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Fundraiser to celebrate Arthur Erickson’s 1970s terraced Coal Harbour building

Evergreen Building is distinctive for its tiered garden terraces, and will be sensitively echoed in new neighbouring Terrace House development
Evergreen Building and Terrace House
Arthur Erickson's Evergreen Building is easily recognizable for its tiered terraces, which helped inspire Shigeru Ban's design for the upcoming Terrace House (visible behind). Image via Arthur Erickson Foundation

One of Arthur Erickson’s most influential designs in downtown Vancouver is the Evergreen Building, a 1970s Modernist mixed-use building overlooking Coal Harbour and distinctive for its tiered, landscaped terraces.

Now home to architecture and design practice IBI Group, the building is the first example of 1970s Modernist architecture to be both historically designated and fully restored in Western Canada.

The building is immediately adjacent to the upcoming Terrace House luxury condo development (see image above), which is sympathetically designed by Japanese starchitect Shigeru Ban and will be built from timber.

On Thursday, March 28, IBI Group is opening up its refurbished main-floor premises for a fundraising reception and presentation, which will publicly tell the full story of how the Evergreen Building was both saved and then preserved, in the words of those who achieved this.

The reception will start at 5pm in IBI's offices, with optional small-group tours of the studios on upper floors, visiting the restored decks with their spectacular harbour views.

The “Telling the Evergreen Story” presentation will begin at 6pm and will see speakers including City of Vancouver’s former co-director of planning Larry Beasley, architecture critic and curator Trevor Boddy, landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Francl Architects principal Stefan Aepli and IBI Group president David Thom.

The funds raised from the event will benefit Arthur Erickson Foundation programs and initiatives, including the Arthur Erickson House and Garden, the late architect’s home in Point Grey.

Evergreen Building is located at 1285 West Pender Street, Vancouver. Tickets are very limited, and will be released first come, first served. Price of admission is $125 per person (with a $100 tax receipt).

For more information and to buy tickets, click here.