Amazon opens major office atrium as part of its phased growth within The Post complex in Vancouver through 2026

Amazon has officially opened another key phase of its office space at The Post in downtown Vancouver, marking a significant step in its phased occupancy in the complex’s 1.1 million square feet of office space.

The company began gradually occupying its space at The Post in September 2023, starting with a phased approach of opening its Vancouver Tech Hub within the 21-storey South Tower fronting West Georgia Street.

The South Tower, representing about half of The Post’s office space, is now fully furnished and occupied by Amazon. The company has assigned 2,000 office workers to the spaces currently available. These spaces are already being effectively utilized, supported by the company’s global policy requiring office workers to be on-site at least three times a week.

As of today, a 43,000 sq ft office atrium — an immense amenity space for Amazon employees — is open for use.

This atrium should not be confused with The Post’s publicly accessible retail atrium on Homer Street at ground level, which opened in February 2024 alongside the launch of Loblaw City Market.

The Amazon atrium is located on the eighth floor of The Post on what was previously the old rooftop of the Canada Post processing centre. This vast and airy atrium with 22-ft-high ceilings is the highest floor of the complex’s 1958-built heritage base podium, situated between the new vertical additions of the South Tower and the 22-storey North Tower, which fronts Dunsmuir Street.

This office atrium not only provides a direct indoor connection between the South Tower and North Tower but also represents Amazon’s northward expansion within the complex, which will culminate with the opening of the North Tower in 2026.

By 2026, Amazon will fully use all 1.1 million sq ft of office space at The Post, potentially more than doubling the current number of staff based in the complex. Also, with the opening of the North Tower, the seventh and eighth floors will become some of Vancouver’s largest continuous office floor plates, each spanning 80,000 sq ft and covering nearly an entire city block.

The Amazon atrium is setback from its sides of Homer Street and Hamilton Street, which also creates large outdoor open terraces for workers that overlook the cityscape. However, Graeme Scott, the vice president of development for mixed-use at QuadReal Property Group, told Daily Hive Urbanized this setback was also performed as a heritage consideration so that they were not simply providing the former Canada Post building with a vertical expansion.

“So the reason we’re carved back around these edges is that we had to demonstrate that we were doing more than just capping this off. So we pulled it in on the ends and we created these contiguous outdoor spaces that say, ‘we’re using the old roof as a roof still,’” Scott told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“So we went all the way out to the perimeter of the original building on the towers, but we sucked it in a little bit on the east and west sides. And it actually created a really great opportunity now.”

The defining features of the Amazon atrium are two long strips of light wells, each extending east-west across the city block and bordering the South Tower and North Tower. These expansive sloped skylights allow natural light to flood the atrium, while the light well areas also function as grand stairwells connecting the seventh level below and the ninth level above in each tower.

Ample light also floods in from the 22-ft-high floor-to-ceiling windows fronting Homer Street and Hamilton Street.

“All this light comes all the way down, and we’re able to bring light to a floor that otherwise would be really not accessible for offices,” said Scott.

Both light wells are further defined by significant pieces of drop-down sculptural art that hang from the skylights.

Local artists Samantha Dickie and Marie Khouri have created these sculptures for the atrium. The south light well features delicate bundles of white ceramic resembling postcard-sized paper with printed letters, while the north light well showcases expanded aluminum mesh that symbolizes mail markings and postage stamps.

The Amazon atrium features several other prominent nods to the former Canada Post building, including a mural of vintage stamps framed by a key entranceway. Another standout piece is a giant, 18-foot-tall, three-dimensional mural that wraps around a corner, including a long wall resembling a pixelated postage stamp, which carries an overall shape that symbolizes the landscape of Vancouver. This pixelated effect is achieved through a pattern of punctured repurposed 1950s-era mailbox doors from Canada Post’s former retail space on West Georgia Street.

One of these mailbox doors even opens up to reveal the first postage stamp from Vancouver to Seattle, used for the first mail run with 50 letters.

“When you think about Amazon growing from Seattle to Vancouver, that’s kind of like a foreshadowing of the collaboration to come,” Sarah Piccinato, a Senior Designer with B+H Architects, told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“It looks like the mountains, but we didn’t want it to be obvious and put it in your face.”

While Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership designed the overall building with its heritage conservation concept, The Post’s functional interior spaces — Amazon’s office spaces, including this new office atrium, and the public retail atrium — are all designed by B+H Architects.

The interior design follows the “Roots Storycraft” concept, emphasizing the former Canada Post building’s industrial materials — metal, concrete, and wood. This theme is reflected in the choice of furniture, fabrics, and custom light fixtures, creating a mid-century-inspired aesthetic.

“There were different teams that worked on the spaces, but it still flows together in a way where the building feels really cohesive and where we’re paying tribute to the 1950s heritage,” said Piccinato.

Behind the walls adorned with the continuous pixelated mural is a large, enclosed venue equipped with production facilities and capable of accommodating up to 200 people. Retractable walls allow the venue’s activities to extend into the larger open space of the atrium.

The pixelated mural also serves to frame the Amazon atrium’s Georgia Cafe, the MKT snack shop, and one of the space’s main seating areas for dining, working, collaborating, and socializing.

The overall atrium space features inviting seating areas in a range of configurations and typologies, accommodating both solo work and larger groups, along with various meeting rooms.

One of the seating areas is also backdropped by a large mural that provides a subtle nod to the Expo ’86 World’s Fair.

“Because there’s people acclimatized to being back in the office, there’s been an increased demand for spaces that feel home-like as opposed to corporate. So there was a very intentional decision to create breakout and meeting spaces that are more home-like,” Amazon spokesperson Kristin Gable told Daily Hive Urbanized.

The Amazon atrium, in addition to the not insignificant office worker amenities found within the South Tower, includes a large indoor amenity space on the 21st floor and various outdoor amenities on the tower rooftop, including a dog park. This atrium is also directly below The Post’s base podium rooftop’s vast outdoor amenity space, featuring a full basketball court, dog park, BBQ, and various seating areas.

However, the Amazon atrium is considered the crown jewel of the company’s space within The Post, and the breath of amenity-rich common areas is made possible by their plans to grow the critical mass of office employees based in the building, which is by far the single largest office building in British Columbia.

“Our investment in The Post reflects Amazon’s continued commitment to our Vancouver Tech Hub,” said Jesse Dougherty, vice president of Amazon.

“This new space will be an ideal location for our teams to gather and invent on behalf of customers. It’s incredibly rewarding to witness the impact of Amazon’s investments in downtown Vancouver, bringing thousands of employees to the city centre in a building that also offers retail and other amenities for the broader community to enjoy.”

Source