mnemonic design labs
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Harbour Centre

HARBOUR CENTRE

 

Once 'tallest' of the skyline — the Vancouver Lookout remains supremely noticeable. Few would agree its perch atop the boxy Harbour Centre reflects elegance — while fewer still agree on its height. Four official heights exist! 147.0 m, 139.6 m, 146.0 m, and 170.1 m. From the glass deck most admit the 360o view delivers inspiriation — no matter its brutalist external design

 

  • Hand-Drawn Typographic Vector Illustration

    Hand-Signed and Numbered Gicleé Archival Printing
    Framed in FSC-Certified Coated White Birch

    Original Gallery Edition / Limited to 20

    CAD 500.00 Unframed / 700.00 Framed

    16 x 20 in / 41 x 51 cm

  • Each ICON sprouts in my photography. An ICON is approximately two years of process — from concept to completion

    I carefully draw out a graphic silhouette by hand. After detailed study I choose which adornments to include — taking particular interest in ones that can be missed by a passerby on the street

    Next I extrude elements from the building’s “face”. This period in process feels like an extended ballroom dance. There are twists, turns and dips — I go back and forth, and back again. I aim to leave plenty of space for the typography — which I consider the entry point for a viewer — and still include enough of each ICON’s definitive decorative elements. I’m humbled when viewers recall a personal dialogue or history with an ICON. To allow for this, I’m compelled to ensure familiarity

    I select a quote after boulevards of research. I learn from this meditative and often lengthy time in process. Ultimately my choice offers an emergent playfulness between the quote, or the quoted, and what each ICON outwardly presents — rather than be a quote about the ICON itself. Sometimes it complements, sometimes it counters. Sometimes in humour. Sometimes in critique

    Each letter in each composition is unique — hand manipulated as a self fashioned typography. For colour I created the blue exclusively for the limited edition — suspended among Arctic, Cerulean, and Sapphire. It speaks to the hue we discover anew — each time the clouds lift — in the high latitude low angle light of Vancouver’s shockingly alluring sky. The three hints of clouds are a fun unifying feature across this series. I use their placement to convey the perceived presence of each ICON relative to a viewer from the streetscape

  • The Lookout was built by the same firm that produced the CN Tower in Toronto

    Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, opened the new restaurant atop the Lookout, then called the Sears Tower, on August 13, 1977. He left an impression of his footprints in concrete. Those prints broke — others say mysteriously disappeared — during later renovations