Vancouver park board approves final design for urban park

The final designs for a new urban park in downtown Vancouver were approved the city’s park board.

Georgia Straight reports that the green space will include a multi-use public plaza, a water fountain, a playground, seating terraces, a rainwater infiltration channel, and plants and trees.

The park’s centerpiece will be a zig-zagged bright red elevated viewing bridge that cuts through its core. Large utility H-frames, known as “Skyframes,” will surround the pathway. The frames can hold artwork, lighting, and banners.

A park board report notes that the 0.8 acre site sits within Vancouver’s central business district, just a five minute walk away from the Downtown Library, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and BC Place stadium, along with the Yaletown neighborhood and Granville Street, which contains restaurants, pubs, and retail shops.

The city says that park will “serve as a place for community recreation, culture, and tranquility” for the 10,000 people that live and 17,000 people that work in the area.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2017, and the park will open in the fall of 2018. Dialog, a landscape architecture firm, leads the planning and design.

Since early 2020, Americans have been forced to sequester themselves in their homes with outdoor activities, in most cases, being the sole respite for social distancing. And many of people are going back to the basics with a quintessential outdoor activity: biking. Bike sales absolutely skyrocketed during the pandemic, growing by 69% in 2020.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.

Nelson Mandela Park green space in Rotterdam

Urban Planning | May 3, 2021

SWA/Balsley unveils Nelson Mandela Park Master Plan for Rotterdam

The conceptual plan provides much-needed central neighborhood and civic open space in the city’s South Maashaven district.

The Weekly Show, Apr 29, 2021: COVID-19's impact on campus planning, and bird management strategies

University Buildings | Apr 29, 2021

The Weekly Show, April 29, 2021: COVID-19's impact on campus planning, and bird management strategies

This week on The Weekly show, BD+C Senior Editor John Caulfield interviews a duo of industry experts on 1) how campus planning has changed during the pandemic and 2) managing bird infestations on construction sites and completed buildings.

Abandoned train depot in Detroit will be part of new mobility innovation district under development.

Urban Planning | Dec 6, 2020

Ford lays out plans for mobility innovation district in Detroit

Its centerpiece is an abandoned train depot whose architecture and decay reflect two sides of this city’s past.

Resiliency | Nov 5, 2020

CRE investors are concerned that cities aren’t resilient enough for climate change

A new ULI-Heitman report states that the biggest challenge to valuation is measuring urban risk mitigation.

Multifamily Housing | Oct 22, 2020

The Weekly show: Universal design in multifamily housing, reimagining urban spaces, back to campus trends

BD+C editors speak with experts from KTGY Architecture + Planning, LS3P, and Omgivning on the October 22 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.