Final Portfolio_Landscape363_YimingYang2019

YIMING YANG PROFESSOR JANE WOLFF ARC363Y1S - EXERCISE 123 2019 JAN - APR

ROBSON SQUARE VANCOUVER

SECTION A

TIMELINE: 2019 - 1792

ASPHALT + DRAINAGE TUBE SUBGRADE SOIL

ORGANICS TOPSOIL

CLAY + SILT

SUBSOIL

TOPSOIL SUBSOIL

TRANSITION

PARENT ROCK

PARENT ROCK

PERSPECTIVE COLLAGE: 1970

DIAGRAM: 1970 IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS BEYOND THE SITE’S IMMEDIATE EDGES

PLANTING

A

Historic Moment: Robson Square as the parking lot The site was shown in the documentary ‘Chairs for Lovers“ (1973) as a surface parking lot before Robson Square was commissioned. The visual experience of the former courthouse and the vacancy of the parking lot suggest a juxtaposition that highlights the need for a public plaza to not only house the political institution, but a gathering space that can bring people together during their leisure time. The moment before the construction of the square shows the long history of the current Vancouver Art Gallery, which housed the former courthouse until the Robson Square. Despite the shift in the neo-classical building’s function, the space surrounding it has become a default plaza for protests and events for all Vancouver people.

B

PLAN: HISTORIC MOMENT (EARLY 1960s) ROBSON SQUARE VANCOUVER YIMING YANG JANE WOLFF ARC363Y1S - EXERCISE 2A MAR 11. 2019

CHANCE FOR CHANGE

DIAGRAM: 2019 GROUND LEVEL

Similar to the Klafthmonos Square in Athens, Greece, where the civic function overrides the space as a museum of the city of Athens, the 800-Block Robson Street in the south of the Vancouver Art Gallery (the former provincial courthouse), is part of Vancouverites’ default plaza for protests and demonstration. In spite of the current art institution housed inside the neoclassical architecture, the grand stairs, along with the proximate outdoor spaces have long been occupied as part of the stage for demonstration and memorial. Gil Kelley, the General manager of planning, urban design and sustainability, predicts the continuing increase in the demand for public spaces as Vancouver grows. Following a city council vote on February, 2019, the 800 robson street that has been vehicle-free since the 2016 city council’s vote, is becoming a permanent pedestrian and event-oriented public space that will carry the same design of the north side of the plaza.

EVOLVING PROGRAMMATIC DEMANDS: NEW PERMANENT PUBLIC SPACE (GARDEN AS A MEMORY) PROPOSAL FOCUS SPACE 800 ROBSON ST. NEW PUBLIC PLAZA

ART GALLERY

CHANCE FOR CHANGE

The presence of vegetation and shade in Robson Square, provided by trees, shrubs and grass cover leads to lower temperatures and comfort zone for city residents to escape from the hotter and drier summers in downtown Vancouver’s concrete jungle. The phenomenon of urban heat island effect takes place when impermeable asphalt and concrete of roads and buildings absorb more heat than the natural plants that are removed from urban spaces. According to the city’s Climate 2050 Discussion paper (MetroVancouver, 2018), Vancouverites will cope with increased health risks for vulnerable people as the current 18 days above 25°C will rise to 43 days in 2050. In addition, 20% less rain and increased water restrictions are predicted in future summers. The regional greenhouse gas reduction target of 80% reduction by 2050, suggesting sustainable cooling options like natural shading and extending water features (with waste-water reuse system) which are both low-cost, long-term solutions.

COUNTERING HEAT STRESS ((COOL GARDEN)

Climate change in Vancouver will exert substantial changes on the precipitation patterns and calling for new composition of the drainage and plant material of the green roof system in Robson Square. The city is expecting 21% more rain on the wettest days and 35% more intense heavy rain events in autumns by the 2050s (MetroVancouver, 2018). The warmer springs in which snow melts earlier will give another 20% increase in April showers.

The bold and proactive leadership that the Metro Vancouver has demonstrated in responding to climate change, implies a new sustainable water system that can recycle and reuse the stormwater that is collected on site. The new composition of plant should incorporate native plants of the Northwest America that are suitable to the changing precipitation pattern, and helps to absorb the extra stormwater on the constructed roof.

NEW PRECIPITATION PATTERNS COMPOSITION OF THE DRAINAGE AND PLANT MATERIAL. (SUSTAINABLE GARDEN)

PLAN: 2019

HEAT STRESS

NEW PRECIPITATION PATTERNS

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B EVOLVING PROGRAMMATIC DEMANDS: NEW PERMANENT PUBLIC SPACE GARDEN AS A MEMORY

NEW PRECIPITATION PATTERNS COMPOSITION OF THE DRAINAGE AND PLANT MATERIAL. SUSTAINABLE GARDEN

PLAN: PROPOSAL 2050

COUNTERING HEAT STRESS COOL GARDEN

ROBSON SQUARE VANCOUVER YIMING YANG PROFESSOR JANE WOLFF ARC363Y1S - EXERCISE 3.

APR 11. 2019

0

12.5

SCALE 1:700

25

50

100 m

SPATIAL EXPERIENCE 2019

DIAGRAM: 2019

Sitting on the stairs and having lunch on a bright summer day in Robson Square and watching other people’s activity constitute the major leisure activities for office workers and nearby neighbourhood dwellers. In spite of the monumentality of the brutalist vocabulary that carries the two and half complex, the lushness of the varied vegetation from ground level to cascading waterfalls soften and better the experience of leisurely wandering around.

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PERSPECTIVE COLLAGE: 2050

Proposal Water Plaza on 800 Robson St. Eight permanent water catcher in upside down umbrella shape are proposed. They are organized in two rows with trees planted next to them, in accordance to the key hierarchy on site that is informed by the four major existing volumes: the pair of glass domes above the sunken skating rink, and the artificial mound that is aligned with the art gallery.

