Pedestrian street Completed redevelopment of Station Square More recently, that public sphere has been further enhanced by an important piece of public art.
Anthem Properties worked with renowned local artist Douglas Coupland to create four sculptures spread across two locations within the redevelopment.
Three sculptures are outside JJ Bean Coffee at the northwest corner of Kingsborough Street and Silver Drive, one sculpture (the tallest at 50 feet tall) stands at the prominent intersection of Kingsway and Mackay Avenues. located in the southeast corner of
The sculpture is designed to look like a jewel-like material created by the accumulation and hardening of automotive paint slags called Fordite.
Coupland said the multicolored gemstone exterior underscores Station Square’s historic past as an automobile manufacturing plant for the Ford Motor Company.
The factory opened in 1938 and closed in 1968. According to the City of Burnaby, the building remained on site until he was demolished in 1988 for the first iterative multi-stage development of Station Square Mall.
Fordite, named after the automobile company, is the term mineralogists have given to the cured paint layer found under the spray paint booth at the Ford factory in Michigan. Blocks of layered automotive enamel paint are often up to 20 cm thick and experts report the model of car the paint was used on and the year it was sprayed.
“These layers of colored paint are identical to the layers of the Grand Canyon and, like most sedimentary forms, can be called minerals, in this case ‘artificial’ or man-made minerals.” “These clumps are very popular in the gemmological world when they are broken and polished into very beautiful gemstones,” Coupland said.
“So for the Station Square site, we’ve created stacks of sophisticated Fordite gems. These are deliberately bold, and we used to think that, just a short while ago, car colors were still used.” It reminds people in a joyful way of living in the world, prolonging the life of their shortened cars and raising anticipation for new colored cars.”
After acquiring Station Square in 2004, Anthem Properties embarked on a multi-year planning process for the mall’s redevelopment into a mixed-use, high-density neighborhood that will form part of the City of Burnaby’s eventual Metrotown Downtown plan. started. Beedie is also a development partner.
The original Station Square Mall before its redevelopment in 2011:
Station Square redevelopment under construction in late 2020/2021:
After 10 years of construction, the new Station Square was officially completed in August 2022. In addition to his five towers of approximately 1,800 homes, there are his 450,000 square feet of retail and office space at podium and street level, effectively revitalizing the pedestrian-oriented public. space. Key tenants include Price Smart Foods, formerly Save On Foods’ revival through sister brands, as well as WeWork, Cactus Club and Earl’s restaurants.
The redevelopment was designed by local firm Chris Dikeakos Architects and New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.
The previous iteration of Station Square consisted of a low-rise structure, with most of its 12-acre footprint used as a parking lot. This was powered by Save-On-Foods. Infamous for its roof collapsing within minutes of its grand opening in 1988A 6,400-square-foot portion of the roof collapsed and 20 cars crashed into the store. There were no fatalities, but 21 people were injured.
The first iteration of Metropolis at Metrotown Mall opened in 1986 and is the area’s Existing Sears Canada department stores and a supermarket. The Skytrain’s Metrotown station opened the previous year, 1985, in time for Expo ’86, as part of the original section of the Expo Line between Waterfront Station and New Westminster Station.
Burnaby’s metrotown area in 1985:
Burnaby’s metrotown area in 1985: