Vancouver Public Library in Dowtown Vancouver

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Opened in May 1995, the new library building at 350 West Georgia was designed by architects Moshe Safdie & Associates and Downs / Archambault Partners. Its destinctive style is now a Vancouver landmark.

Tourists are unlikely to want to go in and catch up on their reading, but if you are walking past on Georgia it is worth wandering around the plazas, investigating the small parade of shops in the entrance gallery, and checking out the unusual architecture.

Quick Facts

The new library building cost over $100 million.

It cost $300,000 to move the 600 truckloads of books from the old location on Burrard Street.

There are 51 kilometers of cable in the new library, including fibre-optics.

The building has nine floors, 35 concrete columns per floor, and just under 400,000 square feet of floor space.