CREDIT: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun This view from his apartment is a prime reason why Barry Hoffman enjoys living on the 14th floor of a West End high-rise.

When modernist architect Ludvig Mies van der Rohe designed one of the first residential highrises — a glass tower in the 1920s — he knew it was just a dream. Building techniques had not yet evolved to handle such a project.

Outstanding architectural highrises were often only ideas on a drawing board in the mid-20th century.

But that was then and this is now.

Today, highrises are common-place in all urban centres offering a solution to the growing numbers of people who want to live in the downtown core.

Even the devastating loss on Sept. 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center in New York was attacked by terrorists, hasn’t stopped the trend of homebuyers wanting to own a place in the clouds.

The draw of spectacular views, particularly in a city like Vancouver with its ocean and mountain views, is too great. The vantage points provided by these monumental structures are indeed something to behold.

Vancouver‘s tallest building is the 150-metre tall, 48-floor glass encased One Wall Centre on Burrard Street. It was named “Best Skyscraper of the Year” in 2002 by Skyscraper.com, an architectural database on the Internet.

That highrise will soon be surpassed in height by the 196-metre, 60-storey Shangri-La tower to be built on Alberni Street, in the heart of Vancouver’s downtown, by 2008.

The residential units in Shangri-La, which will operate as a hotel/condominium project, experienced quick sales when it went on the market earlier this year.

As architectural author Andrew Weaving noted in his recently published book, High-Rise Living, “there is a huge resurgence of desire to live centrally in the city.”

“The only real solution to the increasing demand for city housing is to build higher,” he wrote. “In Hong Kong, the only place to build was up. This is what is starting to happen in the Western world now…New towers are going up in cities the world over, many of which are multi-purposed: you can live and work in the same place, go to the rooftop restaurant to entertain and park your car on the thirtieth floor.”

Indeed, New York architect Colin Cathcart said he believes high-rise architecture is the best option to go in the future because it’s easier to achieve sustainability.

“This [a sustainable high-rise] appeals to the inner tree hugger in all of us,” he said last week at the 50th annual convention of the International Downtown Association.

Cathcart’s firm’s claim to fame is the integration of photovoltaics (PV) technology into architectural design. PVs produce electricity from sunlight and can be used as building materials.

The National Building Museum commissioned his firm to design a speculative green high-rise, for an exhibit currently on until January, 2004 at the Museum of the City of New York.

The resulting 150-floor highrise called the 2020 Tower is “not a Utopian vision” but a building that has been carefully engineered to be practical and economical by the year 2020, he said.

“The trend over the last couple of hundred of years has been resource consumption and we [the architectural firm] found our root solutions seem to be converging on highrises. It seems strange to us environmentally conscious people but believe it or not it [the 2020 Tower] is a zero-impact skyscraper.”

CREDIT: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun “It’s a very comfortable space and has a nice feeling. But if I was to do it all over again there would be less things. The minimalist look is appealing to me.” – Barry Hoffman, Reflecting on the Overall Effect of His High-Rise Apartemnt Makeover.

Although no zero impact skyscrapers exists at the moment architects are renovating existing buildings to improve on their efficiency.

Weaving featured two such Vancouver homes in his recently published book Highrise Living, showcasing some of the most technically innovative high rise architecture from around the world.

One of the homes belongs to 56-year-old retiree Barry Hoffman, who lives on the 14th floor of a West End high rise built in the late 1980s. The 31-storey tower offers views of English Bay and the North Shore.

In Hoffman’s nearly 1,500 square-foot unit his four balconies look out over English Bay, allowing him a special seat each year for the annual fireworks.

“I have a good view of English Bay and get to enjoy the fireworks from here so I don’t have to be part of that madness [on the street below],” said Hoffman.

“I do like high rise living and the security, especially these days, given my age. It’s nice to have 24 hour security and when something goes wrong there is are resident managers at my disposal.”

Hoffman took possession in June, 2000 and immediately went to work to transform the apartment into a space that better suited his needs, creating a backdrop for his extensive art collection.

Working with designer Darren Onyskiw, of do-studio, Hoffman’s apartment was completely taken apart and rebuilt – an endeavour that lasted 10 months.

Onyskiw said the objectives were to not only maximize the space but to provide views to the “sights beyond the building perimeter to the magic light that exists around Vancouver – any time of the season.”

“In all of our work, the emphasis is [creating] flow within the space, light and the reduction of any obstacle we determine to restrict or prevent function, passage and the impressions beyond the interior plan extending out to the outside,” said Onyskiw.

He encourages clients to get rid of any clutter so the space, the views and the light outside can be enjoyed as art.

“We all live in boxes, regardless of their size, stylization, location or decorations, and unless the box is open and light and the images of outside are allowed to pour in, the box is nothing more than an oversized cage,” he said.

In Hoffman’s apartment custom-built storage helps hide all the electrical appliances, and by creating “face panels” or “wing walls” he was able to hide the heating system and create further wall space for Hoffman’s art.

The switches are also hidden out of view to aid with the goal of creating a “seamless interior.” This includes the wall plugs for the kitchen equipment, such as the toaster and blender, which are hidden out of sight under the upper cabinets.

The goal of creating a seamless space also extended to the lighting system. No light were placed in the ceiling because he wanted to have everything “clean and smooth.”

“Where electrical switches dominated the view more than the wall or the view outside…we removed or relocated them,” said Onyskiw.

His team created a a central vertical bank for switches, which they termed a “trough,” which provides one spot for all the lighting controls to come together and hide the switches.

The choice of flooring and wall colour also help with the effort to minimize clutter and maximize views. A dark Brazilian walnut flooring was laid throughout the apartment and a baseboard was removed to allow the flooring to directly connect with the large window panes. The walls are all eggshell white, again further adding to the sense that what truly counts in the space is the view.

Hoffman said while it was a “horrendous” project to live in the apartment while the changes were being made he is pleased with the results.

“It’s a very comfortable space and has a nice feeling. But if I was to do it all over again there would be less things. The minimalist look is appealing to me,” he said. “And, of course, the views.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2004