UBC Reports | Vol. 50 | No. 9 | Oct.
7, 2004
A New Entrance for UBC -- by Design
International architectural competition will help
By Brad Foster
International architects and jurists will help the UBC community
create a new social heart for the campus.
UBC will soon be inviting the world’s best architects
to participate in an architectural competition that will redefine
UBC’s main entrance on University Boulevard.
“UBC has always lacked a memorable entrance,”
said Dennis Pavlich, UBC’s Vice President of External
and Legal Affairs. “In the words of Gertrude Stein,
‘There is no there there’.
“This competition will put the ‘there’
into the overall vision for a memorable and complete University
Town community that is emerging at the University of British
Columbia, and in doing so will create a vibrant academic village
for the campus.”
The competition jury will consist of internationally acclaimed
architects including Arthur Erickson (Canada), Moshe Safdie
(USA), Leon Krier (France) and Demitri Porphyrios (England),
as well as UBC student, faculty and staff representatives
who will have the responsibility of assessing the submissions
of the final three competitors and ensuring the designs serve
the broad interests of the university community.
The design competition scope encompasses University Boulevard
from Wesbrook Mall to Main Mall and asks architects to envision
five building sites, which will include a new University Square,
a new Greenway and all the associated pedestrian connections
between the new and existing buildings in this area.
The new centrepiece of the University Boulevard neighbourhood
will be University Square, located on the old Bus Loop site
at University Boulevard. While the design of the transit station
is excluded from the competition, final submissions will be
required to make recommendations regarding entrances and exits
based on pedestrian flow and new building locations.
University Square will serve as a hub for the campus with
a major public space above a transit station accommodating
53,000 transit trips a day, and providing university-related
shops and services for students, faculty, staff and campus
residents.
Campus participation will be an important element of the
competition, Pavlich said. UBC students, faculty and staff
will be invited to take an active part in campus community
roundtables at the shortlisting stage of the competition in
November 2004. Similarly, finalists’ proposals will
be put on display for public viewing, and a campus community
questionnaire and poll in March 2005 will help to inform the
final juried selection of the winning entry in April 2005.
For further information on the competition visit www.universitytown.ubc.ca
or call the University Town hotline at 604.822.6400.
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