I’ve been eagerly watching the progress of the laneway adjoining the Telus Garden complex between Georgia and Robson Streets. If you have ever visited Melbourne you know how creative opportunities for programing and shaping laneway spaces are worth looking at. We are no Melbourne but we certainly have a huge stock of alleys to play with, largely used for commercial and utilitarian purposes to date. With that in mind it’s exciting to see some colorful interventions unfolding at the Telus Garden Laneway:
Colourful lanterns, vertical greenery and enhanced paving designate the space as a unique connection to the dining and business node of Telus Garden.
At night the design elements come alive.
The colours and messages of the overhead LED display panels are bold and flexible. It would be nice to push the design boundaries a little further, as it feels as though the ground plane and corridor walls are still a bit monolithic and dull. Perhaps some added vegetation through movable trees and some commissioned murals in strategic locations on the surrounding walls:
All in all a good first step in exploring the possibilities for the city’s “other” streets. Looking forward to more funky urban spaces unfolding in the future.
The first thing I thought when I first saw this is “how can something so simple as hanging a few lanterns be made so complicated and so thoroughly ugly?”. This was not well thought through.
I think the extra set of cables at the bottom of the lanterns are required because the lanterns were not designed (nor affixed) with sufficient weight to prevent swaying in the wind.
The lanterns look nice at nighttime, when lit, but the colour choice is quite poorly thought-out for daytime presence. The pale colours used look very “washed out”.
The lanterns are new, but they look like they are 20 years old and faded – or maybe that was the intent (?). I had thought that they had installed mini-lights along the wires (to add “sparkle”), but I was mistaken – that would be a nice future addition.
The main problem with the alley is the lack of sufficient retail space to make anyone want to walk down it on a regular basis. Once you explore and realize there is nothing there (it’s largely still a loading zone for the busy buildings around it), you wouldn’t go back.
My exact reaction. Had read the description before construction and was extremely disappointed when I saw it in person. Very lame if the developer received some consideration for what remains a slightly tarted up back alley.