My thesis began with an investigation into the history of the stadium
and a questioning of how the stadium has been influenced and shaped by
different power structures throughout time. From this foundation of research
I developed a design for The Vancouver Velodrome.
The site chosen for The Vancouver Velodrome is located on the North
slope of Burnaby Mountain in Vancouver and is currently being used as a
concrete factory. The site is bordered on the south by the Barnet Highway
and to the north by a cliff which leads down to railway lines that run along
the shore of the Burrard Inlet. The geographical location of the site from the
natural slope separates it from the mountain and marks it as an isolated site. It
was my desire then to re-establish a sense of unity within the landscape.
The velodrome was not to be an isolated object, to be held out as
separated from the landscape. Rather, it was to act as a connector which joins
together the mountain, the site, and the ocean. Unlike the stadium precedents
which were often founded upon ideological concerns, the velodrome was
founded by the sense of power dictated by its environs, rather than that
imposed on it by other structures.
The velodrome design was therefore influenced by the landscape, the
more significant elements included a 100 ft. highway retaining wall, a bowllike
depression, and a large retaining wall on the north side of the site which
supported the cliff face. The highway retaining wall was used to create an
entry procession. The depression contained nicely the large space required
and the banked contours then helped to brace the bleachers and embraced the
building in general. The northern wall dictated the long axis for the
velodrome and the bridge which connected it to the mountain slope, which
also served to support the roof structure.
The overall design manifests the notion of a building not 'within' the
landscape but rather one which 'is' part of the landscape; on which people
traverse and in which people inhabit. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/8020 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Carel, Sonya |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 11450835 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds