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Burning bridge : connection through interactivity, a design proposal for the Granville Bridge

University of British Columbia

The Granville Bridge, Vancouver, Canada is an unsafe, uncomfortable and uninteresting crossing for pedestrians. Neither does it possess an identifiable or memorable image. Although the City of Vancouver has identified poor crossing conditions for pedestrians as an issue that requires addressing, the current design for the City's preferred solution - a suspended crossing attached to the side of the Granville Bridge - the current design for this structure does not address how to make the bridge an imageable element in the city landscape. Using the Black Rock Arts Festival - commonly know as Burning Man - as a case study, the potential for an interactive landscape design to create an identity for the Granville Bridge is examined. Although Burning Man fails to create a community that integrates with its contextual landscape, its use of interactive art is successful in creating community among participants. Through the contextual use of interactive art in conjunction with the proposed suspended pedestrian crossing, a design is proposed that celebrates the Granville Bridge as a conduit of motion by revealing the presence of pedestrians. The proposed design includes design components under the north and south ends of the bridge to conceptually ground the image on the north and south side of False Creek, and unifies the total design with the metaphorical and literal use of dance. The design shows that interactive art can be used to make the Granville Bridge an imageable element in the landscape, thereby making it an integral part of the Vancouver landscape.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-11-27

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15858

Landscape Architecture

University of British Columbia

UBCV

DSpace