A New Civic Space

Air, Water, Land -  A New Civic Space

The 2021 Arts Umbrella Architecture Intensive sought to re-envision the “nature” of City Hall to make an inclusive, diverse and welcoming Civic Space in, and around, the building(s) that comprise our Civic Administration. The current Vancouver City Hall is perched on a hill at Cambie Street and West 12th Avenue looking down on Vancouver from an heroic remove. The former industrial lands of North False Creek was selected as the site to better connect to the physical, historic and natural core of the City of Vancouver. As a city surrounded by water, our signature spaces should reflect that. 

The week Intensive kicked off with an on-site, open-air session that built neighbourhood level plans for a new civic space on the False Creek viaduct site that focuses on the layers of air / water / land, as a way of exploring the ingredients needed for a place to gather, dialogue, rally and celebrate. The session asked should the viaducts be retained (perhaps like the High Line in New York) or removed and how can sea level rise be integrated gracefully and naturally into this new space?