Play with Crates

Oct 1

Expanding patio space for various activities in the Victoria Drive BIA area.

By: Xiangdi Cai and Yu Teng Lin

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Vancouver has been looking ahead with a series of programs that aim to help residents and businesses adapt to the new reality of living and operating under a safe environment. These programs include 50km Slow Streets, Pop-up Plazas, and the Temporary Expedited Patio Program.

These programs have received positive feedback from communities. However, most of the interventions of the programs have been seen as rather conventional and repetitive in forms and uses. Therefore, we propose two design objectives:

1. To explore potential street interventions that can enhance activities by different users and in different scales;

2. To explore construction materials that can be readily available and easy to assemble for whoever wishes to engage.The simplicity and flexibility of such assembly can in turn inspire people to discover more typologies and uses that will further animate street activities

The design proposal is a series of street interventions that are mostly composed of crates as the basic model - a material that is commonly available in the market and business groups. By orienting and stacking crates differently, the space can be used for different activities such as sitting, planting, shopping, and lining up. Given the rigidity and lightness of the module, the intervention can be stacked up rather easily and supported by its own.

Detail:

Budget: It is expected that the overall budget for such an intervention will be similar to the conventional street projects of the same scale.

Materials and Fabrication: As the main assembly material, crates can be found in most local supply stores and at relatively low price. Many business owners may have already stocked a certain amount of crates and can use them for their installation. The sizes and appearances of the crates can vary among each site, based on the resource availability and the preference of its users. In addition to crates, other main supporting materials include plastic straps, wood pallets, and landscape plantings if needed.

Installation and Other Services: The installation process is easy and can be very creative. For smaller projects such as sidewalk patios for business, the installation can be expected to complete within hours and with minimum labor. For larger community projects, it is recommended to have the group members involved in the assembly process as part of the street activation strategy and for more satisfactory products to the community.