Workshops

With these guidelines, the City of Vancouver’s committee began working through design scenarios with Science World. Figure 23 below, a product of these workshops, delineates

potential areas for the OSE’s semi-private zone, and the integration of this form into a plan for the public realm of East False Creek. As explained by Scot Hein, an urban designer with the City at the time:

SH: The red stripes graphic was an attempt to identify all potential OSE/future indoor expansion site footprints. Declaring the larger potential first via the diagram was intended to compel more detailed investigations as to the most appropriate location of the OSE and how the future of the site might further

47 In Cullen’s (1951) words, “This is the traditional pattern at its clearest…elements at their most disorganized…in which both pedestrians and traffic suffer a diminution of their proper character” (p. 28).

48 Berelowitz describes how these static platform spaces had become ubiquitous along Vancouver’s seawall. “These static platforms reflect the centrifugal nature of public space in a city in which activity constantly tends towards the edges. Nothing happens in these spaces” (Berelowitz, 2007, p. 164).

develop should additional interior space be necessary down the road. We wanted to ensure that we understood how to best shape a public open space by being strategic about where new additions should go in our proactive work with SW staff.

As discussed, the City worked with Science World to create a fare-paying park that was integrated into a cohesive network of pedestrian and bicycle pathways (marked as green dotted lines in Figure 23). Science World had an interest in keeping the OSE connected to its main building, reducing the requirement for additional toll gates.

Figure 23: Example of a concept drawing from the 2007, 2008 Urban design charrettes Source: City of Vancouver Urban Design Studio

Reprinted with permission by Scot Hein

SH: The red dots represent important positions/locations, particularly for entries, to energize a new central/circular piazza anchored by a water feature in the middle. Of course, this all changed as we got into design development and the OSE program, but it was at least a place to start the conversation by recognizing the important urban design role that SW and the OSE would play

in pulling together the disparate pieces at the end of the Terminal Street corridor/vista/axis.

As SH describes, the placement of the OSE was intended to resolve the park’s poor configuration of elements. These workshops first aimed to resolve the problematic passive space described above. The red dots in Figure 23 marked elements that would reinforce the placement of the geodesic dome at the intersection of axials Georgia Street. and Terminal Avenue. This would then form part of a linear entry sequence to the Science World building. As defined by Ching (1979),⁴⁹ “it leads directly to a building’s entrance along a straight, axial path. The visual goal that terminates the approach is clear” (p. 249). This linear sequence became a fundamental dynamic in the design of the OSE’s spatial relationship with the TDET. One of the red dots aligns with the geodesic dome and the axial of Terminal Avenue, representing a foreground element that would resolve the passive space and establish an animated circular “Science World Plaza”.

Science World’s geodesic dome seemed to be a great landmark, yet its surrounding space lacked elements to announce it. Here, the Tower of Bauble, the first of the TDET’s exhibits, found a new role as a design element within the OSE. Seen in Figure 24, it was reimagined in 2007 as an element that would provoke people walking long the seawall to stop. It seemed to be a great installation to initiate a new sequence of public exhibits, one that would fulfill the initial vision of “science in everyday life” (Science World, 1999),

Since 1995, the Tower of Bauble had been an exhibit just outside Science World’s entrance.⁵⁰ It had been a source of animation and excitement, with dozens of billiard sized balls spiralling and propelling through various sound trajectories. Twelve years later, “the plan [was]

to renew this exhibit and give [it] a new home in a prominent place at the beginning of the new entry sequence” (City of Vancouver, 2010a). The exhibit was now being positioned to accent Science World’s frontal approach (red arrow Figure 25) and help to transform a transitory space

49 The Approach to a building is defined by Ching (1979) in his Architecture: Form, Space and Order: “Prior to actually entering a building’s interior, we approach its entrance along a path. This is the first phase of the circulation system during which we are prepared to see, experience, and use the building’s space." (p. 248).

50 This kinetic sculpture was “created by New York artist George Rhoads in 1985 for a shopping center in Kamloops, Canada. It was then donated to Science World in 1995” (Fielding, 1998).

into a plaza. The Tower of Bauble animating this plaza would serve as a nudge (in purple, Figure 25) for pedestrians and cyclists to stop along a reimagined network of paths.

Figure 24: The mechanisms of the Tower of Bauble shown as they existed in 2007 Source: Luc Bagnérès

Figure 25: The Tower of Bauble would accentuate the axial alignment formed by Science World with Terminal Ave Source: Luc Bagnérès

Designers in 2007 imagined a series of enclosures, one of which would include the fare-paying park represented as the red dashed area on Figure 25. These would create a more human scaled environment⁵¹ within the larger Creekside Park. These workshops show the process whereby Science World and the City of Vancouver were able to create a common vision. In aligning interests, the OSE Science Park could be integrated into a reimagined public realm, where the Science World’s relocated Tower of Bauble (soon to be part of the TDET) could serve as an element or incident, energizing Creekside Park.