RUFproject
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The Georgia Grind

Vancouver, British Columbia / 2012

As Vancouver expands eastward, facing established neighbourhoods such as Strathcona, Chinatown and Gastown, will it continue its pattern of erasing and replacing, or is it possible to consider the existing fabric as something to be built within, around and on top of? Tangential Babel is an argument for a dialog between what was and will be; for an architectural memory that reaches deeper than the notional. It is an earnest folly - a fantastical infrastructure - dubbed fondly as the Georgia Grind, with all the challenge, rivalry and dating potential of the original, conveniently located within the City of Vancouver.

Situated on the ruins of a failed expressway, it would be a symbol of achievement and hope for Vancouver, a man-made mountainous pathway for all to exercise or drive upward together while enjoying the majestic view of the north shore and the natural

Situated on the ruins of a failed expressway, it would be a symbol of achievement and hope for Vancouver, a man-made mountainous pathway for all to exercise or drive upward together while enjoying the majestic view of the north shore and the natural landscape beyond.

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The project is a celebration of infrastructure, and specifically the odd collection of misfits that persist in cities that grow organically.  

The project is a celebration of infrastructure, and specifically the odd collection of misfits that persist in cities that grow organically.

 

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The proposed infrastructure should be under perpetual construction, and ever growing, like a cathedral, hopefully spanning centuries and generations.

The proposed infrastructure should be under perpetual construction, and ever growing, like a cathedral, hopefully spanning centuries and generations.

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Our project is really a kind of comment, through a fantastical infrastructure, of an alternate way of thinking about how the new   can embrace the old, without erasing it or perhaps worse, isolating it as a museum piece.

Our project is really a kind of comment, through a fantastical infrastructure, of an alternate way of thinking about how the new  can embrace the old, without erasing it or perhaps worse, isolating it as a museum piece.

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