New vision for the Gastown waterfront railyard in downtown Vancouver

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. (Farrells/Arup)

A brand new vision for Gastown’s railyard offers a glimpse into the realm of possibilities of activating and revitalizing the remaining industrial areas of downtown Vancouver’s Central Waterfront.

Imagine a wide range of mixed-use buildings and public spaces stretching along the railyard area between the Canada Place pier and Crab Park.

At the westernmost end of this area, the 1972-built, 33-storey Granville Square tower would be demolished and replaced by a new Granville Square tower that could potentially be Vancouver’s new tallest building — a new signature landmark in the downtown Vancouver skyline.

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Instead of the current Granville Square parkade entrance creating a dead end for the northern foot of Granville Street, there would be a northward roadway extension connecting with Canada Place Way, and a waterfront promenade would transition into a pier.

Overall, there would be a continuous new waterfront public realm with ample green spaces from Canada Place Way to Crab Park, essentially creating a seamless extension of the Seaside Greenway’s pathway.

Existing condition:

vancouver central waterfront gastown railyard farrells arup

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. (Farrells/Arup)

Future condition:

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. (Farrells/Arup)

New developments would be introduced to this area — residential, office, creative workspaces, arts and cultural uses, institutional uses, and community spaces — within a mix of low-, mid-, and high-rise building forms. Some of this would be accomplished by building over the railyard and reimagining Crab Park.

This would be both an eastward extension of Vancouver’s accessible waterfront public spaces, and a northward extension of the urban fabric of Gastown. In addition to the Granville Street promenade reaching the water, there would also be northward-wide pedestrian-only street deck extensions of Cambie Street and Carrall Street over the railyard. Both of these pedestrian-only street decks would reach the water’s edge, with the Carrall Street deck transitioning into a pier.

Existing condition:

Aerial of Gastown, Canada Place, and the wider downtown Vancouver area. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. Click on the image for an enlarged version. (Farrells/Arup)

These physical connections over the railyard would also serve to bring much-needed additional economic vitality to Gastown, which is otherwise highly constrained by the physical barrier of the railyard immediately to the north and the socioeconomic barrier of the Downtown Eastside to the south and east.

Additionally, this vision reinforces the area’s multi-modal transportation options, including an expanded Waterfront Station for regional and commuter rail services, and a new marine and vertical air transport terminal. Looking into the future, this terminal could accommodate self-driving SeaBus ferries and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. In fact, Helijet has already set its sights on this future evolution of its fleet.

Existing condition:

Existing condition of the downtown Vancouver skyline from Crab Park. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. (Farrells/Arup)

This unsolicited preliminary high-level conceptual master plan was jointly created by internationally renowned architectural firm Farrells, which is headquartered in both London and Hong Kong, and London-based global engineering firm Arup.

“The new waterfront’s character should embody the region’s rich and varied heritage, showcasing and celebrating cultural and geographical context in a multitude of ways – from the built form to festivals. The integration of creative, cultural, and community facilities can allow for the city’s values and identity to be brought to the forefront of the urban experience, cultivating a unique sense of place,” reads a description of their vision.

The purpose of their vision is to help drive dialogue and inspire the revitalization of one of the last remaining significant tracts of the downtown Vancouver peninsula’s waterfront.

The City of Vancouver is, in fact, in the early stages of creating a planning process for reimagining the Central Waterfront area involving the area’s numerous landowners and stakeholders, including TransLink, Transport Canada, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, BC Ministry of Transportation, Tourism BC, Pavco (Vancouver Convention Centre), Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, VIA Rail, Cadillac Fairview, and GHD Developments.

According to City staff in late 2023, the upcoming exercise to create the master plan is expected to cost $2.6 million over two years for City staff and consultancies. This formal planning process could launch later in 2024.

“As architects, we are uniquely positioned to synthesize many different views into built form. We hope this proposal can expand the scope of what people believe may be possible and provide a vehicle for further thought, debate and ideas for this important part of the city,” said Matthew Donkersley, an architect and project director at Farrells.

Patrick Yue, another Farrells project director, added, “Vancouver, already recognized for its walkability and commitment to transit, has the potential to become a leading precedent for North American cities aspiring to implement sustainable and human-centric urban development.”

Concept for the Gastown railyard on the Central Waterfront of downtown Vancouver. (Farrells/Arup)

One of the key obstacles for revitalizing the area is the growing use of the Gastown railyard for freight traffic, which directly serves the adjacent busy major container terminal port facility. This particular port facility also recently underwent a major expansion to increase its container-handling capacity, which is expected to further increase the usage of the railyard.

This site’s long-term future has been uncertain for nearly two decades, ever since the owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps first proposed building a deck over the railyard to create a 15,000-seat outdoor soccer stadium — expandable to 30,000 seats — in anticipation of the team’s eventual entry into Major League Soccer. However, the City ultimately rejected the privately funded stadium project due to concerns about its impact on Gastown, the need for additional space, and safety issues related to the railyard’s freight cars carrying hazardous goods.

Although the stadium proposal failed, it triggered the municipal government to create a highly preliminary master plan concept to identify the area’s potential unified uses. This previous 2009 concept envisioned towers with offices, hotels, restaurants, and dining, as well as a major expansion of Waterfront Station’s public transit hub functions with an indoor transit concourse, additional train platforms for service expansion, a bus exchange, and a new ferry terminal for both SeaBus and interregional passenger ferry services.

Subsequent controversial plans by Cadillac Fairview over the past decade to build an origami-like office tower — designed by internationally renowned firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture — on their property immediately adjacent to the heritage Waterfront Station have stalled.

In 2022, Daily Hive Urbanized also reported on a different unsolicited theoretical vision — also intended to help drive discussion — by the Vancouver office of architectural firm Perkins&Will. Their concept put a greater focus on expanding the transit hub and high-rise tower-based development, but left most of the railyard area untouched.

555 west cordova street the crystal office tower

January 2020 artistic rendering of 555 West Cordova Street, Vancouver. (Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/Cadillac Fairview)

vancouver waterfront station hub perkins&will

2022 concept: artistic rendering of reimagining the Waterfront Station precinct in downtown Vancouver. (Perkins&Will)

Farrells is known for its work in public transit, transit-oriented development, and district-sized master plans. This notably includes the master plan for the Greenwich area of London — where the O2 Arena (Millennium Dome) is located — and the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong, including the Kowloon Station development and the M+ Museum.

Their concept for the Gastown railyard area appears to incorporate some elements reminiscent of the West Kowloon Cultural District, such as a landmark tower adjacent to an expanded transit hub, predominantly lower-height buildings with a diverse range of arts, cultural, and commercial uses, and significantly enhanced landscaped public spaces.

Some of Arup’s most notable projects include the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) in London, Marine Bay Sands in Singapore, and the new Samuel De Champlain Bridge in Montreal.

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