West End Community Hub Renewal Plan
Location
Vancouver, BC
This project, led by the City of Vancouver, in collaboration with the Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Public Library, and the Vancouver Park Board, is a long-range master planning project for the renewal and expansion of the buildings and outdoor spaces at the current site of the West End Community Centre, King George Secondary School, Joe Fortes Library, and a range of other important facilities.
The plan will shape the future of the buildings, programming, and outdoor spaces at the site, and builds on the West End Community Plan, VSB Long Range Facilities Plan, Vancouver Public Library Strategic Plan and VanPlay. It will determine and develop the programming and spatial arrangement of the proposed new facilities and uses.
Disciplines
Areas of impact
One of the most important conversations of our time is the ongoing process of reconciliation with Indigenous people across Canada. The development of community facilities, such as the proposed West End Community Hub renewal, are opportunities to prioritize reconciliation efforts.
Where engagement sessions in many architecture projects take place well into the project cycle, where the opportunities for meaningful impact are diminished, the West End team has successfully implemented a different and more inclusive approach: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations have been invited to participate in generative storytelling sessions from the very start, becoming co-creators of the project, shaping its trajectory. The evolution of Indigenous engagement undertaken as part of this project has reinvented traditional consultation. This model now informs how the City of Vancouver can work alongside Indigenous Nations and communities on future projects.
The extensive test fit exercises conducted by the project team are indicative of their expertise in translating a functional program into spatial concepts and 3D relationships, working within the challenges and opportunities of a high-profile park-facing site in the West End.
