Colossal Controversy over the Creation of Canada's Colosseum

Next stop on our little tour is Vancouver.

Vancouver Library Square
Photo Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library

If you forget about the Stanely Cup riots for a moment you would think that with all their yoga and other recreational activities Vancouverites would be a rather mellow bunch. Well apparently not when it comes to building a new library, in that case they are down right feisty.  Even after 70% of respondents voted in favor of Safdie’s design the choice was heavily criticized.[i]  The design was called racist, unoriginal and unauthentic.[ii]

In 1991 the City of Vancouver announced a competition for the design of the new central branch of the Vancouver Public Library.  Three designs were presented to the public, put on display at City Hall. Approximately 7,000 Vancouverites cast a ballot and voted overwhelmingly choosing Safdie’s design.[iii]  

It does indeed make a statement
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library

The Library Square needed to make a statement. The building was inteded to anchor the downtown core that has a collection of public and cultural buildings. Not only would the building hold the central library branch it would also include a 21-story Federal Government office tower, retail space and underground parking enough for 700. [iv]

The basic concept of the design is a rectangle within an ellipse. The building’s façade has a sandstone colour, which is a product of local red granite mixed within the precast concrete. The walls of the library core are glass as well as the roof that encloses the gap between the rectangle and ellipse.[v]

Reading Rooms
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library

Reading rooms are separated from the stacks. The stacks are placed in an oblong 8-story glass box and the reading rooms in the ellipse. [vi] 

Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library

The reading rooms are modeled after those of the 19^th century which understood the importance of privacy, lighting, and in this case views of the city. The reading rooms are accessible by bridges. 

The library contains a bustling indoor civic square with shops and cafes. The library also boasts a roof top garden (which is sadly not open to the public).

Civic Square
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library

The response to Sadfie’s win was swift and less than enthusiastic.  If the building reminds you of the Roman Colosseum, you’re not alone. In fact it is this comparison that the debate is centered around.

The Roman Colosseum 
Photo by David Iliff. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0

The national architecture community vocally protested the choice of a foreign architect.  Critic Trevor Boddy declared “a society which chooses not to listen to its best architects…[they] risks the loss of a sense of the past and the future in equal measure, with potentially disastrous results.”[vii]

The building was deemed too Eurocentric for a multi-cultural city such as Vancouver. In a letter to the Vancouver Sun one concerned citizen wrote, “…the Colosseum design recalls the origins of Western civilizations – is an insensitive, retrogressive view of a city of the Pacific and its multicultural mix.” Another letter writer wrote, “it is gratifying to see that Vancouver has finally caught up with 300 BC. We can only guess what design they’ll pick to replace it 200 years from now, Windsor Castle perhaps.” Local and national papers were inundated with letters echoing these sentiments.[viii]   

The CBC’s Ian Honomansing visited the library the week prior to its opening and spoke to some locals to get their opinion on the newly built library.  One “streeter” called the building “gaudy”, another unhappy Vancouverite eloquently described his or her problem with the building as, “it’s so basic. Books are essentially square, and they don’t fit into a round building.”[ix]  Outraged by the design, UBC architecture students wore togas in protest to the grand opening.[x]

Those involved with the project were not deterred by these comments. Director of the Vancouver Public Library, Madge Aalto, told the CBC that the main concern for her was how the Library looked on the inside, “I think it’s a building that people are going to like being in, they’re going to enjoy it. There’s a spot we call the “gosh, wow’ spot” because people stop and go “oh, wow”, and it’s true. It’s quite a remarkable space.”[xi] 

Anyone care for a high altitude garden party?
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Public Library

In another interview conducted 4 years after the library’s opening Aalto further states: “Local architects have never accepted the design, saying that it does not reflect “our west coast architecture” and in that they are correct. It does, however, provide the client and the user with a signature building that functions well for the patron and which has become a major tourist attraction, as well as an immensely successful library attracting 6,000 to 8,000 people a day year round.”[xii]

The criticisms did not and have not stopped the public from enjoying the space.  It has in fact proved more and more successful as years progressed. The library has approximately 400,000 members and over 8 million items borrowed annually.  With just under 10,000 people visiting the building daily the morning rush has been compared to Boxing Day sales at big box stores. A crowd forms outside the main entrance waiting for the 10 a.m. bell when the doors are opened.[xiii]  

This video captures the morning rush, you can skip to 0:30 and I would suggest lowering the volume. [xiv]

Just as you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, perhaps the same can be said about libraries.

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[i] Thomas, C. (1995). Canadian Colossus. Architecture, 84(10), 72.

[ii] Lees, L. (2001). Towards a critical geography of architecture: The Case of an Ersatz  Colosseum. Cultural Geographies, 8(1), 51-86.

[iii] Henry, D. (n.d.). Vancouver Library Square: Moshe Safdie. Retrieved from             http://www.daapspace.daap.uc.edu/~larsongr/Larsonline/Spial_files/SafdieLib.pdf

[iv] Henry, D. (n.d.).

[v] Henry, D. (n.d.)

[vi] Thomas, C. (1995).

[vii] Boddy, T. (1994). Plastic lion's gate: A short history of the Post Modern Vancouver Architecture. In P. Delany (Ed.), Vancouver: Representing the Postmodern City (p. 35). Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press. As cited by Lees, L. (2001) at  page 68.

[viii] Lees, L. (2001).

[ix] Goodwin, P., & Aalto, M. (1995, May 21). Interview by I. Hanomansing [Transcript]. Vancouver library. Sunday Report: CBC Television, Retrieved from             https://www.lib.uwo.ca/cgibin/ezpauthn.cgi/docview/190776063?accountid=15115  

[x] Thomas, C. (1995).

[xi] Goodwin, P., & Aalto, M. (1995, May 21).

[xii] Lees, L. (2001) at page 71.

[xiii] Hutchinson, B. (2011, August 6). Libraries are eccentric, changing and vital public spaces. National Post, p. n.a.

[xiv] HELENationdotcom. (Videographer) (2009). Vancouver public library (central branch) [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSq5BQXpGzA