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The Cascadian Commons is centred around a broader cultural aim: large-scale architectural identity building. The project nestles itself within the Pacific Northwest (a.k.a. Cascadia). Split between the US and Canada, Cascadia was once united under one political body known as Oregon County. In the wake of a 200-year split, The Cascadian Commons explores an existing secessionist movement and how it may shape the urban and architectural tropes of the Pacific Northwest throughout the 21st century.
The area’s climate is characterised by ongoing wetness that allows for the continual growth of North America’s only rainforests. Conversely, it is also heating at rates faster than the rest of the continent.
This project aims to reconcile the urban and cultural growth that has been fuelled by globalisation and the nouveau riche wealth of North America’s technocratic class with larger existential questions surrounding climate change. In creating a new set of civic typologies, ecological stewardship and cultural folly are encouraged through a series of aesthetic and material splices. Can this architecture serve to preserve and celebrate what may become one of Earth’s Last Edens?
The Cascadian Commons is located on the Northwestern Port Harbour of the Vancouver Peninsula. The project is positioned within the city’s legendary Stanley Park, a large, temperate, urban rainforest ecosystem.
A concept model, dubbed The Foam Finder allowed the study of the properties of foam with greater intimacy and unforeseen spontaneity. These early experiments informed later foam typologies such as a prototype for foam flagstones.
In considering the legacy of the building, the aim is to create an architecture that is
accountable to its past crimes, to better design for the future. The Lost Memorial provides a space for occupants to grieve and leave tokens in remembrance.
Large PVC bladders hang from the roof to collect water during the wet season. As they swell, they celebrate water as a structural ornament. During the dry season, the bladders are unhooked and used as liquid bean bag seating for occupant’s rest.
Inspired by the Salish mythology of the thunderbird, the design of the mobile office structure directly interacts with the coastal environment. It employs large inflatable pontoons that steady it in deep seas and turbulent marine environments.