More than a decade after Arthur Ericksonās passing, his namesake foundation and family are looking to build on his storied legacy by bringing to light some of his never-built designs.
This week, the public is invited to learn more about Ericksonās never-built designs by attendingĀ Unbuilt Erickson, a free video presentation highlighting his unbuilt designs in his hometown and around the world. This multi-media show, organized by the Erickson Family Collection, runs from 8 am to 4 pm in the Great Hall of the Law Courts at 800 Smithe Street from July 4 to 7, 2022.
One of Ericksonās most significant unbuilt designs was his concept for a major Government of Canada office complex in downtown Vancouver that was far from being a conventional tower design.
You might also like:
- Federal government provides $30 million for new Vancouver Art Gallery
- Detailed design of new Vancouver Art Gallery outlined in formal application (RENDERINGS)
- Plans to build $500 million federal office tower at Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver
- Bing Thom’s dream for a world-class museum under Robson Square (RENDERINGS)
- Vancouver in the 1990s: Library Square under construction (PHOTOS)
Eva Matsuzaki, a retired architect, recalls the federal governmentās 1977 decision to hire Erickson to design a 500,000 sq ft office building occupying theĀ entire city block where Library Square, the 1995-built central branch of the Vancouver Public Library, is now located.
She worked for Erickson between 1974 and 1984, and was a project architect for the firmās work on designing both the Government of Canada complex and the BC provincial governmentās Law Courts and Robson Square complex.
The selected Government of Canada complex location, she says, was strategically near Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the Canada Post complex, and the CBC Regional Broadcast Centre ā which had been completed just two years earlier ā to further establish a strong precinct of cultural and federal institutions.
The federal government assumed the design requirement of 500,000 sq ft of office space would be a typical tall box tower, but Erickson had a completely different idea in mind.
Just like the BC Law Courts, he placed the Government of Canada office tower on its side, and there would be a massive public space component.
The concept was to build four big legs, with each pair of legs supporting one of the two oval-shaped āspaceshipā office volumes. She says the firm internally referred these as āspaceships passing in the night.ā