Designed by Michael Green Architecture, the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club?s recently completed Dock Building is an example of industrial architectural elegance crafted from a relatively modest budget.
The design team at MGA aimed to demonstrate that all projects, from working industrial buildings to boutique museums, can and should be realized with grace and architectural dignity. ?Delivering thoughtful, elegant architectural design is always possible regardless of budget,? said Michael Green, CEO and President of MGA. ?This is what we set out to do when designing the Dock Building for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.?
The Dock Building, located on Jericho Beach in Vancouver, BC, serves a large marina of sailboats. The facility provides washrooms and showers, offices for the Harbour Master, instruction space for children, and a variety of workshops to maintain boats, sails, and gear. The project?s practical working needs, very modest budget, and prominent siting required a simple solution that honoured the cannery and industrial heritage of waterfront buildings that were once found on the site a half-century before. The massing is simple. Two intersecting wedge volumes mirror each other to create a lantern to the sea and a lantern to the land. Facing land is a glulam and translucent polycarbonate wall that brings light into the workshop spaces and glows along the beach at night.
Facing the sea and the marina itself are a series of garage doors opening to the shop bays as well a...