Plaza View
The Plaza reimagines the Yaletown Roundhouse Community Centre as a fully inclusive, non-visual landscape. This proposal expands the community center’s spatial potential by breaking its current reliance on visual and historical elements, and celebrating its inclusive programming goals. The plaza invites visually impaired individuals into a vibrant civic space, aiming for true integration and inclusiveness within the broader community.
The design prioritizes independence and clear thresholds for users with visual impairments, while dynamism and thermal comfort enhance the civic experience for all. A continuous loop, designed for independent navigation, is defined by curvilinear, rammed earth walls that create sensory thresholds and contain dynamic plazas. Its ecological island provides central thermal comfort. In a field that is traditionally visual, The Plaza embraces non-visual design, blending ecological resilience with tactile wayfinding. This approach not only serves an underserved community but enriches the public realm through deeper integration and inclusivity.