The Megabench Design Landmark Tour

Tour Host: Joseph Fry, BCSLA CSLA ASLA, Principal and owner of Hapa Collaborative

Hapa is completing public realm design work for the Foot of Lonsdale, a city-owned land and water lot between Lonsdale Quay and the new Shipbuilders Plaza to the east. Currently an under utilized site with a panoramic view to the Vancouver skyline, the proposed design will integrate open space improvements, a waterfront regional trail and plaza spaces associated with restaurant retail and the new Presentation House Gallery.

Framed by the Coppersmith Shop and the Gallery, the design proposes a new public water feature with a range of active water elements that are visible from Lonsdale Street. The waterfront edge includes a widened Spirit Trail and a Megabench (now complete as part of Phase One), a large wood deck for viewing distant sunsets and the detail of the intertidal edge. The Megabench required highly detailed design which needed to be buildable, easy to maintain, usable, and of course beautiful. Hapa used digital modelling tools to design and create working drawings. Before finalizing the design, mock ups were built at full scale.

The Cates Tug dry dock will be repurposed as an intertidal parterre garden that captures and filter stormwater before returning it to Burrard Inlet.