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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Philosophy
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March 07, 2014

Arthur Erickson to Bjarke Ingels

 

In 1955, Arthur Erickson had a vision for Vancouver. Leading up to 2018, Bjarke Ingels, BIG and local design firm Dialog have one, too: Vancouver House.

The Gesamtkunstwerk exhibition, opening March 22 to the public, will showcase the evolution of Vancouver with Arthur Erickson’s original ‘Project 56’ pencil sketch, kindly lent to the exhibition by the Canadian Architectural Archive at the University of Calgary Library (Special Collections).

At the centre of it all will be a detailed model of Vancouver House, seen in the video above, as a beacon for the next evolution of this city.

If you’re interested in Vancouver, the Gesamtkunstwerk exhibition is where you need to be.

Get your invitation here.

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