Documentary Reflection
August 8, 2022 By: Mathew Semograd
Mathew Semograd
Norman Fennema
July 18, 2022
History 3991
Documentary Reflection
Exercise Reflection #4
Since I started studying geography I have always had an interest in urban geography and how we as humans interact with the built environment. Another major interest of mine is art, particularly painting and photography, so this topic comes as no surprise when I read about the new design of the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG). The new building that is scheduled to open in 5years and is designed with the environment in mind. The new gallery is designed to be a net-zero building, meaning it will not produce Co2 emissions and have minimal waste produced. The new gallery is built as a ‘passive house’. “Passive House (Passivhaus) buildings consume up to 90 percent less heating and cooling energy than conventional buildings” (Passive House Canada, 2022). The reduction of emissions from the new gallery are also setting new examples of other buildings in the region and will likely set the bar high for new buildings in the future to help reduce over all Co2 emissions and energy consumption. This includes things such as heat pumps and solar panels. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/06/30/vancouver-art-gallery-29m-government-funding-new-building
When looking at the past in Vancouver and the publics obedience and disobedience, there is lots of history on both sides. Environmental history can tell us that urban infrastructure has changed the natural landscape significantly and that is very noticeable as you drive from any part of the province into the Greater Vancouver Region. But one area of history that stands out and its relation to public disobedience is during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when the City of Vancouver began to really look into the environmental impact of urban densification and industrialization in the region. This shift began to make people realize that industry was having a significant negative environmental impact on many areas of the city but more specifically False Creek. People began to show disobedience towards industry and protest the expansion of industry and manufacturing in favour of cleaning up the environment and the city’s image. “Mayor Phillips’ leadership issued in a new phase of city building and recognition. This was the decade that the South Shore of False Creek was planned, the redevelopment of Granville Island from an industrial to a more market based concept, and also brought in the Robson Courthouse, the Eatons’ Building on Granville Street as well as the seabus into Vancouver. The 1970’s became an era of progressive thought and initiative, with many locally based programs such as the Local Improvement Initiative Program available to spark development and change at the neighbourhood level” (https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2022/04/25/the-decade-when-vancouver-grew-up-the-1970s/, 2022). This change that occurred in the 1970’s and onwards really changed Vancouver and laid the ground work for how the city would progress into what it is today.
Sources
(https://viewpointvancouver.ca/2022/04/25/the-decade-when-vancouver-grew-up-the-1970s/
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/06/30/vancouver-art-gallery-29m-government-funding-new-building