Park Place

On any given day, Oppenheimer Park is alive with activity. The first Saturday of this summer is no exception. In the middle of the open lawn, a water fight breaks out between a youngster and her older brother while a crowd of spectators erupts to the clangs coming from a rowdy horseshoe match across the promenade. A staff member from the community centre hollers out, “Last call for the public washrooms!” as late-afternoon shadows from the historic Japanese cherry trees dance across the curve of the park’s only permanent structure. At 190 square metres, the new elliptical building is small in size, yet sophisticated in program, and is largely responsible for the atmosphere of civility that welcomes park-goers to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. Designed by the architectural firm formerly known as McFarlane | Green | Biggar Architecture + Design in concert with space2place Landscape Architects, the new park pavilion and surrounding green space has made Oppenheimer one of the most intensively used parks in the city since reopening just two years ago..