On the 15th Anniversary of Expo 86 I took a walk along the site with a video camera in tow to document what has happened to the area over the years.

The plan for the site is to build housing along the waterfront with some commercial space allocated for Pacific Boulevard.  Slated as the largest urban renewal project in North America, the entire site is to be finished in 2016.

   

1) BC Place on the left (formerly the British Columbia Pavilion) and Science World on the right (formerly Expo Centre) frame a new housing development.
2) Science World with BC Place Stadium in the background.  During Expo 86,  the picture would have been taken from the China Pavilion.

   

1) New Waterfront Apartments and ocean side promenade.  This would have been the Green Zone at Expo 86.
2) Another view of the Apartments that now occupy the waterfront formerly occupied by  the Green Zone.

The development has had mixed reviews.  Some architects hail the neighbourhoods as a model for urban living in the 21st century.  Critics have scoffed that the architecture looks like a cross between "The Jetsons" and the Chicago ghetto projects of the 1950s.  Regardless of the reviews, the pricey condominiums are selling quickly.

   

1) Park Promenade and the Roundhouse (in the distance).  The Roundhouse is now home to a community and daycare Centre.
2) The Seawall by Cambie bridge.  In 1986 the vantage point would have been from the Soviet Union Pavilion's courtyard looking past the Children's play area to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Pavilion in the Pink Zone.

Among the clusters of apartment buildings there are three large parks.  The Oceanfront itself has been left as public space.  Vancouver's famous Seawall has been expanded to make one continuous oceanfront promenade from the downtown harbor to Science World in False Creek.  The young trees and gardens have yet to mature.

   

1) Plaza of Nations with BC Place behind.  In 1986 the poles flew the flags of 54 nations.
2) Plaza of Nations.

Directly after the fair, nightclubs and restaurants situated at BC Place/Plaza of Nations failed to attract the required number of people to make the businesses profitable.  Although the buildings weren't dormant, the area wasn't exactly lucrative.  That is changing with the growing population in the surrounding urban neighbourhoods.  Today, BC Place is the home to several of Vancouver's most popular festivals.
 
 

More Views of the Expo 86 Site 2001

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