04
Academic Project
Kwa7xiliya Square
Gastown, Vancouver, Canada
Year 3 Semester 2, The University of British Columbia (UBC)
Kwa7xiliya Square reimagines Maple Tree Square as a public landscape that centres Indigenous memory and makes local artistic expression visible.
Project synopsis
Concept and intent
Named after Kwa7xiliya, a young Squamish girl whose story was subsumed by colonial narratives, the project reframes Gastown's square as a site of cultural resurgence rather than erasure.
Three interconnected zones - the Stage, the Theatre, and the Artists' Sanctuary - support performance, protest, visual storytelling, contemplation, and ephemeral artistic work within a planted public realm.
Highlights
Public art and activism embedded into site narrative
Three-zone framework balancing event space and sanctuary
Strong sectional and render-led presentation language
Portfolio plates
Pages from the original portfolio
