Plans are afoot to remake the “bear pit” at Bentall Centre – a sunken plaza and water feature outside the office tower complex at Burrard and Dunsmuir.
Owners Hudson Pacific Properties have retained Hapa Collaborative and Tangible to design a new outdoor space and suspended light feature for the plaza on Dunsmuir Street, outside the Bentall Centre Four tower.
The tired-looking space will be remade with a suspended canopy with 55 sparkling LED light strings, and the existing fountain will be decommissioned and replaced with a “wave deck” — a mutli-level, flowing platform of cedar decking.
The decking is described in project documents as a “temporary activation” anticipating “the complete transformation of this space as part of the Bentall Master Plan project.”
New trees (Japanese Snowbell) and shrubs (Autumn Moor Grass) will be added, as well as several umbrellas and seating areas.
The alterations require a City of Vancouver development permit.
The four office towers of Bentall Centre were completed between 1967-1981.
Tragically, four men died on the worksite in January 1981 while preparing a platform known as a ‘fly form’ for the last concrete pour on the roof, when it broke free. Without warning, the fly form fell over the edge of the fourth tower, carrying the four men to their deaths.
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