Ellipsis: Café-Bar in Vancouver’s Waterfall Building
Ellipsis is a new café-bar that reactivates a landmark modernist building in Vancouver. Located inside the Waterfall Building, originally designed by Arthur Erickson in 1996 with Nick Milkovich, Ellipsis reimagines the space as both coffee shop and cocktail bar. The design balances the bold character of the original architecture with warmth, hospitality, and community.
The space is 2,882 square feet with seating for about 47 people. It sits near Granville Island, accessed through a triangular concrete portal and under a glass facade angled at 45 degrees. Natural light floods the interior through dramatic glass canopies. Key materials like concrete, steel, and glass are preserved. Warm accents—burnt-orange upholstery, wood, soft textiles—are added. The lighting is designed to shift the mood from day to evening. This hybrid venue aims to offer more than drinks—it is a place where people come to slow down, connect, and linger.
Architectural Concept and Design
The concept centers on respect for Erickson’s modernist heritage. The architecture’s geometry—sharp angles, glass canopies, concrete base—remains dominant. The redesign uses elemental shapes (circles, triangles, rectangles) in furniture, millwork, and lighting to echo the original formal language. Meanwhile, warmth is injected through texture, color, and material contrast. The goal is continuity and adaptation—not erasure.
Program and Spatial Organization
| Zone | Function |
|---|---|
| Café Area (morning to afternoon) | Espresso, coffee drinks, light food, social gathering |
| Cocktail Bar (evenings) | Cocktails, small plates, dinner service, relaxed social atmosphere |
| Bar Counter & High-Top Tables | Bar service, secondary seating, visual engagement with structure |
| Seating & Dining Zones | Banquettes, booths, individual tables, all oriented to maximize views/light |
Materiality and Interior Detailing
Materials pay tribute to the original architectural DNA. Polished concrete floors, brushed stainless steel counters, glass facades—all preserved or restored. Wood and fabric soften the industrial edge. Upholstery in burnt orange adds warmth. Geometric millwork references primary shapes. Lighting plays with natural light by day and atmospheric fixtures by night. Mirrors and reflective surfaces extend and echo space.
Architectural Analysis
The design logic is hybrid: preservation and adaptation. It respects the original structure while transforming function. The angled glass facade and concrete base are kept intact, establishing visual identity. Interior design amplifies this identity by mirroring geometry in furnishings and lighting. Material honesty is strong: concrete, steel, glass remain visible. Warm materials are used not to cover but to complement. This combination creates spaces that feel both timeless and current. Architecture here becomes not just form, but a framework of experience—day turning into night, café shifting into bar.
Project Importance
Ellipsis teaches architects that adaptive reuse can be more than cosmetic. It shows how a building with legacy can be repurposed in ways that honor its past and serve new social functions. The project contributes to typologies of café-bar hybrids and modernist restorations. In cities like Vancouver, where architectural heritage and public desire for gathering spaces meet, such projects matter. They prove that design can enable both preservation and innovation.
This is especially relevant now. Many existing buildings are underused. The high cost of new construction pushes for reuse. Lighting, material choices, spatial flexibility become keys. Ellipsis is relevant for its dual program; it responds to climate of changing social uses—from morning cafés to evening bars—ensuring the building lives through a full day. It offers lessons in sustainability, social value, and design integrity.
✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight
Ellipsis in Vancouver occupies Arthur Erickson’s Waterfall Building and offers a hybrid café and cocktail bar concept that aims to balance modernist architectural expression with warmth and community. The triangular concrete-and-glass structure from 1996 features expansive natural light through large windows and a dramatic courtyard waterfall. Interior redesign led by SML Studio and Tetherstone Construction uses brushed stainless steel, geometric millwork, warm fabrics, wood details, and burnt-orange upholstery to soften the concrete shell while respecting the building’s original formal language.
The most compelling aspect of Ellipsis is how its aesthetic reflects Erickson’s modernism while its function blurs time: from morning coffee to evening cocktails. Yet, there are moments of tension: concrete surfaces and large glazing offer beauty but raise questions of thermal comfort and energy efficiency. Also, in such dual-use spaces, there can be a risk that one mode (bar or café) dominates, potentially undermining consistent atmosphere or community appeal.
Still, Ellipsis succeeds in offering an inspiring example of how hospitality design can knit together architecture, ritual and presence to produce a place where people slow down and connect.
Conclusion
Ellipsis in the Waterfall Building is an example of how architecture can serve history and community together. SML Studio Architecture manages to preserve Erickson’s strong modernist language while adapting for warmth, hospitality, and varied use. The triangular portal, glass canopy, concrete base, and geometric interior details all cohere. Seating, lighting, and materials combine to invite presence, connection, and pause.
This project reminds architects that design is not only about new forms but also about how we transform and reuse what exists. Ellipsis shows that with sensitivity, heritage buildings can be reborn as places that are both contemporary and rooted. As urban life becomes faster, venues like this help slow it down—if only for a moment. Interiors matte and reflective, materials honest, mood shifting from day to evening—Ellipsis is architecture alive.
The photography is by James Han.
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