FRONTIERSPACE is an open international design competition for Vancouver organized by the SPACEAGENCY. The objective of the design competition is to explore the urban potential of FRONTIERSPACE within the City of Vancouver through the development of a design intervention that is to consider multiple forms of occupation across the span of a 24-hour day.
The frontier is a border that separates the known and accepted from the unknown; it is the leading edge; it is a space where new ideas can be tested. This competition aims to generate innovative design proposals to rethink an existing space in the city the laneways in Gastown.
Functional, controversial, historically charged, the space of the lane is simultaneously a service corridor, the informal face of the city, and the site of a wide variety of activities. Defined by the City of Vancouver Traffic bylaw as any street that does not exceed 10.06 metres in width, these slices that traverse the city can be considered as a new frontier for occupation with the potential to transform our consideration of the urban fabric.
FRONTIERSPACE is planned as a generator of activity, drawing the public into an installation and offering new readings of the city. It is also conceived as an event space, a location in which different activities (performance/information/parties), planned and spontaneous, can take place during the summer of 2005.
The event will be constructed in a laneway in the Gastown area of Vancouver. The available sites are indicated in the Competition Site Plan and include the three laneways between Water Street and Cordova Street From Richards Street to Carrall Street. A specific site along these laneways must be chosen. Access to private property must be considered and respected.
The response to the program should be consistent with the competition objectives. The winning design is intended to be used for up to 3 days during the summer of 2005. The design should be publicly accessible by day, be used for events in the evenings, and accommodate DJs and/or a live band performance. During events, admission to the space will need to be regulated at an entry point.
The jury consists of Vancouver architects Peter Cardew and Patricia Patkau, Architecture for Humanity’s Cameron Sinclair, An Te Liu from the University of Toronto, and Globe and Mail architecture critic Lisa Rochon.
The design brief is available as of late January 2005. The submission deadline is April 13, 2005.
SPACEAGENCY consists of individuals who are interested in: bringing issues of architecture and the urban environment into the public realm in BC; promoting the local architecture scene in Canada and internationally; and organizing projects that will push the boundaries of architecture and its discourse. SPACEAGENCY plans to run a series of competitions and events leading up to and during the World Urban Forum in 2006 and the Winter Olympics in 2010 to elevate the profile of architecture and the urban environment in general and young BC architects in particular.
Areas of architecture practice and research that SPACEAGENCY will promote include design innovation (methods, materials and forms) and the creation of sustainability in communities and the environment.
SPACEAGENCY is a committed of the Vancouver League for Studies in Architecture and the Environment a non-profit group that has organized a free architectural lecture series for over twenty years and a number of ideas competitions.
For more information, please visit www.spaceagency.ca or e-mail [email protected]