The Changing Face of Sunnyside…
Much like khaki pants — bland and utilitarian — shipping containers typically don’t turn heads.
Yet, in recent years, shipping containers, or “sea cans,” have become the darlings of architects, designers and artisans. With a little ingenuity, containers have been modified into multi-storey houses, backyard offices and popular “container villages” such as Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market.
Now, a proposal is in the works to transform a barren, half-acre field near the Sunnyside LRT station into a temporary “container village” that mixes art, commerce and community-building.
“The minute you start to change the colour, the shape, how they fit on top of each other, you’re suggesting to folks to rethink what that space can be,” said Nicole Mion, artistic director of Springboard Performance.
The space in question, a city-owned plot at the corner of 9th Street and 2nd Avenue N.W., has sat vacant for more than a year after an old warehouse was razed.
The land will, at some point, be home to an affordable-housing development. But that could take years to unfold.
In the coming weeks, Mion, along with the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association and the citizen-led Bow to Bluff Initiative, plan to apply for a development permit with the city and hope to have the village built this summer.
“It would be nice if this wasn’t an empty, ugly space with chain link fence around it,” said Tamara Lee, Bow to Bluff’s communication chairwoman. “We want to demonstrate to the community, and even citywide, how to create a great public space — even temporarily.
“It’s basically Lego, and people get excited about space and they get very excited about Lego.”
Ward 7 Ald. Druh Farrell said the site could be zoned as a temporary park and turned over to the community association to oversee. That would allow the community to steer the project. Sort of.
“It can’t just be anybody,” said Farrell. “It needs to be the community association. They have the authority and there’s all sorts of responsibility and consulting.”
It’s not the first time Calgary has flirted with a container village. Mion was instrumental in last fall’s visual arts event at the Fluid Festival in the East Village.
“It goes back to the core of what a village is about … meeting points, courtyards,” Mion said. “In a large city, it is easy to lose sight of our neighbours. It’s very easy to drive to the suburbs, put your car in the garage, have dinner, watch TV and then the day starts again.
“In a village, there are meeting points for conversation, for commerce, for creative ideas, that I think is a really exciting step for Calgary and community.”
Jeffrey Spalding, artistic director with Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary, helped with last year’s container event in the East Village. He hopes this proposed container village inspires Calgarians.
“It’s strange. We’re only talking about a handful of containers parked in a little triangular park in Calgary,” Spalding said. “But, we only get one chance in life to do stuff, and sometimes it’s the most unexpected things that are the most exciting and exhilarating. That’s what I’m hoping for.”
For more information e-mail the city at: hscavitalization@gmail.com or call 403-283-0554.