Telus Garden, Canada's most sustainable office tower, officially opens
Former Vancouver city planner says it's beautiful, but sets a bad precedent
Telus Garden, heralded by its developer as an icon of advanced technology, is being panned by a former city planner who worries its architecture will set an undesirable precedent.
The building has overhangs that stretch onto the street, said Ray Spaxman an urban planner, who was once the planner for the City of Vancouver.
"It's projecting over the public right of way, which in the past we have always tried to keep, because it is a place that we have space, light and air and sunlight and, in some cases, keep the view down the street."
"How on earth this got approval I don't know," he said.
Spaxman says he worries if the city isn't clear on its guidelines, future developers will wind up violating them.
The office tower, situated on 510 West Georgia Street between Richards and Seymour Streets, had its grand opening Thursday.
Spaxman says he does appreciate many of the new buildings architectural features and its indoor and outdoor restaurants, and hopes the same attention is given to any rebuild of the city's iconic structures like City Hall or the Art Gallery.
To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled Telus Garden building's impact on Vancouver with the CBC's Rick Cluff on The Early Edition.