Oceanic Plaza

Mid-century modern buildings/plaza

The best thing about this downtown mid-1970s Miesian office building’s namesake is its plaza.

Sure, the 26-story, glass curtained tower – designed by Charles Paine – evokes an elegantly timeless mid-century modern vibe, and it’s a gorgeous structure to be sure, but it’s the open concrete plaza at its base (also by Paine) tying it all together with the nearby Guinness Tower (Paine, again), Bentall buildings and other mid-century offerings (including a nice vintage parkade) that makes this entire block feel like you’re walking onto a 1960s-era Manhattan movie set.

And Hollywood agrees. This location has doubled for various cities and time periods in movies and TV series over the years, ranging from features like Godzilla and Fifty Shades of Grey to shows such as Fringe, The Flash, Arrow, Continuum  and Fear the Walking Dead.

All visiting modernists (and film buffs, for that matter) should definitely make Oceanic Plaza a mandatory stop on their travels… and check out the Herman Miller Workplace Resource while you’re there, located just off the main lobby in the Oceanic Plaza Tower.

Bonus building: On the West Pender street side of Oceanic Plaza, just down from the modernist parking structure we referenced, sits a really nice office building designed in the New Formalist vein by architect Gerald Hamilton (H.R. MacMillan Planetarium ). It’s at 1090 West Pender and worth a look if you’re in the area. UPDATE 2019 – THIS BUILDING WAS DEMOLISHED FOR REDEVELOPMENT