Re-thinking boundaries: a library on the edge of Lost Lagoon, Vancouver

• Main Author: Schouls, Michelle
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Libraries > British Columbia > Vancouver > Designs and plans; Space (Architecture)
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7754

The work began with a theoretical investigation into the relationship between the construction of architecture and the construction of cultural scripts of gender. Gender, as divided into the distinct cultural scripts of masculine and feminine, is based on dichotomous thought which can traced back to Greek philosophy. The mind/body split, originating with Plato, underlies a host of others: reason/intuition, justice/compassion, cognition/sensation, culture/nature, public/private, order/chaos, and ultimately, male/female. These pairs, each a cultural construct in itself, are conceived of as binary opposites, in which the former reigns supreme over the latter, rather than as equally valued ends of a continuum. The problem is, therefore, that the construct of gender, based on Platonic dichotomous thought and as such representative of the exclusionary practices of Western culture, is reinforced by architectural discourse and practice which accepts the basis of the construct as a pre-spatial given. I propose that the beginnings of a solution may lie in the rethinking and reconfiguration of the construct of gender from one based on dichotomous thought to one that allows for the possibility of a continuum amongst difference. The problem then becomes the formulation of an architectural language which indeed does not assume dichotomous thought as its basis, but rather holds dichotomy in balance with multiplicity, opposite with continuum, singularity with plurality. The site I have chosen is the triangle of land bounded by Stanley Park and the Lost Lagoon to the north, Chilco Street and Lagoon Drive to the south, Georgia Street to the east, and Stanley Park to the west. The site currently contains a bus loop, a concession stand, the "Nature House" and a public washroom. It is a hinge caught between the edge of the park, the urban grid of the West End apartment blocks, and the traffic corridor of Georgia Street. It spans the border between the city and the park and as such is conducive to the rethinking of the city/park boundary (or dichotomy). A study of the current use patterns of the multiple public's using the place (cyclists, pedestrians, buses, tourists, locals, young, old, male, female etc) revealed the site as a series of striations and boundaries in terms of their physical formal placement in the site and spatial relationships to each other.;A formal investigation resulted in an understanding of the site in terms of a series of platforms and retaining walls -- allowing possibilities for the beginnings of transformations of how boundaries/thresholds establish relationships between things. The program, or the series of overlaid programs, involves the integration of a civic program (a public library) into park program (sea wall and Stanley Park circulation routes, concession stand, the Nature House, public washrooms) as well as city infrastructure (bus loop: road ways, lamp posts, bus wires), again acting as a tool by which boundaries can be rethought. In an overall sense, working with this site and these programs also has led to an attempt to understand the construction of the site/building not only as a mediation between the city and the park, but also as a way to re-imagine the thresholds between architecture, landscape architecture and infrastructure.