Generating Ideas: G.M. Shrum Generating Station at W.A.C. Bennett Dam
The generating station welcomed visitors through concrete legs, while a circular elevator shaft allowed them to travel to view the machinery on the underground generating floor. Drawing by Andrew Gruft
ARCHITECT Rhone & Iredale Architects
TEXT D?Arcy Jones
In 1965, Vancouver was a frontier town in ways that seem far-fetched today. That year, BC Hydro hired Rhone & Iredale Architects to work on one of the largest dams in the world?all because chairman Dr. Gordon Shrum liked a wooden sundeck they designed for his son. The task for the design fell to 27-year-old Andrew Gruft, who later became an architecture professor and photograph collector, before passing away last year.
From their office in an ex?bawdy house overlooking then-polluted False Creek, Rhone & Iredale had some 80 projects on the go. Thirty-seven-year-old Rand Iredale was more of a mentor and systems nerd than an artist, preoccupied with the science of building, Gantt charts, and adopting computer drafting before anyone even knew what it was. He and Bill Rhone led an office that took pride in delivering, despite youth and inexperience. The duo shared a dogged faith in delegating design, encouraging their project architects to run everything. Prodded by the office?s notorious Friday pin-ups, Gruft detailed an iconic industrial newel cap that controls ten massive water-fueled generators that still produce about 30% of BC Hydro?s electrical output. Located on the Peace River, the dam and accompanying str...
_MFUENTENOTICIAS
canadian architect
_MURLDELAFUENTE
https://www.canadianarchitect.com/
-------------------------------- |
Vank's soundproof pod offers a private workspace in open-plan offices |
|
Araz House: Pimodek’s Contemporary Redesign in Istanbul
01-05-2024 08:44 - (
Architecture )
More White than Off-white…: The Minimalist Charm of A Tbilisi Apartment
01-05-2024 08:44 - (
Architecture )