Instead of completely hiding the water recycling facilities one long shallow water pond in stripe shape stretches across the 800 Robson plaza is designed to make the stormwater collection visible to pedestrians, to expand people’s knowledge and increase their consciousness on taking mitigation and adaptation measures, from the scale of the city, to the scale of individual household, to slow down the climate change crisis, and reduce the vulnerability of Vancouver, the coastal city, from sea-level rise.

DIAGRAM: 2050

STORMWATER RECYCLE SYSTEM: 2050

PLAN: 2019

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DETAILED PLAN: 2050 29

ROBSON SQUARE VANCOUVER YIMING YANG JANE WOLFF ARC363Y1S - EXERCISE 3C APR 11. 2019

32 0

5

SCALE 1:250

10

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40m

PLAN: 2050

Work Cited Contemporary PROGRESS REPORT: ROBSON SQUARE, VANCOUVER, B.C. (1979). The Canadian Architect (Archive: 1955-2005), 24(11), 34-41. Retrieved from http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/docview/145 9625329?accountid=14771 Stephens, Suzanne. "Vancouver." Progressive Architecture, March 1981, 82+. Academic OneFile (accessed January 9, 2019). http://link.galegroup.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/apps/doc/A1841453/AONE?u=utoronto_main&sid=AONE& xid=145bf27e.

Historic Banks, Jay. Vancouver Film Locations: Robson Square. Vancouver Homes Jay Banks. Oct, 2017. Retrieved from https://jaybanks.ca/vancouver-blog/2017/10/20/filming-locations-robson-square Berelowitz, Lance. Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2005.

Berelowitz, L. Architectural design: Urbanists in the garden city. The Canadian Architect (Archive: 1955-2005), 32(5), 47-51.

Retrieved from http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/docview/14313159 81?accountid=14771 Block 51 and 61, D.L. 541 City Planning Department, Vancouver BC, June 1965 Canadian Primary Sources in the Classroom http://www.begbiecontestsociety.org/bc.htm Chan, Kenneth. Robson Square courthouse cascading waterfalls. Jun, 2014. Daily Hive Vancouver. Retrieved from https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/robson-square-courthouse-cascading-waterfall-photos.

Herrington, Susan. "Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Canada’s Modern Landscape Architect." SiteLINES: A Journal of Place 7, no. 2 (2012): 8-11. http://www.jstor.org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/stable/24889404.

Memo to Vancouver City Council- “A civic square for DownTown Vancouver”, September 22, 1969.

O’Connor, Ryan. 2013. “Creating a Square in the Heart of the City : Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges of Creating a Pedestrian Plaza on 800-Block Robson Street.” G. SCARP Graduating Projects. November 30. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0075815.

Paul, Michael J., and Judy L. Meyer. "Streams in the Urban Landscape." Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32 (2001): 333-65. http://www.jstor.org.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/stable/2678644.

“Progress Report: Robson Square, Vancouver, B.C: Architect: Arthur Erickson,” The Canadian Architect (Archive: 1955-2005); Nov 1, 1979; 24, 11; Art and Architecture Archive pg. 34 Punter, John. The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning and Design. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Redevelopment in downtown Vancouver : report No 5, City of Vancouver, 1964.

Shields, Tim. The Robson Square Ice Rink during the 2010 Olympics. “Robson Square during the Olympic Games - you gotta be here!” Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/glaciertim/4380929192

THEMATIC GARDEN: Roof Garden Osmundson, Theodore. Roof Gardens: History, Design and Construction. WW Norton, 1999.

SUSTAINABLE GARDEN: Climate Change of Vancouver The European Climate Adaptation Platform Climate-ADAPT (a partnership between the European Commission and the European Environment Agency), “Water Uses to Cope with Heat Waves in Cities,” 2016. https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/metadata/adaptation-options/water-uses-to-cope-with-heat-waves-in-cities/#costs _benefits Metrovancouver, Climate 2050 Discussion Paper, (2018). 14-50. http://www.metrovancouver.org/climate2050 Ndemeye, Divine. “Resilient Streetscapes: How can landscapes along City of Vancouver streets become more resilient to climate change over the next thirty years?” UBC Greenest City Scholars Program, (2018). City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia.

Native Plant Species, Appendix 2. - BC Nature.

GARDEN AS A MEMORY: Vancouver Art Gallery Occupy Vancouver camps out at art gallery OCTOBER 17, 2011 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/occupy-vancouver-camps-out-at-art-gallery/article557768/ Memorial on steps of Vancouver Art Gallery symbolizes number of women killed in B.C. https://www.straight.com/news/544496/memorial-steps-vancouver-art-gallery-symbolizes-number-women-killed-bc City’s Plan on the Garden: 800-Block Robson Street is becoming a permanent outdoor plaza.

Margaret Wittgens Director Public Space & Street Use. City of Vancouver, 800 Robson Street Plaza Update. February 13, 2019 Council Presentation Moliere, Ashley. “Stretch of Robson Street to become permanent outdoor plaza” CTV Vancouver. 2019. February 14. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/stretch-of-robson-street-to-become-permanent-outdoor-plaza-1.4297856 Reference: Landscape Drawings Harrison, Robert., Kirkwood, Niall., Reed, Douglas., Hilderbrand, Gary., & Walker, Peter. Visible | Invisible: Landscape Works of Reed Hilderbrand. New York: Metropolis Books, 2013.

Walker, Peter. & Simo, Melanie. Invisible gardens. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1817.

Hill, John. 100 years 100 landscape design. Munich: Prestel, 2017.

Waldheim, Charles. Landscape infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2010.