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Chen, Honghao Ray

Vancouver’s rising land values and rapid redevelopment are displacing artists and creative communities, eroding the city’s cultural fabric. As cultural spaces are increasingly sacrificed to market-driven development, opportunities for artistic production and public engagement diminish, leaving a gap in the urban landscape. This thesis asserts that cultural spaces should be recognized as essential public infrastructure rather than exclusive, profit-driven assets. This project proposes the adaptive reuse of the ICBC Headquarters in North Vancouver, a soon-to-be-demolished building that was originally developed with little consideration for its urban context. By transforming the site into a mixed-use, transit-oriented cultural hub, the design seeks to reintegrate art and creative production into the public realm. Spatial strategies will focus on dissolving architectural and urban barriers, fostering accessibility, and creating an inclusive environment for artists and the community. The intervention will reconnect the building to its surroundings while establishing a new model for sustainable cultural infrastructure—one that values artistic expression as a vital component of a dynamic, resilient, and equitable city.

Text

University of British Columbia. ARCH_V 549

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0448865

Applied Science, Faculty of; Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/