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Tower rooftop fireworks extravaganza marks 30th anniversary of Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver

Kenneth Chan
Kenneth Chan
|
Aug 9 2024, 5:08 am
Tower rooftop fireworks extravaganza marks 30th anniversary of Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver
August 8, 2024 fireworks celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

As twilight descended on downtown Vancouver on Thursday evening, the sky above the iconic Wall Centre was transformed into a dazzling canvas of light and colour, celebrating three decades of the city’s architectural landmark.

The 30th anniversary of the Wall Centre complex was marked by a surprise — albeit very unforgettable — rooftop fireworks extravaganza that illuminated the night sky.

Thursday evening’s display was one of the largest fireworks shows of its kind in Vancouver’s history for a display launched from rooftops or from any building structure. It was put on by Archangel Fireworks, which is the same Winnipeg-based pyrotechnics firm that stages Vancouver’s annual Honda Celebration of Light international fireworks competition.

The largest rooftop fireworks displays ever in the city were during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, when fireworks erupted off the concrete rim of BC Place Stadium’s old inflatable roof.

The Wall Centre’s 30th anniversary fireworks show was launched from three rooftops — the tower rooftop of the landmark 491-ft-tall, 48-storey Sheraton One Wall Centre hotel tower, the lower base podium rooftop of the Sheraton One Wall Centre tower, and the tower rooftop of the 335-ft-tall, 35-storey Sheraton Wall Centre South Tower.

The area is familiar with rooftop fireworks displays. Of course, the Wall Centre’s garden plaza is a viewing area each year for the annual Christmastime tradition of the Lights of Hope fireworks just across the street at St. Paul’s Hospital, which are launched from the rooftop of the scaffolding for the elaborate seasonal light display.

The Wall Centre complex is owned by Peter Wall under his firm of Wall Financial Corporation, which developed the city block-sized property over the span of a decade.

A private event attended by Daily Hive Urbanized was held this evening at the Wall Centre’s garden plaza to commemorate the anniversary. Due to security, vehicle traffic, and crowd control reasons, the fireworks display was not widely publicized in advance.

The significance of the Wall Centre

The first two buildings of the Wall Centre were constructed in 1994 on the south side of the city block, fronting Helmcken Street. These initial buildings are the aforementioned Sheraton Wall Centre South Tower and the 283-ft-tall Suites at Wall Centre, which contains office and strata market condominium homes.

Shortly after the opening of the South Tower, the now-demolished “Sheraton Empire Landmark Hotel” on Robson Street rebranded to simply the Empire Landmark Hotel tower.

Sheraton Wall Centre South Tower

Sheraton Wall Centre South Tower. (Jeff Whyte/Shutterstock)

The most prominent building at the Wall Centre complex, the One Wall Centre, was completed in 2001. It has a rooftop height of 491 ft, but with the inclusion of the antenna spire, its height further increases to 518 ft.

One Wall Centre held the title of British Columbia’s tallest building until 2007, when it was eclipsed by the construction ascent of the 659-ft-tall Living Shangri-La tower, which ultimately reached full completion in 2008. In October 2023, the Living Shangri-La tower lost its title to the 708-ft-tall, 64-storey Gilmore Place II tower in Burnaby’s Brentwood district.

Currently, One Wall Centre is the eighth tallest building in Vancouver. But when viewed from afar, it appears much taller in the skyline as it is located on one of the highest ground elevations in the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

The two-tower Sheraton hotel at the complex features 740 hotel rooms contained within the South Tower and the first 27 floors of the One Wall Centre. In terms of number of hotel rooms, it is still the largest hotel in BC.

It also features some of the largest meeting and convention facilities for a hotel in the province, offering 56,000 square feet of flexible event space. This includes the 10,500-square-foot Grand Ballroom with a capacity for up to 1,350 attendees, located in an underground level of the One Wall Centre.

sheraton one wall centre

Fountain plaza in front of Sheraton One Wall Centre. (The Bold Bureau/Shutterstock)

Designed by acclaimed architectural firm Perkins&Will (previously known as Busby and Associates Architects) and award-winning designer Chris Doray, One Wall Centre is particularly distinct for its slender shape, made possible by its elliptical-shaped floor plates.

According to Glotman Simpson, which was the project’s engineering firm, the resulting 7:1 height-to-width ratio necessitated unique structural engineering solutions to ensure the slim tower can withstand the expected wind and seismic load requirements.

