For The Works Art and Design Festival

*2024 WoodWORKS Prairie Wood Design Award*
*Honourable Mention at 2023 Edmonton Urban Design Awards*

CANOPY represents an innovative approach to providing playful amenity space for the public to interact with. It is a biophilic installation exploring how art and architecture together can be used as a form of climate resiliency. Tree canopies typically provide natural beauty, filtered sunlight, and an area to relax. In dense, concrete environments that experience extreme heat as the climate changes, CANOPY provides shelter for the public to sit and appreciate art. The place-making art installation uses an interlocking waffle structural system to create an organic, curvilinear aesthetic while remaining structurally robust, and is quickly deployable and re-assembled year after year.

As we reach record-breaking global average temperatures and heat waves across northern communities, we are mandated to think critically about how we use public space today and into the future. CANOPY represents a climate adaptation pilot that considers how design projects as playful as an art installation can provide a form of refuge from the effects of climate change. The installation is conveniently located in one of Edmonton’s most popular plazas – Churchill Square – with prominent festivals all summer long.

Parametric modelling was used to create the form of a tree integrated with seating, ensuring materials waste was minimized during fabrication and production, which took place entirely in Edmonton working with local partners. The result is an environmentally sustainable build, while also invoking curious minds regarding Edmonton’s climate emergency. 

Situated at the heart of numerous summer festivals, the project has become a point of interest for people of all ages. Whether it be for shade during the afternoon, or simply a place to sit for an outdoor concert, or a new structure for kids to explore while their parents sit comfortably and enjoy samplings from Edmonton’s restaurants – crowds gather at the grove of trees to make each one their own as they enjoy the space. The result is an impactful public realm as vibrant as the diversity of Edmontonians that interact with it.