Granville Island Studio

Urbanarium’s Studio program 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. Since the Spring of 2022, the Urbanarium Studio has been located on Granville Island, hosting hundreds of people out of a 100 sq. ft hemlock wood pod that tends to turn heads.

The building has an interesting backstory. It was created by Lanefab, the builders of Vancouver's first legal laneway house. The pod made the news in 2021 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 work with Granville Island’s Planning Department and other partners to produce Studio sessions on the public realm, housing and climate. Topics include: Public Washrooms, Cognitive Signage, Floating Markets, Staircases from Bridges, Outdoor Event Space, Splash Pads, Downtowns of the Future, Monuments, Mobile Artist Studios, Seniors Housing, Student Housing, Sea-level Rise, Neighbourhood-level Interventions and Retrofits for Climate Emergencies and more.

The Studio also brings youth programming to the Urbanarium co-created with annual partners such as: Ethos Lab (Spring Break Urban Design Camps), Arts Umbrella (Summer Architecture Intensive), City of Vancouver Young Planners, CityHive, Society for Children and Youth of BC and Strathcona Elementary.

You can find the drawings from all our Studio sessions on our Studio page.