4 Days festival rethinks city sustainability

Condemned Victorian building becomes rallying cry for new approach to urban design, sustainability and culture

Conference organizer John Thackara speaks to the crowd rallied around a condemned downtown building.

Alan S. Hale

al831906@dal.ca

A large Victorian building with flaking blue and white paint at the corner of Morris and Hollis Streets in downtown Halifax became a rallying cry last Saturday.

Those who braved the cold, wind and rain gathered at the condemned structure to mark the end of the 4 Days festival with a message to the city and its residents about the need for sustainable urban design and planning.

“We wanted to … recognize the cultural significance of the site that we’re standing in front of that really goes beyond the architectural form,” said Peter Wuensch, director of 4 Days.

“The culture that has originated and permeated from this building has gone on to influence a bunch of other things within the city.”

John Thackara  is the president of Doors of Perception, an organization that helps to organize festivals such as 4 Days, where residents, designers, businesses  and environmentalist groups explore what a sustainable urban landscape would look like and what would need to be done to make it a reality.

The keynote speaker during 4 Days events, Thackara travelled from the United Kingdom to take part in 4 Days. He believes that part of good sustainable design for a city is retrofitting old buildings rather than tearing them down and replacing them. For instance, he hopes that once the Halifax Farmers’ Market moves to its new location, someone else will use the space it leaves behind.

“I’m completely mesmerized by the way you have these very brutal moments of contemporary architecture bolted in the middle of the old. There’s a very bizarre planning process going on here,” says Thackara.

“I don’t like thinking about new buildings, I like reoccupying old buildings. Everywhere I go the most exciting social experiments are those where people are reusing pre-existing  spaces  in new ways.”

Janet Morris  listened to the speeches along with a crowd of about 40 others. She said she would love to see something done with the old place instead of it being torn down to make way for a modern apartment building.

“Perhaps the roof-level could be made more interesting and all of a sudden it would come to life …  paint it interesting colours. It’s a wonderful kind of building to have that kind of veranda on the street. It’s an iconic street corner.”

The 4 Days festival has been about more than just the reuse of old buildings but also finding practical steps in redesigning how Halifax works.

During last week’s events, festival participants looked at the use of local food, including how people get it and how it can be stored, the possibilities of widespread car-sharing and the increased use of bicycles and green projects around the city.

“The week has been about me with my friends being introduced to a whole variety of projects and individuals, larger and smaller, which are for me examples of what a sustainable, resilient Halifax (is about),” says Thackara.

“The most important thing is to stop thinking about some kind of future eventuality that we have to discover or invent.”