Demonstration Parking Lot, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, M.B.
This project was done as a detailed design in conjunction with an arboretum master plan for SMARTPark. The site is currently known as the U Lot at the University of Manitoba.
The goal of the design was to create a demonstration piece of how bioswales and permeable paving could help make parking lots more people-friendly environments, and help hopefully minimize many issues facing urban areas today such as pollution and water management. The occurrence of bioswales at regular intervals would collect and filter runoff while also providing habitats for smaller birds and butterflies. The project also emphasizes plants as elements for wayfinding.
Through the use of specific ornamental shrubs with contrasting leaf and bark colours, different zones of the parking lot are differentiated, to aid with wayfinding. A 6 metre pedestrian corridor runs diagonally through the parking lot and over the swales to connect SMARTPark to the University.
The Visitor Center for the University will share its entrance with a crowd of ornamental shrubs with shelf-like tiers of different varieties all rising gradually towards the entrance. The effect will be similar to that of an amphitheatre, with the building as the stage and the shrubs as members of the audience.
