World-class landmark design for new 10,000-seat PNE Amphitheatre (RENDERINGS)

Apr 26 2023, 5:23 pm

A world-class landmark design for the brand-new PNE Amphitheatre at Hastings Park has been unveiled.

The design is distinguished by a dome-like, mass-timber, triangular structure that provides a weather protection canopy for the new purpose-built, year-round amphitheatre, which will have a capacity for up to about 10,000 spectators.

It will be one of the largest free-span timber roof structures in the world.

“The incredible roof structure is not only a beautiful engineering masterpiece, but its natural wood also advances the City of Vancouver and PNE’s sustainability mandates,” said PNE president and CEO Shelley Frost during this morning’s press conference.

“This project adheres to the highest standards of environmental sustainability. The new amphitheatre will be a showcase for British Columbia’s building products, and engineering capacity. We anticipate the new amphitheatre will be one of the most spectacular venues of its sort in North America.”

pne amphitheatre new design revery architecture

Artistic rendering of the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture/PNE)

pne amphitheatre new design revery architecture

Artistic rendering of the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture/PNE)

The design is conceived by Vancouver-based firm Revery Architecture, which is also known for designing the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC, the Senakw rental housing towers, and The Butterfly Tower. The roof is engineered by mass-timber structure specialist firm Fast + Epp Structural Engineers.

The vaulted roof is anchored by three points, and designed in a way that frames views of the North Shore mountains — made possible by a clear span of 105 metres (345 ft) from buttress tip to buttress tip, created by “six-barrel vaulted segments intersecting at diagonal planes.” The overall design is inspired by the shell of the 1950s-built CNIT building in Paris.

It will be built to Passive House and LEED green building standards, along with state-of-the-art sound and acoustic considerations to reduce the noise bleed out of Hastings Park.

“I have goosebumps… this is a spectacular design, something that is thrilling and creates a spectacular legacy for the City of Vancouver,” said Vancouver City Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung, who is also the chair of the PNE’s board of directors.

“I’m actually more excited as a Vancouver resident because if you’ve had the opportunity to enjoy the Summer Night concerts at the PNE, looking at the iconic background with Burrard Inlet and the mountains, I think everyone has a memory of that. To be able to create this legacy for future generations to sustain that for up to 10,000 people on that site is really phenomenal.”

pne amphitheatre new design revery architecture

Artistic rendering of the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture/PNE)

pne amphitheatre new design revery architecture

Artistic rendering of the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Revery Architecture/PNE)

pne amphitheatre mass timber model

Model of the mass timber roof for the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

pne amphitheatre mass timber model

Model of the mass timber roof for the new PNE Amphitheatre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

In addition to weather protection covering for the outdoor venue, there will be new purpose-built, high-quality amenities for event attendees, including washrooms, food and beverage concessions, merchandise sales, digital signage, and WiFi.

As well, the venue will incorporate hospitality suites, banquet and lounge spaces, and common areas.

The amphitheatre is also configured in a way to enable “overflow” spectator capacity on a large open grassy area behind the covered seating area. The flexible capacity allows the venue to be scalable for events for 1,500 to 10,000 people.

It will be one of the largest seated-capacity venues at Hastings Park, joining the 17,000-seat Pacific Coliseum, the 9,000-seat Hastings Racecourse grandstand (not operated by the PNE), and the 3,200-seat Agrodome.

With the unveiling of the design, the PNE is now starting a Canada-wide sponsorship call, including securing naming rights for the venue.

“We’re expecting a very high level of interest in this call for naming rights partners and other project sponsors,” said Frost.

Kirby-Yung emphasized this is part of the long-term Hastings Park/PNE master plan, and the project is “financially very strong.”

The redevelopment will fall within the $65-million budget allocated to the project, with potential sponsorship covering the cost of additional amenities and features.

Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2024 for completion in Summer 2026.

pne amphitheatre existing 2

The existing PNE Amphitheatre, and the footprint of the new venue. (PNE)

The existing PNE Amphitheatre, and the footprint of the new venue. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

This project has been many years in the making, with planning starting well before the pandemic, and was approved by the previous makeup of Vancouver City Council in June 2021. Through a bidding process, the PNE selected Revery Architecture to design the venue in April 2022.

The PNE decided to pursue this project after local event organizers indicated that Metro Vancouver lacked an attractive, mid-size, outdoor venue for concerts and events.

This is a full replacement of the 1960s-built amphitheatre on the same existing footprint, which was originally intended to be a temporary venue.

Furthermore, this new amphitheatre will provide the PNE with a new long-term revenue stream, with the ability to attract significantly more and higher calibre concerts and events throughout the year — made possible by its modern facilities under a covered roof.

As part of today’s design unveiling, newly released projections show this amphitheatre could see over 340,000 attendees from an exponentially greater number of concerts and events, given the allure and vastly improved functionality of the venue.

It could host over 75 performances annually, including 24 commercial shows, 22 community, arts, and culture shows, 14 corporate shows, and 15 PNE Fair Shows (Summer Night Concerts).

This is up from the existing amphitheatre’s average annual usage of five events outside of the PNE Fair period and zero community events.

“Today’s announcement about this beautiful new amphitheatre really signals a very bright future for the PNE, and it’ll be the first in a series of developments that will illustrate growth, sustainability, and a strong long-term future of this organization, as well as for the events and live music industries,” continued Frost.

Frost is referring to the PNE’s plans to pursue a major redevelopment and expansion of Playland from an amusement park to a theme park. The redevelopment is already underway with construction beginning this year on a new launch coaster, which will be the fastest of its kind in Canada. This flagship ride is expected to open in 2024.

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