About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
The only comprehensive handbook to Vancouver's architecture -- from the modest to the monumental Vancouver is still a young city, and its streetscapes and neighbourhoods reflect the city's constant state of reinvention. New buildings adapt the latest global architectural trends to the regional context or express the distinct local West Coast style; heritage buildings stand for earlier eras and continuity. The result is a dynamic urban landscape. Highly readable and authoritative, this entirely updated edition of Exploring Vancouver is the definitive guide to the city's architecture -- from the breathtaking to the bizarre. Harold Kalman and Robin Ward, both longtime chroniclers of Vancouver's architectural story, take the reader on a walking or driving tour of 14 areas in and around the city and detail more than 450 of the city's most notable buildings, structures and landscapes -- from the historical to the high-tech -- ituating each in its social, cultural and historical context.
Divided into 14 distinct city areas, with a full-colour photo accompanying each entry, Exploring Vancouver is a perfect companion for both curious visitors and the many architectural enthusiasts who are proud to call this city home. Endorsed by the royal architectural institute of Canada.
Awards
- Short-listed, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award
- Short-listed, City of Vancouver Book Award
Editorial Reviews
"The reading is astounding. Harold Kalman and Robin Ward's text is as straightforward as John Roaf's images. It also has enough wit to please the armchair reader and enough facts to make walks of Exploring Vancouver's fourteen architectural districts time well spent."
— Malcolm Parry
"Exploring Vancouver is organized into 14 chapters -- or tours...How some of the heritage buildings have been altered, adapted or reused by subsequent generations of architects is of particular interest. And of course, new buildings are featured alongside older ones, which only emphasizes how the collective architectural inventory of Vancouver and its surrounding municipalities is both idiosyncratic in stylistic approach and rich in cultural history."
— Canadian Architect
"An indespensible guide to anyone who is curious about Vancouver's architecture of yesterday and today."
— Bing Thom
"Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide is exactly what its title says. Original authors Harold Kalman and Robin Ward have added considerable detail to their original appraisals, and also report on two decades' worth of structures added since...John Roaf's colour photographs of each building, many familiar but some less so, merit double-page treatment. Still, they make the not-quite-pocketable book a valuable companion on walks for which the authors provide useful maps."
— Vancouver Sun
"Easily the most substantial, witty and fearless companion for touring the buildings/streets of Vancouver -- all other guides are fly-bys."
— Trevor Boddy, curator of "Vancouverism: Architecture Builds the City"
