SHELF
LIFE

Design-Build Competition Winner: Shaping the Courtyard

Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden
Vancouver, BC
2019
Design-build installation, eductional postersWith Tori Hamatani, Trevor Whitten, Dylan Maeers, Olivia Bull, and Kathy Oke

Shelf Life is a pop-up plant and flower shop that emerged as a the result of a competition to create an installation for the summer festival at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden courtyard in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

In addition to selling plants, the stand disseminated educational cards with illustrated texts on the particular usages, histories, or significance of various plant species in Chinese, Canadian, and Indigenous Canadian cultures.

The installation’s interlocking platforms reference the decorative patterns of Chinese shelves, and created a feeling of openness and transparency from any position in the courtyard.

Following the summer festival, the installation was repurposed as furniture in various configurations for students at the UBC School of Architecture.