Exploring Central City ( Surrrey)

We had an 8 a.m. appt up in North Surrey or City Center as it is now known. Surrey used to be the 4th largest municipality in Canada and now as a City, I think it is the 2nd largest in the province. It is divided into 5 regional centers, Newton, Cloverdale, Guildford, South Surrey and now City Center which used to be Whalley and is being totally revitalized. It is anchored by a large highrise with City Center prominent at the top.
Surrey has 1000 people moving here each month, more than 95 different languages spoken and 1/3 of the population is under 19.

 It was very interesting walking all around the place.
Simon Fraser University's Surrey Campus was the first, build in 2006 in the bottom 6 floors of the City Center highrise with a nice plaza at street level. Designed by Bing Thom, it has received many awards.

 

The staircase soars up to the Mezzanine where poles of raw lumber support up to the round skylight.

This metro center includes a flagship library with Terracotta Warriors as a gift from China.

The whole area connects to each other. There's a huge Community Plaza where many family events and celebrations are held throughout the year. Surrey is big on building vertical gardens on local buildings.

The new City Hall was about 9 billion dollars but rent from the old one is supposed to help pay the mortgage. There is a very large sculpture of birds soaring up in the ceiling towards the outside and plaza 

area.

                                    Everything is steps from the metro Skytrain.