GESAMTKUNSTWERK

Westbank has built a practice around long-term commitments to artistry, sustainability and city-building. These commitments underlie an orientation towards projects like Woodwards, Vancouver House, Mirvish Village, Telus Garden and Oakridge – catalysts for larger change that go beyond the borders of the projects themselves. We are here to create. To provoke. To ignite. We are the vehicle for a new movement of cultural expression.

As the practice matures, we have become more ambitious. With every new project reflecting our commitment to the philosophy behind Gesamkunstwerk, or in our recent work the Japanese philosophy behind layering, the net effect is that our work becomes much more complex and far-reaching.

The core of Westbank’s mission is to create a body of work with a high degree of artistry that helps foster more equitable and beautiful cities. Westbank is active across Canada and in the United States, with projects including luxury residential, Five Star hotels, retail, office, rental, district energy systems, affordable housing initiatives and public art. Established in 1992, we are one of North America’s leading developers, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and over 25 billion dollars of projects completed or under development.

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December 01, 2015

Westbank collects 24,000 lbs of food, clothing, and toys for Syrian refugees

In light of the worldwide Syrian refugee crisis, Westbank is donating 12 fully furnished and stocked apartments in downtown Vancouver to the Immigrant Services Society of BC. These apartments will be used as transitional accommodation for families arriving in Vancouver until more permanent housing can be found.

As a part of Westbank’s commitment to help these families settle into new lives in Canada, we conducted a series of food and clothing drives. About 11,000 kilograms of donated items, including 6,000 kilograms of clothing, were picked up by Westbank volunteers from various drop-off points around Metro Vancouver, filling 30 trucks.

There was so much donated that we had to store it all on a floor in the TELUS Garden building, taking about half the space, or 465 square metres. We have been overwhelmed by the immense outpouring of support that we have received since announcing our housing program.

We are fortunate and grateful that we have many generous supporters who helped achieve our goal of fully stocking the temporary housing units.

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