The Salient Group

Artisans in the Canadian workshop of Architectural Stone Masonry work on aspects of the re-created entry for Vancouver’s Flack Block. “It was all done by hand,” ASM founder Tony Rogac says. “No machine touched any of that stone.” The detail shows the careful hammer-and-chisel technique needed to produce an intricate, finely detailed ornamental piece.

Traditional Building magazine recently had an article about the building of The Flack Block’s hand-carved limestone archway. Construction has recently finished on the building, and the archway has been completed for some time, but we thought we’d share this feature with those of you who wanted to know more about the creation of the archway, and the local stone carvers still practicing this craft.

You can see the full article here.

For 30-years Niels and Nancy Bendsten, through Gastown’s Inform, have brought the world of modern living to Vancouver. They have been leaders, not only in design, but in helping create the vision for the current Gastown evolution. It is natural, therefore, that Vancouver’s most design-forward residential development, the Terminus, be located in Gastown, and that Inform would play a part in showing it off through decorating a truly progressive model home.

We are excited to announce the completion of our model suite at terminus. The design of the unit has brought together the talents of David Nicolay of Evoke International Design and our neighbors and industry leaders in modern furnishings, Inform. To truly appreciate the Terminus, one must see it. If you are in the market, either for a home that is truly individual, or a modern furniture masterpiece, we think a visit to the terminus will satisfy both cravings. 

And if you liked the model home, please ask us to take you to the Terminus lounge, where Nancy and David have also styled a great place to catch the sunset over Vancouver. It comes with a new home in the Terminus. Please contact Salient or Inform to book a visit.

Those of you following us on Twitter were treated to a sneak peak of the Inform x terminus display suite Friday afternoon. We’ll be posting photos of the display suite here soon.

Visit Inform’s website.

Horace was one of the first purchasers at the Terminus building.

Meet a member of our tribe – Horace Lai: Horace is an Architect and one of the first purchasers at The Terminus. He was also one of the first new homeowners to move in.

Q:  Why did you end up purchasing in Terminus?
A:  I like things that are well designed, my clothes, my shoes, my furniture. The dynamic energy between ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ inspire me everyday.

Q: How do you like living in Gastown?
A: I love Gastown, its surrounded by many new developments including the Carrall Street Greenway, the new Convention & Exhibition Centre and the future Waterfront Transit Hub. People in Gastown are friendly, creative and open-minded and I love that I can find many avant-garde stores and restaurants in this part of town.

Tell us about your home.
I really like my pad. It’s a 2-level loft in Terminus, clever designed to be both dramatic and playful. Materials like walnut flooring, concrete stairs and glass railings are nicely put together. You can find many innovative living spaces behind the historical facade.

Horace is a fan of the Terminus on Facebook. Catch up with him at www.facebook.com/pages/terminus/50841027486

In a town where sometimes cool can be hard to find, Pecha Kucha Night (PKN) over-delivers the goods. In short: 12-speakers; 20-slides each; 20-seconds per slide; any topic goes. It’s a great format with no time to die on the vine as a speaker. For PKN#4 in October 08, Salient showed up as joint sponsor with Bing Thom Architects. Robert also presented that night. His topic was (surprise) the importance of not losing our architectural heritage, and the amazing spaces that can be created when we save the buildings properly.

However, it was all the other presenters that blew us away. More than anything, the other presenters showed a diversity and talent in our cultural landscape that was hugely refreshing. It led us to the sponsorship of PKN5 in April.

We’ll be back there again, if they’ll have us. PKN#6 is May 21, 2009 – click here for more info (event will sell out, buy your tickets early).

The event series is organized by Cause+Affect and was a huge success with a sold out crowd and inspirational talks from all sorts of Vancouverites.

Belatedly, we’d like to thank the presenters from the evenings that we sponsored.

