EBCO Aerospace

This project marked the beginning of exciting things for Fast + Epp in 1986 when – along with young architects Paul Bridger and Peter Busby – Paul Fast was asked to be part of a feasibility study on the reuse of Expo ‘86 pavilion modules. The project was to be a new manufacturing plant for high-tech industrialist, Helmut Eppich.

When the results of the feasibility study proved negative and a pre-engineered building loomed on the horizon, the design team made one last attempt to save the EBCO Aerospace project by submitting a proposal of their own.

Eppich, no doubt struck by the audacity of the design and entrepreneurship of the proponents, accepted the proposal, paying nominally more for a design which could be a flagship building for his business.

For Fast + Epp, it was a game changer – the project put us on the Vancouver architectural map and is a guiding reminder of what innovation and fresh thinking can yield.

Our vision was for a building inspired by the British High Tech movement, with a roof that would be suspended from an externally-exposed steel tension structure. The design was completely without precedent in Canada.