UBC Architecture and Landscape Architecture students will join
forces with top local and international architects and landscape
architects to take on an urban design task that will provide a legacy
of ideas and inspiration for urban planners across North America.
Spurred on by the success of its first design workshop, the UBC
School of Landscape Architecture has selected Burnaby’s Brentwood
Town Centre as the subject of the second International Design Charrette
for Sustainable Urban Landscapes, Aug. 19 to 25.
“Burnaby will gain tens of thousands of dollars worth of design
expertise at no cost to the taxpayer through this charrette,” said
Patrick Condon, an associate professor in UBC’s Landscape Architecture
program.
The 160-hectare area surrounding the intersection of Lougheed Highway
and Willingdon Ave. includes Brentwood Mall, several strip commercial
activities and a huge tract of low density industrial land. There
are some apartment buildings but very few single family homes in
the area. A large, single-family residential community is located
uphill from the site.
“It’s an area that is already intensely developed,” said Condon.
The charrette is a project of UBC’s James Taylor Chair for Landscape
and Liveable Environments, an endowed research chair of the UBC
Landscape Architecture program, established to explore practical
ways to make urban landscapes more sustainable.
Teams will look at creating a “green infrastructure” in which streets
and public spaces are designed to reduce public expenditure, improve
water quality, clean the air and add biological diversity to the
urban landscape. Designers will also propose ways to integrate light
rail transit into the community.
Integration of transit is a key issue for residents of Brentwood,
and is also a concern for thousands of people in many parts of Vancouver,
Surrey, Burnaby and Richmond where light rail is proposed, Condon
said. Designers will also explore ways to increase the options for
affordable ground-oriented housing.
The finished designs will be presented publicly on the last day
of the charrette and later published.
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