Where’s the Square?
Vancouver, BC, Canada
in 2009 The Where’s The Square design competition brief proposed that public squares form the heart of great cities around the world, and they are the spatial realization of democratic principles. And it asked contestants to answer two simple questions: where might such a public square be located in Vancouver, and what might it look like?
In 2002 I had already proposed the location of such a square as my focus of study, research, and design in fulfilling the requirements of my MLA thesis - “Two Sides to Staging Public Space: Enhancing Civic Function and Establishing Symbolic Content to the Vancouver Art Gallery Landscape.”
While the design proposal was not successful as a finalist, many of the site-specific programmatic elements, public-space principles, and urban design recommendations can be seen in the transformation of this important nexus at the heart of the City of Vancouver. Joe Fry of Hapa Collaborative - a past colleague at PFS Studio - was the successful applicant and ultimately went on to design and implement what exists today.
Landscape as Theatre
In Landscape as Theatre, the form of the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape is transformed to improve civic functioning and circulation. The space immediately in front of the gallery is both defined as a place and extended as a public space. Experientially the plaza reads as one large space that reaches beyond the legal confines of the gallery property to the edges of its immediate surroundings. However, upon further investigation it becomes evident that there are a number of smaller, more intimate spaces to occupy. In this design, the architectural structure of the VAG serves as the primary ordering principle of the site, and its relationship to the city. The materiality of the gallery – rough and refined - is superimposed and re-presented upon the surface of the plaza and its surroundings. The architectural dimensions of the gallery are literally carried into the landscape, supporting the creation of sub-spaces that offer places of convergence and pause. These opportunities for triangulation are imperative to the social functioning of the city and its public spaces. Existing conditions of the site – the underground structure - also inform the design’s formal qualities of space, reinforcing the historical importance of the place, and contributing to the designed landscapes overall form (PLAN).
The concept of theatre is articulated in this design by using materials, structures, and the framing of spaces that allow urbanites to respond, finding their way around and appropriating the new landscape as one’s own. Existing and historical spatial qualities and characteristics of the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape inform these design moves and choices. Emptiness versus over design of the space is emphasized. The spaces remain simple and sparse but unified, supporting many different activities. The notion of theatre is further heightened by the raising of the plaza surface at the corner of Georgia and Hornby Streets, as well as the entire block surrounding the Vancouver Art Gallery is raised to incorporate a 75mm curb height. Raising the corner flattens the plaza, elevates its presence in the landscape, provides secondary seating edges, and enhances the drainage of the site. Raising the entire block strengthens the space as a whole, acknowledging this space as central to the urban layout of downtown Vancouver.
Articulation of spaces with rhythms of light and shadow, as well as the sunlight at work on forms and surfaces, aid in the architectural presence of the space within the city, giving it a unique spatial quality. The design further accentuates the temporal nature of the landscape, and the effect of change and surprise one experiences each time they interact with the phenomena of this urban theatre.
The design for the Georgia Plaza is an open, flexible stage. As the primary public space within the city, the layout of the stage should be both simple and flexible, as well as emotionally and perceptually engaging – a careful balance of moving people through the space, and yet giving them pause.
THE DESIGN focuses on a unification/democratization of the Vancouver Art Gallery landscape.
THE STAGE responds to the current needs of Vancouver’s citizenry, and remains flexible for future changes in demand and use.
THE SURFACE provides a monochromatic tableau that comes alive with its use and occupation.
THE PLACE is a signifier of architectural development that serves as a powerful gateway marker of our central urban space.
THE NEW VAG LANDSCAPE is a sign that shapes a centre and a space.