Location
Festival Hall is a music hall designed by renowned Canadian architect Peter Cardew. The building is a jewel on a residential street in the neighbourhood of Inglewood connecting the present with the past. The ceiling trusses defining the open hall are reclaimed timber from an abandoned mill in Washington State. Salvaged beams from the Alberta Block were turned into woodcuts throughout and the wooden drink rail was salvaged from a Safeway store in Manitoba.
Discussion
The discussion explored the notion of intention, and the way in which our cities are designed and experienced. Berlin-based artist Larissa Fassler revealed a fresh approach to public infrastructure. Her paintings and installations, on exhibition at Esker Foundation, capture movement through train stations, busy intersections, and even public places known as non-places. Architect Jimenez Lai has forged a practice with an exploration of character and story. Using the mediums of the graphic novel and cartoonish curves in built form, his work provokes notions of how we build and how the narrative of place transpires. Alberta-based landscape architect Doug Carlyle provided a landing for exploring the physical characteristics of the public realm. Together the panel offered an opportunity to explore how individuals interpret our urban surroundings and how people interact as a result of design. Does place have language?
image: Jesus Martin Ruiz
Panelists
Jimenez Lai - Bureau Spectacular
Larissa Fassler - artist
Doug Carlyle - Dialog
moderated by: Jan Kroman - Rockcliff Pierzchajlo Kroman
Panelist book
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
image: Jesus Martin Ruiz
Continue the Conversation
Visit Shelf Life Books to find books around the topic of public realm and narrative of place. Visit the exhibition at Esker Foundation. Follow the great work of Bureau Spectacular. Find new ways of looking at spaces in your neighbourhood.
Event Supporters
Esker Foundation
DIRTT Environmental Solutions