Contemporary heritage: a symbiotic architecture for Victoria, BC
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2011
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Abstract
In 1891 the luxurious Janion Hotel was built at the terminus of the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway near the waterfront in downtown Victoria, British Columbia. Today it lies vacant, boarded up, and abandoned, as it has for decades. Since the 1960s, heritage architecture in Canada has generally been approached from a historicist perspective where each piece is viewed as a precious document of its lime and place. Today, municipal laws in Victoria encourage a system of preservation where heritage facades are restored and the effects of time are erased. As a result of evaluating heritage architecture purely in terms of historical materiality, society is, in many cases, destroying the essence of its heritage buildings. The remnants are then displayed in an embalmed state, much like artifacts in a museum. This project explores an alternative approach to heritage architecture that favours holistic conservation over preservation. From this perspective, heritage buildings are treated as living entities that are allowed to grow and change, while still retaining the spirit and character that gives them heritage value in the first place. Employing a system of research, observation, and dialogue, a hypothetical design for the conservation of the Janion and its surrounding site is developed. Through the design, the heritage building and historical site house a new location for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, a public plaza celebrating the history of the railroad, commercial retail units, a robotic parking garage, and a waterfront restaurant and promenade. The project presents a design process that can be applied to heritage architecture throughout greater Victoria.
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Bibliography: p. 56
Thesis is in colour.
Thesis is in colour.
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Citation
Flach, N. A. (2011). Contemporary heritage: a symbiotic architecture for Victoria, BC (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4266