Designers: Brendan Cole Buchanan Dee & Zoe Pearce
Course: Landscape Comprehensive Studio
Instructors: Prof. Daniel Roehr & Isabel Kunigk
2018 / UBC SALA
Urban Escape
Spaces where one can disconnect are increasingly scarce in contemporary cities as the dawn of the ‘smart city’ is heralding a new era of public space with free wifi, charging stations, and pervasive sensors monitoring digital and physical interactions. Located adjacent to Vancouver’s emerging technological campus, Main Alley, in the neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant, Off Grid Park offers respite from constant connectivity. A glasshouse constructed within a Faraday cage provides a tropical oasis for the public that is sheltered from wireless signals. Inside, people are free to explore their surroundings and thoughts in the absence of digital distractions and surveillance.