Brian Wakelin

Public Works

The act of gathering is a universal social behavior that melts social distinctions and fosters empathy between unfamiliar parties. Despite Greater Vancouver’s wide recognition for urban design, the city lacks significant spaces for public gathering; its largest public space, the seawall, capitalizes on this image: a linear park that wraps the edge of the downtown peninsula with a veneer of liminal space for continual movement and gaze to a distant view. In addition, detached homes and their associated exterior spaces have become an unattainable luxury. Basic outdoor access is becoming a shared experience for more and more people. 



In this context, the award-winning Vancouver-based design firm, PUBLIC, has focused almost exclusively on modest commissions in the public domain since opening in 2008. The core of the firm’s activities consists of designing temporary pavilions, small public buildings and urban infrastructure. Rather than monumental public spaces these structures are fragments of an incomplete and evolving puzzle that make up the city.



Brian Wakelin is an architect and co-founder of PUBLIC, a multidisciplinary design practice working at the intersection of architecture and communication media. He has worked in the architectural field for 20 years and holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of British Columbia. The studio’s work has earned Lieutenant-Governor’s awards at the Medal and Merit levels as well as two AIBC Innovation Awards. In 2012, the firm was awarded two Emerging Firm in Architecture awards and in 2015 received the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture. 



More at publicdesign.ca



This talk will be preceded by a short performance by  Sam Herle, a young Vancouver-based multi-disciplinary artist who experiments with storytelling using the banjo. In addition to her solo and group performances in local venues, she has had her poetry published in several anthologies and frequently designs posters for shows and events