For PKN#3 on October 23, 2008, we’d like to thank and congratulate:

• Graeme Berglund (Curator/Creator) > The Cheaper Show
• Natalie Purschwitz (Designer) > Hunt & Gather
• Robert Fung (Developer) > The Salient Group
• Josh Dunford (Director) >Burnkit
• Alicia Grunert (Fashion Designer) > Alicia Grunert
• Bob Kronbauer (Art Director) > Mumble
• Ross MacMillian (Designer/Founder) > Industrial Artifacts Inc.
• Clinton Cuddington & Matthew Woodruff, principals, (Measured. Architecture. Inc.)
• Kierstin De West (Conscientious Innovation)
• Chris Allen (Graphic Designer)
• Dick Hardt (Sxip Inc)

For PKN#5, on March 26, 2009, we’d like to thank and congratulate:

• Kris Krüg (President) > Raincity Studios, Founder: Static Photography
• Kelly Deck (Director) > Kelly Deck Design
• Duane Elverum (Assistant Professor, Design) > Emily Carr University
• 1. Matthew Miyagawa (Founder) > Finale Design / VancouverSlop.com
• 2. Vince Chan (Founder, Graphic Designer) > Finale Design
• Dolly Hopkins  (Creative Architect) > Dolly Hopkins
• Jeff Topham (Photographer, Writer, Documentary producer) > Jeff Topham
• Alex Beim  (CEO/Creative Director) > Tangible Interaction
• Campbell McDougall (Owner/Art Director) > Komakino/ Darklands
• Rex Weyler (Independent Author, Journalist, TV and Film writer, Researcher) > Rex Weyler
• Dinka Pignon (Operations & Education Coordinator) > VIVO Media Arts Centre
• Shawna Cox (Producer, Director, Writer, Editor, Actor, Independent Filmmaker) > iDream Films / CFilmGirl
• Oliver Lang (Architect) > LWPAC

To learn more about Pecha Kucha, see their site. www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/vancouver

Gallery Gachet’s Out of the Rain

Salient is pleased to announce our support of Gallery Gachet’s ‘Out of the Rain’ program.

As artists’ work space is at an all time low in Vancouver, we were pleased to support the program with subsidized work space at street level of our newly completed Flack Block at the corner of Hastings and Cambie. Participants will now have a consistent, dedicated space in which to create artwork for exhibition at Gallery Gachet June 5-28.

Initiated in 2005, the Out of the Rain program is an evolving unique initiative that brings together professional and marginalized artists to promote genuine solutions to homelessness, as well as develop new methods of art production, sustainable art practice, life stability planning, and dissemination. Special emphasis is working closely with those artists who face significant challenges (mental health, housing, addiction, poverty) to maintaining and sustaining a regular art practice but who, in the face of these challenges, persevere to make art as a means of survival and self-expression.

The Coordinators are also working to identify potential retail and internet art sales 

opportunities, and researching and exploring alternative funding sources and potential partnerships to support the program’s sustainability.

Visit the Gallery Gachet online here.

After three years of meticulous construction, the terminus is finally finished, and the new terminus owners started moving into their new homes a little while ago. Salient was pleased to have Vancouver based photographic artist Jessica Bushey shoot during construction of the terminus, and document the project with some increadable images. Take a few moments to glance through a brief sample of these beautiful photos – some show a little more of the construction process, some show what we unearthed in the duration of construction, and some are just stunning abstracts of what laid in front of Jessica on her many visits to the construction site. Stayed tuned for more info regarding upcoming events featuring some of Jessica’s amazing images.

Click here to view this same gallery in a new window, with larger photos.

The Flack Block was featured on Global TV yesterday (April 7). There is a lot of interest in the positive change community health that neighbourhood heritage rehabilitation can bring. We’re pretty excited about it.

You can see the video here. (edit: video is no longer live on the GlobalTV website)

The Flack Block also has it’s own Facebook group, and you can find it here. Lots of new photos added to the group, including beautiful detail photos of the hand-carved limestone archway can be seen in the gallery.