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Front porches to be the design theme for Robson Square this year

March 18th, 2015 · 4 Comments

And now, pausing for a break from the transit plebiscite wars, the winner of the Robson Square competition this year is here.

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  • Voony

    and with a yes to the referendum, this would disrupt 25% more buses

    …at a cost for the taxpayer 25% higher than today, see https://voony.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/vancouver-downtown-bus-review-the-city-and-translink-propositions/

  • Internet made me obsolete

    Condos, “affordable rentals” and social housing don’t have front porches. They are a design feature in single-family megabuck homes. Rowhouses have stoops, but it’s not quite the same thing.
    The chair/table/umbrella/street-vendor plan would be the least expensive and easiest to maintain (it works great in New York). If, at some future point, you wanted to use the roadway for something else, take-down could be done in a day.

  • peakie

    I think that the Vancouver Public Space Network vancouverpublicspace.ca/about-us/our-board/ would more useful as road filler.

    Andrew Pask is doing so much damage to the working structure of Vancouver with his twee visions.

    “Andrew Pask, founder of Vancouver Public Space Network, a non-profit group that wants to maintain, build and enhance public spaces in the city; and planner with City of Vancouver.”
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/a-passion-for-planning-vancouvers-public-spaces/article22244673/

    That section of Robson Street already has super-wide sidewalks for setting up cafes, benches and so on but the hobbyists insist on impractical showpieces for the few months of photographic sunny weather that disrupt the city flow.

    And see the comments and notes on the 2014 hearing and the 10,000 riders a day on the Robson bus.
    stephenrees.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/conflicted-space-robson-square-viva-vancouver-and-the-5-robson-bus/

  • Gerald Dobronov

    I have to admit, that I don’t take transit often, so I have no idea how much those bus riders are inconvenienced, but I am downtown most weekends and the summer closing of Robson Square is very popular with both locals and tourists. The winners of the competition are usually pretty good and being able to join both sides of the square at street level makes a huge difference. People are always griping that Vancouver doesn’t have a large public gathering spot and when they are provided with one, they complain about it.

    It’s hard to tell from the graphic, but it looks like the design is going to provide some shade, which is great considering how hot it gets in the square. I’m looking forward to it and I think it’s a great addition to the life of the downtown core.