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Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion

Vancouver, BC, Canada

The opportunity to participate in a project with the highest creative and sustainability aspirations is every designer's dream come true. The new $804 million, 1.1 million square foot waterfront convention centre expansion more than tripled the size of the existing facility and serves as the broadcast and media center for the XXI 2010 Olympic Winter Games, as well as the site for the Olympic Cauldron. Working with LMN Architects and the MCM Partnership, HLB's scope of work for this facility included the lobbies and pre-function areas, a signature ballroom, meeting rooms, public art projects, and the exterior lighting design for the façade, plazas, surrounding walkways, and park transition.

The folding planes of a 5.5 acre “living roof” and a multitude of spatial demands inspired the team to integrate innovative lighting solutions into dynamic forms in a variety of scales responsive to the architectural expressions. 15 meter high sculptural light markers with integral color changing LEDs, identify the city edge. As one moves in to the site, the luminaire scale steps down to 8 meter high superstructures. Both luminaires allow ample flexibility for special events. Waters edge brings a more contemplative scale, with simpler, more frequently spaced luminaires. The interior lobby design consisted of creating a lantern-effect by washing illumination on to ceiling and walls visible through the transparent volume. Custom glowing ballroom chandeliers express the building's interior/exterior connectivity

HLB has performed interior lighting studies in conjunction with BC Hydro to confirm that interior lighting is designed with the highest degree of energy efficiency. One of the largest lighting challenges for the exterior environment encompassed designing comfortable, yet dynamic lighting for events while also endeavoring to achieve the LEED light pollution criteria. The team's dream indeed came true, as this project is the first convention center in the world to be awarded LEED Platinum certification.

The lighting design for this project has received the Lumen West Award of Excellence as well as the IES Illumination Award of Merit.