Retail Therapy: Shopping Maze

Feng Wu & Xiahui Liu

Although Robson Street is one of the busiest and most famous shopping streets in Vancouver, we don’t think it is playing its full potential. Our project, Shopping Maze, expands the street in three dimensions, by creating multiple layers of retail and open spaces, and enriching pedestrians’ walking experience on the street. Accessibility to different levels and both sides of the blocks is designed to replace the existing linear and single way of walking. Pedestrian and vehicle circulation are separated by detouring the traffic to the back lanes of Robson Street and creating a continuous underground shopping street. The proposed total walkable length is 4 times that of the existing condition. By activating the previous quieter spaces with less or no visitors, the retail space is increased by 1.7 times, and the retail frontage is increased by 3.8 times. We also create about 27,000 square meters of open space, 49 times as much as existing open space to make more opportunities for communication and interaction on the street.

Please see our animation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoNRqOdUsqg&t=2s.