Canada Place

Canada Place is a building on the waterfront of Burrard Inlet in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its roof is covered in white fabric shaped like sails, so from the harbour it looks like a great ship tied up at the dock.

It houses the east building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Vancouver hotel, the Vancouver World Trade Centre and a virtual flight ride called Flyover. It is also the main cruise-ship terminal in the area, where many Alaska cruises begin. The architects were the Zeidler Roberts Partnership with two other firms. It opened as Canada's pavilion at the 1986 world's fair, Expo 86.

How did it begin?

The site used to be a Canadian Pacific Railway pier, built in 1927 for ships crossing the Pacific. In the late 1970s governments started planning a convention centre, a cruise terminal and a hotel on it. Construction began when Queen Elizabeth II arrived on the royal yacht Britannia to start the first concrete pour. Today the pier is a busy place where cruise ships, visitors and local people all meet on the water.

What is it used for today?

During Expo 86 the Canada Pavilion was among the largest and most elaborate at the fair, with more than 5 million visitors before it closed on 13 October 1986. The building was expanded in 2001 for another cruise-ship berth. During the 2010 Winter Olympics it was the main press centre, and it stays a busy meeting place beside Waterfront Station, a hub for trains and ferries.

On the globe

The model shows a harbour pier topped by five white fabric sails. Look for the sails and the cruise-ship pier.