Buchanan Courtyards

Description

UBC’s Buchanan Complex has seen generations of Arts students pass through its two courtyards. While well-sized and centrally located, they are currently underdeveloped, with virtually no seating, weather-protected areas, or features that define them as spaces frequented by Arts students, faculty or alumni. Redevelopment of the architecturally and culturally significant Buchanan Courtyards is the first project to advance within the context of the Vancouver Campus Public Realm Plan and represents the culmination of a project that saw the refurbishment of the Buchanan Building through the UBC Renew Program.

Each of the courtyards will have a distinct character. The community envisions the west courtyard as a gathering place – a centre of the arts, which would be enlivened by exhibitions, lectures, and performances. A less programmed and informal approach is to be applied to the design of the east courtyard giving special consideration to retention of trees and the creation of a garden designed to collect rainwater, and a grassy knoll with sun exposure

Redevelopment of the courtyards into places for comfortable sitting, eating and studying will transform them into inclusive and dynamic places that celebrate the arts community.

Proponents

• Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg
• Public design
• Campus and Community Planning