SALA Spotlight
Design students light up Vancouver for Games
The installation has been cancelled due to a lack of funding.
Take-off on Thunderbird Boulevard is made from car parts by Haida artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and youth from the Urban Native Youth Association.
Made in partnership with UBC's Museum of Anthropology, it is one of seven pieces of Aboriginal artwork at UBC's Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, which will host Olympic hockey and Paralympic sledge hockey during the 2010 Winter Games.
The permanent installations are part of the Vancouver 2010 Venues' Aboriginal Art Program, which features art from more than 90 Aboriginal artists. First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists involved in the program hail from every province and territory in Canada.
by Brian Lin
Reprinted with permission from
UBC Reports | Vol. 56 | No. 1 | Jan. 7, 2010
Any designer will tell you that lighting makes or breaks a space. This February, the UBC Spacemakers will welcome Olympic visitors with Northern Lights, a series of architectural lanterns that will brighten downtown Vancouver.
The three “landform lanterns,” resembling curvy icebergs rising from the ground, are constructed of B.C. wood and recycled PVC, illuminated by LED lights. Ranging from six to 12 metres in length and one to two metres tall, they will greet an estimated 6,000 pedestrians per hour on Granville Street between Dunsmuir and Georgia, a special car-free corridor during the Games.
More than 30 UBC architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning students in seven teams competed amongst themselves in a 24-hour “charette,” or collaborative design workshop, for the winning design, aimed at animating the street with light and showcasing the quality of UBC designers.
Brady Del Rosario, an architecture Master’s student and founding director of Spacemakers, says what began as casual conversation has turned into one of the most valuable learning experiences for him and his peers. “From finding sponsors for the $50,000 project, to applying for city permits, to working with contractors, the project has shown us what it takes to build things in the real world,” says Del Rosario. “Not to mention this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show Vancouver, Canada and the world what UBC students have to offer.”
Del Rosario approached the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, which endorsed the team’s bid to City Hall for a public exhibition that creates visual and spatial interest without obstructing foot traffic to the Canada Line Skytrain station and shops. Special considerations were also paid to choosing materials that are recyclable and reusable.
The designers sourced Barrisol, a water-resistant material made of recycled PVC typically used for interior ceiling finishes, as the “lamp shade” to protect the lighting mechanism. The structures are weighted and secured using sand bags.
“We want to show the world that we can be part of the two-week celebration without being a detriment to the environment,” says Del Rosario.
The UBC Spacemakers will install the lanterns in time for the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 12. The structures will be dissembled shortly after the Closing Ceremony on Feb. 28.
