As a dynamic landscape, Iona Beach is a complex amalgamation of parks, intertidal ecosystems, and wastewater management facilities. These community spaces are often neglected and sidelined to sites left behind by urban planning decisions that prioritize property values over community building. Third spaces are formed within the negative space of urban infrastructure, where architecture can be used as a tool to maximize marginalized spaces and enhance community place-making. This studio project seeks to carve out community spaces within Iona Beach through the development of a welcome center. The welcome center consists of a series of gathering areas and park amenities connected by meandering ramps that float within an infrastructural frame. Additionally, the welcome center acts as an access point for a network of observation towers scattered across the diverse landscapes of Iona Beach, including the intertidal flats, forests, and ponds. The towers can be discovered in sequence, where vantage points from previous towers or from the welcome center direct visitors to new towers across the sprawling terrain. The welcome center and observation towers seek to create and sustain third spaces for human occupation and community place-making within the underutilized landscape of Iona Beach.
Transience in the Third Space
Sophie Brunas | ARCH 501 with Nelly Goodarzi + Nicolas Dagenais-Lussier