ARCHITECTURE IN PROCESS ... ART IN PROCESS ... Now... 2011
high densitiy living
georgia viaduct dunsmuir viaduct
t.
s ain
m
lv.2 storage lv.1 gallery
artist residence
gallery
courtyard lobby
office
que bec s
t.
café
union st.
successful transformation
“no man’s land” active park
car centric
artist studio courtyard bookstore pac
ific
downtown sk
ate plaza
blv
d
Midway... by 2015 planning for alternative traffice patterns while maintaining good movement improved public realm
Along Quebec Street
improved public transportation
cultural hub
commercial
residential
public park
Future... by 2020
repurposed viaducts: people centric
vibrant artist community services connected to the viaducts: carbon neutral building
reclaimed space for renewable strategies: solar/water/compost/ community garden
active public realm
The proposal for visualizing the viaducts is twofold over a period of nine years. The first phase activates the area under the viaducts with a hub for arts and culture, small commercial spaces for a cafe and a bookstore, and a safe public park and courtyard. The goal is to create a vibrant artist community that’s accessible by all Vancouverites. Meanwhile, green modes for downtown access will be improved, and cars on the viaducts will be re-routed and their numbers reduced. The second phase presents a long term sustainable alternative, which repurposes the viaducts as an elevated urban park that connects the eastern core to downdown and is accessible by walking and cycling.
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We have lost Hogan’s Alley due to the construction of the viaducts. They were symptomatic of the car culture urban planners promised in the 60’s. Today’s viaducts are remnants of a rejected large-scale inner-city freeway project and that rejection reminds us of what Vancourites have always aspired to be: progressive, sustainable, democratic, and inclusive. To be progressive we need to see the positive side of undesirable conditions; to be sustainable we need to utilize the lifetime of the viaducts and adapt them for different purposes at different times; to represent democratic ideals we need to consider both pressing, short term, and long term needs of people; to be inclusive we need to create diverse and harmonized communities.