This iconic building took around two and half years to build is now home to a community of students, faculty members and researchers. Situated on a large open space, the Pharmaceutical building with a slanted exterior definitely stands out and catches my eye every time I walk by. The idea behind the Pharmaceutical Building design emerged from a tree metaphor. This tree metaphor illustrates the intertwining of the tree canopy, which is inspired by the evolving development of modern medicine. This is why the interior of the building is built mostly from cedar wood, which also reflects pharmaceutical drugs having derived from plants. The interior captured my attention with the overarching stairs, slanted walls, lecture rooms that still have the smell of cedar, and huge windows that bring in natural light.

UBC Tennis Centre

Home to eight indoor tennis courts and one outdoor tennis court, this building is a very well lit. The building is also built and designed so that tennis tournaments could be televised as well. The architects behind this building pushed for a series of windows running horizontally across the south side of the building. This creates transparency from the building to the streets. The idea was to create a greater sense of safety on the sidewalk, especially at night. However, only a few windows were installed due to the limited budget.

Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Home to a variety of different species, but perhaps most famously known for where the exhibition of the blue whale is located. This museum always causes students walking by to take a second look at the enormous blue whale’s skeletal body that extends the whole upper museum floor. Often students think that the museum is only where the blue whale is shown but they don’t realize the museum extends underground, full of amazing specimen. Definitely a worthwhile visit. The building is connected to three other research buildings which seems like they are built separatly, but are actually connected underground. It is also built perpendicular to UBC’s Main mall, West mall and East mall. Additionally, in the centre of the building is a large open green space with long benches that creates a very welcoming atmosphere for people to enjoy. This museum is an excellent way to welcome public education as well. Previously, many of the specimens were preserved in jars and kept behind closed doors in the research labs. However, because there was a great potential for public education and no reason why these amazing specimen should be hidden from public display, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum was built.

The changes are the end result of a package of commitments made by the Olympic bid partners (including the Province and City) to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in order to secure the Games. The commitments promised, in essence, a series of favourable marketing opportunities for the corporate sponsors that would be investing in the 2010 project – favourable, here, meaning big visual wallop combined with messaging exclusivity. Goodbye Cola wars, hello Coca-collosal.

The commitments were then set into regulatory motion late last year and early in 2010 when City Council rolled out a number of amendments to existing bylaws and controls (even requesting changes to the Vancouver Charter itself). In many cases, these changes suspended normal governance practices for the period of the 2010 Games.

And the murals? One set of changes was made to the Sign Bylaw – the tool through which City licensing officers and bylaw enforcement folks regulate the size, materials, placement and related details of almost any sort of sign that you can find in the city.

The result? The following are a few examples of what’s been installed throughout the city.

One of the biggest appears to be the 14-story building wrap at the TD tower (Georgia and Howe):

Another prominent mural ad covers off on the host province tourism message:

Some, like the Canadian Flag installed at the Hotel Georgia tap into the nationalist spirit, others, such as the murals wrapping Hudson’s Bay, or Canada Post (see below) feature prominent shots of the athletes, with corporate logos comprising a small part of the overall sign.

Here’s another one at the corner of Burrard and Hastings:

Incidentally, the massive signs and murals which now dot the downtown core are part of a one-two branding punch that saw VANOC purchase every available outdoor advertising surface in the region, billboards, bus shelters and more. All, ostensibly, under the International Olympic Committees request to protect Olympic sponsors from “ambush” marketing.

Thus, for the period of the Games, we have a reshaping of the branding iconography found in the Vancouver cityscape. On one hand the breadth of messages has shrunk considerably (only sponsor ‘voices’ can be heard), while on the other, the sheer size of these sponsor messages has grown on an Olympian scale.