One Wall Centre uses an unconventional outrigger system consisting of four floors of six-ft-deep concrete beams that connect the central elevator and stairwells to exterior columns, which serves to spread the “axial load” of the building out to the columns. Additionally, the tower features two rooftop 50,000 gallon water tanks to help counter any movements of the structure. Furthermore, the rooftop water tanks can be used to supplement the tower’s fire suppression sprinkler system.

As well, with a depth of over 70 ft, the tower’s excavation was the deepest in Vancouver’s history, until the construction of Living Shangri-La.

Why One Wall Centre previously had a two-toned facade

The upper portion of One Wall Centre is used as strata market condominium homes. Until 2013, the residential section of the tower was easily distinguishable by its use of clear translucent glass, creating a stark contrast with the reflective dark glass used in the lower section of the tower, which is the hotel section.

Pre-2013 renovation condition with two-toned glass: Sheraton One Wall Centre. (Ian Ius/Daily Hive)

sheraton one wall centre

Model of pre-2013 renovation condition with two-toned glass: Sheraton One Wall Centre. (The Model Shop)

Mid-way into the tower’s construction about 25 years ago, when reflective dark glass was being installed onto the exterior, City of Vancouver planners requested the developer to install clear translucent glass for the top 17 residential floors.

City planners at the time expressed concerns that the reflective dark glass would dominate the skyline’s appearance. They legally disputed the approval of a translucent facade for the tower, arguing that the installed glass facade design did not align with the developer’s original plans.

As a result, for over a decade until 2013, One Wall Centre featured a two-tone facade: reflective dark glass for the first 31 floors of the tower (the hotel uses) and clear translucent glass for the upper 17 floor (the condominium uses). This upper facade design was intended to blend the tower with the surrounding mountains and blue sky.

A few years after One Wall Centre’s completion, some problems emerged with the clear translucent glass. The seals failed prematurely, allowing air and moisture to leak into the condominium units. Residents also asserted that the clear translucent glass made summer heat and solar glare an unbearable issue.

Following a dispute between the tower’s strata council and the developer, and with the City’s approval, the upper 17 floors of One Wall Centre had their glass replaced with reflective dark glass in 2013 to better match the lower section of the tower. The $7 million cost of the replacement project was shared by the strata council and the developer.

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

2013 glass replacement project of the Sheraton One Wall Centre. (RDH Building Science)

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

2013 glass replacement project of the Sheraton One Wall Centre. (RDH Building Science)

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

2013 glass replacement project of the Sheraton One Wall Centre. (RDH Building Science)

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

2013 glass replacement project of the Sheraton One Wall Centre. (RDH Building Science)

30-years later: Reflecting on the Wall Centre

On Thursday evening, during the celebrations, just before the fireworks, Daily Hive Urbanized caught up with project designer Chris Doray to reflect on the project 30 years later.

Doray provided the overarching design concept for all three towers of the Wall Centre.

“Even though I know there’s issues about the colour of glass, the material is what Peter Wall is all about. Peter doesn’t like too complicated. And he likes the simplicity, and he likes the sculpture,” Doray told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“You can see why he went for this. Even though it’s inefficient, it’s the sculptural quality.”

Doray emphasized that an underrated feature of the Wall Centre complex is its major one-acre garden plaza — complete with a major water feature — at the southwest corner of the intersection of Burrard and Nelson streets.

He suggested that if such a building development project were to be pursued today, there would be enough space to squeeze in an additional large building on the garden plaza’s footprint. As well, there was supposed to be commercial retail frontage along Burrard Street.

But instead, this is a sizeable privately-owned publicly accessible space.

“This is a one-acre of garden in the heart of the city. These days, everyone builds right up to the property line. So you know, you have to know that this space is unrivalled because it takes someone to sacrifice this much space,” continued Doray.

“This kind of stuff, even today, doesn’t happen.”

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

Post-2013 glass replacement condition: Sheraton One Wall Centre. (RDH Building Science)

sheraton one wall centre

Post-2013 glass replacement condition: Sheraton One Wall Centre. (Paul McKinnon/Shutterstock)

sheraton one wall centre glass replacement

Post-2013 glass replacement condition: Sheraton One Wall Centre. (Nigel Jarvis/Shutterstock)

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