a three-dimensional puzzle redefining remote livingOn a wooded site on the country’s West Coast, this prefabricated retreat designed by Daria Sheina Studio is a nurturing space for low-impact living
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Discover Canadian modernist Daniel Evan White’s pitch-perfect homesCanadian architect Daniel Evan White (1933-2012) had a gift for using the landscape to create extraordinary homes; revisit his story in an article from the Wallpaper* archives (first published in 2011)
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A new Québec house blends open-plan living with far-reaching viewsThe Mountainside Residence is anchored into its sloping site by a concrete plinth, above which sits a main living space with tall ceilings and walls of glass
