Granville Island Lido
Designer: Brendan Cole Buchanan Dee
Course: Landscape Architecture Studio
Instructor: Patrick Mooney
UBC SALA / 2017
Pools for the People
For a city surrounded by water, Vancouver has few public swimming pools and even fewer sites where one can swim outdoors. Public pools provide essential recreational sites for communities, acting as social condensers that bring together people of all ages and backgrounds. With the increase of extreme heat events during summer months, pools provide respite from sweltering conditions. The proposed site of Granville Island is a historical industrial site turned cultural hub where public market, artisans, ship buildiers, metal workers, and concrete factory mingle. Granville Island has a nautical identity due its location on False Creek, however, people are cautious to not fall in as the water is polluted by a combined stormwater and sewer system. The Granville Island Lido envisions a public outdoor swimming facility in the heart of Vancouver, expanding the city’s recreational opportunities while connecting users with biophilic experience of swimming at the city’s waterfront.
The proposed planting design for the Granville Island Lido consists of aquatic species selected for biofiltration within the stepped terraces and a rocky outcrop comprised of an arbutus and shorepine forest providing the area with a distinct evergreen canopy with year-round intrigue. The bark and foliage of the selected trees and shrubs along with seasonal perennial flowers compliment the hardscape details of Cor-ten steel and rock-paved footpaths. Pathways through the terraces and bluffs welcome users into the site that can be accessed from seawall or Granville Island, inviting the public closer to the water.