Granville Island Studio

Our new pop up building on, and in partnership with, Granville Island has an interesting backstory itself. It was created by Lanefab, the builders of Vancouver's first legal first laneway house. The pod made the news last year after the City of Vancouver ordered the hundred square foot building be removed from a tiny lot (the tiniest) in East Vancouver. While it was built to by-pass permitting laws as a 100 sq. ft. passive accessory building, there wasn’t a primary building on the lot. So, after a tussle or two over zoning compliance, the pod was moved into storage.

That part is history and the pod has a new public purpose. We have been hosting Studios since late August of 2022 in this space on topics such as:  Seniors Housing: Building Ecologies (Arts Umbrella Summer Architecture Intensive), Splash Pads of the Future (Granville Island), Downtowns of the Future (DVBIA + BOMA BC), Monuments of the Future (Heritage Vancouver Society), and Mobile Artist Studios (Other Sights for Artists’ Projects | FLEET). So far, the 2023 Studio season has been focused on the topics of: Storybuilding Atlanthos (Ethọ́s Lab), Staircases (from bridges) (Granville Island), Floating Markets (Granville Island), Aquatic Centres (Arts Umbrella Summer Architecture Intensive), and Adult Play (Granville Island). 

The Studio emerged at the beginning of COVID and thrived in its virtual form using a combination of Zoom, Mural, Adobe Sketch and Procreate. From 2020-2022 we engaged over 1,500 people online through virtual events including: The Future of Work and the Future of Housing (UBC Master of Urban Design Alumni), Redesign Public Space (Vancouver Design Week and Vancouver Public Space Network), Public Washrooms (BC Housing and CityHive 2021), Black Youth Take on the Fourth Place (Ethọ́s Lab 2020), Everything You Want Is All Around You (Ethọ́s Lab 2021), The Connected City (Ethọ́s Lab 2022), Young Planners Assemble: Draw Your City! (City of Vancouver, Vancouver Plan 2020/2021), False Creek Resilience and Sea-level Rise (Arts Umbrella Summer Architecture Intensive 2020), Air, Water and Land - A New Civic Space for Vancouver (Arts Umbrella Summer Architecture Intensive 2021).