Resting Steel: False Creek
Resting Steel is the outcome of a material, site-specific exploration based on Granville Island, located in the False Creek area of Vancouver, BC. “Resting Steel” examines how found materials can be repurposed to prompt reflection and examine what their materiality tells us about where they’ve been, where they are, as well as their context in relation to their environment.
Initial Site Exploration
Material. Observe the different materials which populate the area and how they age. Are they natural or manufactured? The symbiosis of natural and manufactured elements, rust, entanglement, and degradation.
Structure. Structures, both manufactured and natural, populate the False Creek area. Trees, bridges, piers, walkways, fences, benches, etc. How do all these structures interact with one another? What are they for? Are they still serving their original purpose?
Findings. Observing the relationships between different materials and their journey through time can serve as a grounding exercise. The idea is that each material, structure, and thing in the environment is on its journey through time, this is evident through different forms of wear and how the different interactions and uses of each element inform the types of wear.
In Studio: Material Exploration. The earliest form of design exploration during this project began with driftwood and scrap lumber. Experimenting with different tools, techniques, and joinery. As well as the way different types of wood reacted to different processes. Ultimately, the goal was to tease out the way different forms and materials can charge one another.
Focused Site Exploration:
Seating
Location. The second visit to the project area took palace on/under/around Granville Island, Granville Street Bridge, Burrard Street Bridge and Vanier Park.
Objective. Document the different areas and compile different sitting and resting objects. They range from benches and seats to rocks and architectural elements, intentional and unintentional.
Findings. Most seats and resting objects are along the busy seawall path. This choice seems obvious for accessibility reasons. However, in order to observe your surroundings more intentionally, moving the resting place further from transitory spaces could be beneficial. Is it possible to give it meaning as a destination? To engage in place making practices?
Site History + Design Context
The Pacific Bolt Company, situated on Granville Island, supplied much of the Steel in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s to build boats in the False Creek shipyards as well as other construction projects like the downtown Vancouver high rises and the Granville Street Bridge.
This relationship False Creek has with time, as well as industry related to the development of Vancouver, was something I wanted to focus on and draw attention to with my design outcome.
Resting Steel is about the history of False Creek. The temporal and ever-changing nature of all things around us, from structures to raw materials and the relationships that define our environment.
Positioning
Resting Steel is situated on the southeast corner of Granville Island at the shore of Ron Basford Park. This location is made up of a grassy hill speckled with trees and intermittent stairways leading down to the rocky shore.
Resting Steel has been situated within the tidal zone. This will greatly exceed the degradation of the steel material, exaggerating the contrast between the highly polished top of the stool and the weathered bottom.
This relationship draws attention to the reciprocal nature of raw material and the passage of time. As it decays, it will return to its found state through oxidization.
