Vancouverism

On a bright and sunny Saturday morning in February, 75 Moving Through participants embarked on one of three architectural walking tours organized by MOV, as part of a multidisciplinary exploration of Vancouver's built environment, called "This is Not an Architectural Speaker's Series".  As some of you know, the groups were completely full, so not everyone was able to join.  The good news is, we recorded each walk, and the podcasts are now available for listening and download!

Listen: Moving Through Podcasts

Three concurrent walks and groups set out from Stadium/Chinatown Skytrain, Commercial/6th, and King Edward Stations, and joined together for lunch and an all-group  Q&A and wrap-up session lead by Gordon Price at SFU Woodwards.  Our intrepid guides report:

Mini-Walk A: The Path(s) Not Taken: Viaducts, Expressways, and Almost Vancouvers.

(*Guides: Vancouver Public Space Network, Michael Green, mgb architecture)

Most Vancouverites rarely spend any time in the parking lot across from Rogers Arena, but standing there looking up at the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, it is easy to feel like you've been transported to the overpass wasteland more typical of LA or Detroit.

Demian Rueter and Brandon Yan, transportation coordinators from the Vancouver Public Space Network and Michael Green of mgb architecture have thought a lot about these overpasses and about what could have been if the downtown freeway started in the early 1970s had been completed. Walking through Gastown, it is easy to see what would have been lost. The European style streetscape that was jeered for so long as a tourist trap left behind by Expo 86 has become in recent years a dependably fun spot for a night out and home to some of the city's best restaurants. If the freeway had been built, not only would this be lost, but also large chunks of Strathcona and Chinatown. By passionately opposing this plan, the residents of these neighbourhoods prevented this plan from occurring. A widely forgotten casualty of the project was Hogan's Alley, the neighbourhood Vancouver's Black community called home.

When we start to think about these great neighbourhoods surrounding the viaducts, it's easy to imagine that parking lot becoming something really exciting if the viaducts were to come down.

Mini-Walk B: Speed and the Shape of the City: Vancouver’s Evolving Transitscapes

(*Guides: Andrew Curran/Translink & Graham McGarva, VIA Architecture)

Graham McCarva sees transit stations differently than most people. Graham was the lead architect behind Commercial/Broadway station, it is informative to walk with him through the station and surrounding neighbourhood. "A subway station is a place to buy flowers," he told us, a place where everyone should feel comfortable walking past at any hour. This idea informed the of this station, which responded to neighbourhood concerns of unsavoury characters commanding the intersection. Previously the location of the busiest pay phone in the region, it is now home to the busiest Shopper's Drug Mart. The main action on the Drive used to be north of 1st Ave, but since the station was renovated the neighbourhood has grown right down to 12th Ave.

Andrew Curran, senior planner at Translink, introduced the concept of Marchetti's Constant, and helped put the station into historical perspective, explaining that this, the highest traffic station in the system, serves the same function as did the former streetcar station (now a post office) at 6th and Commercial. Like the streetcar station before it, Commercial/Broadway Station connects two suburban lines to lines bound for Downtown (and UBC), moving thousands of people each day.

Andrew and Graham sparked many questions among the group, making the ride to SFU Woodwards a lively one. We were better able to see the role that transit has played in the development of the lower mainland, and puzzle over the role that the Canada Line and other future lines will play in the area's ongoing growth.

Mini-Walk C: Evolution in Station-Area Planning the Cambie Corridor

(*Guides: Jim Bailey, City of Vancouver & Peeroj Thakre, pH5 architecture & Urban Republic Arts Society)

Tucked beneath the streets at King Edward Skytrain station, Jim Bailey, senior planner for the City of Vancouver's Cambie Corridor Station Area Planning project, led us through an engaging discussion about this interesting, and perhaps under-discussed area of Vancouver. Ranging from the Cambie Village to Marine Drive, Bailey divides the area into 5 Precincts, suggesting each has room for development of a unique character and livelihood. However, while single family homes are currently at a market value of $1.5million near King Ed station, it is clear that increased density will be necessary for more affordable living situations. As we walked through the laneways surrounding the station, Peeroj and Jim discussed with the group, how optimizing transit, cycling, and walking opportunities, as well as increasing public amenities, and opportunities for community engagement will be key for the future of the Cambie Corridor.

See the Moving Through photoset here.

We’ve reached the halfway point in our “Vancouverism by Bicycle” tours, which examine the recent history of urban planning and architecture downtown and around False Creek. (The tours run Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. from now til August 22. Click here for details or to register.)

Condensing decades of history into a two-hour format—including riding time between stops—has been a fascinating, challenging project. We’ve been forced to reconsider how people, be they tourists or locals, experience the city’s built form. One recurring discussion point has been the role public art plays in creating a sense of place, particularly in shiny, new neighbourhoods that have been all but wiped clean of their past, or were previously undeveloped. Two examples stand out.

The work Red Horizontal (pictured above) by Montreal-based artist Gisele Amantea is a featured stop on the tour, and was embedded in the seawall near David Lam Park in 2005. Essentially, it’s a bright red strip of porcelain enamel panels that depict 228 interiors of nearby apartments, condominiums, converted lofts, and seniors’ housing; 29 images repeat, a reference to the recurring unit sizes and layouts, and the uniformity of the spaces. Red Horizontal serves a documentary function, freezing those living rooms and kitchens in perpetuity. It also poses an important question: once stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops are no longer in fashion, what will False Creek North—and indeed, Vancouver’s many other master-planned communities—look and feel like? Will False Creek North go the route of Science World, representing a vision of the future from the past?

Just beyond the city limits, a new art installation lends context to another new neighbourhood. Last week, UniverCity, the residential neighbourhood at Simon Fraser University, unveiled Yellow Fence, a series of 15 gates fronting the townhouses of a just-completed building (one of them is pictured left). (Full disclosure: I’m related to Jonathan Tinney, their director of community development.) Here, Vancouver artist Erica Stocking references yellow wire-meshed construction fencing—something as much a part of local material culture as glass and concrete. Each gate bears a different grid pattern; a Crayola-yellow delineation of public and private space. As Stocking described in a release: “I wanted to use the material of the temporary fence as a metaphor for shifting boundaries and as a reference to the site’s built history.”

Both projects push traditional approaches to public art. They are not only integrated into their sites in compelling ways, they also challenge the very neighbourhoods of which they are a part, capturing a particular moment in their development, history, and story.

Red Horizontal image by RightAntler ; Yellow Fence image by Scott Massey, Site Photography.