2020 UBC ArchEng Design Competition winners announced

May 11, 2020

Every year, Fast + Epp challenges UBC architecture and engineering students to collaborate on a design challenge. This year’s challenge was to design a canopy for the sidewalk for the existing Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver, BC. This iconic bridge is currently undergoing a redesign to make it more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly.

The constraints behind this challenge were: canopies had to cantilever off a minimum of 3 metres over the sidewalk/bike lane; and the total length of the canopies were to be at a minimum of 600 metres on either one side or both sides of the bridge. Students were encouraged to use light materials to design these new canopies – such as timber, and were asked to provide explanations behind some of the key connection details. The existing bridge structure was assumed to resist any reaction forces from the new canopies.

The four-member jury – which included Ian Boyle and Derek Ratzlaff from Fast + Epp, and David Dove and Adrien Pratlong from Perkins + Will – selected three winning projects from nearly 15 submissions.

The winner and runner ups for this year’s competition are:

1^st Place: Team K – Remi Yuan, Saul Domingos-Morales, Kieran Mortimer, Thomas Foster

2^nd Place: Team A – Vivek Vinod, Randi MacAlpine, Micaelee Hanson

3^rd Place: Team E – Marthe Klungerbo, Havard Skanke, Alexandra Ianoul, Shirley Duong

Team K – Winner

With Team K, the judges were particularly impressed with the design team’s research into the historical use of the bridge, the resonance of the design with the trussing of the historical bridge structure, and the analysis of the points of interest – which have resulted in a design unique to Granville Bridge and its surroundings. The structure is well-articulated and conveys the effortlessness characteristic of a sound design.

Team A – Second place

The judges felt this design exemplified the virtue of elegant simplicity, with a regular pattern not forfeiting visual delight. The whole design is coherent, from the safety guard to the canopy roof.

Team E – Third place

The judges enjoyed the boldness, simplicity, and classical features of the design. The reflection of the canopy in the safety barrier unifies the different parts of the design into a holistic vision of the pedestrian experience.

Fast + Epp thanks all those who participated and extends their congratulations to the winning teams!