CBC/RADIO-CANADA REDEVELOPMENT
RENOVATION AND EXPANSION
Client: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Services: Architectural, Interior Design
Cost: $46 M
Size: 24,000 sq m (258,300 sq ft)
Completion: 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
CBC’s 24,000 square metre broadcast facility redesign includes space for public
entertainment, relaxation and outdoor broadcast areas. DIALOG was retained to
renovate the existing facility and add 2,800 square metres of integrated news
production and studio facility.
One of the many challenges of the CBC Vancouver Redevelopment Project
was to design and implement the project in such a way that the CBC could
continue broadcasting their multiple networks out of this facility while this
major reconstruction project is being undertaken around them. It required
careful collaboration between the design team, the contractor, the owner and
the CBC staff to come up with an affordable development strategy that made
this possible, while minimizing the impact on the current operations, as well as
minimizing any compromises to the end product.
The urban design response involved re-engaging the facility with its street
edges and the city fabric by creating public entertainment, relaxation and
outdoor broadcast areas over the underground portions of the block. The studios
themselves have been moved to the corner of Vancouver’s main downtown
corridor, Georgia Street, where the production of news programs will now be
visible from the street level.
DIALOG undertook the rezoning of the entire block, including the two residential
towers at the south end, eventually completed by Concord Pacific.
The WALL is a Vancouver Heritage Foundation public art initiative. Made possible
through a partnership between VHF, JJ Bean Coffee Roasters and CBC RadioCanada, the WALL features a new artist every year.
A percentage of the sale of JJ Bean coffee at the CBC plaza kiosk, also designed
by DIALOG, funds the annual art exhibit on the giant wall above the plaza.