If you couldn’t see the context, you might think you were on a beach somewhere on an island in Desolation Sound.
But you’re in False Creek, on Habitat Island, separated from the Olympic Village by a narrow isthmus of precisely placed rocks – now open for exploration.
The island was a clever solution to provide the needed amount of fish-friendly shoreline as a condition of development for the southeast shore.
And not only habitat for fish. There are 200 native trees for birds, craggy perches for raptors, rocky homes for shellfish, decaying logs for insects, and ground cover for smallish mammals – and probably for the occasional human. (Hard to know how the City will deal with that.)
It’s all completely artifical, of course – a product of design so carefully calculated that already it seems perfectly natural. But not so perfect that humans aren’t already tromping down the bush to get where the designers didn’t expect them to go, so they can circumnavigate the island.
Or maybe they did – and these desire lines are just part of the evolution of a new public place. Along a creek once so polluted that the first seawall on the south shore was designed with slopes so steep that no one could get down to even touch the water.
Now our newest public place is designed to encourage and celebrate the return of life to False Creek.
I too find it a lovely small space, but I was surprised to find it accessible to people. It would be far better habitat for birds if it were actually an island instead of a peninsula. They would be safe from rodents and feral cats, and it is so close to the shore that it would be wonderful for bird watching.
I was just there today and it’s lovely… as is the mini-playground across the way, with an interactive fountain which thrilled my kids.