VIVA Vancouver will open its 800 Robson Street space to the creative community once again with Robson Redux, a design-build competition that invites emerging and professional designers and artists to submit their design ideas related to the theme of “connection”. The winner will make their design a reality, building and installing it for the 2015 summer season as a public space for people to enjoy.
VIVA Vancouver’s Robson Redux design-build competition temporarily transforms the 800 block of Robson Street into a summertime pedestrian plaza. This block is located in the heart of downtown Vancouver, Canada. Installation will take place in early summer, open on Canada Day (July 1, 2015) and remain in place until the end of Labour Day long weekend (September 7, 2015).
The winning design will be selected by a jury composed of Marc Boutin (Principal, Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative and Associate Professor, University of Calgary), Barbara Cole (Principal of Cole Projects, Executive Director of Other Sights for Artists’ Projects Association), Jane Durante (Founding Principal, Durante Kreuk Landscape Architects), Stanley King (Founder and Head of Co-Design Group), Matthew Soules (Director, Matthew Soules Architecture and Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia). The winning team will be provided a small design honorarium and up to $40,000 to cover costs of materials, fabrication, construction, installation and de-installation for their projects.
Anyone may enter this competition, however, criteria and submission requirements lend themselves to expertise in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, industrial design, contemporary art and other related fields. The competition encourages design teams with diverse skill sets to submit joint entries.
Teams can submit their designs ideas online at www.vivadesigncomp.ca for a small fee. Deadline to register is January 30, 2015; submission deadline is February 13, 2015.
Past temporary public space designs at 800 Robson Street include:
2011: PICNURBIA – designed by Loose Affiliates
2012: Pop Rocks! – designed by AFJD Studio and Matthew Soules
2013: Corduroy Road – designed by Hapa Collaborative
2014: Urban Reef – designed by Kaz Bremner, Jeremiah Deutscher, and Higher Works (Michael Siy and Kenneth Navarra).
VIVA Vancouver is a public space program that specializes in turning road spaces into people places. Working with various community partners, the program re-purposes road space to create temporary or semi-permanent public spaces.
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