| Energy use, resource consumption, pollution, social exclusion, and segregation are some of the current challenges facing interior designers. Importantly, sustainable development provides designers with the tools to address these challenges by questioning the outcome of specific actions, the long-term costs of design and the social responsibility of those who practice in the field.; This design practicum proposes a possible framework of development emphasizing sustainability, social, economic, and environmental, and contemporary theory that acknowledges and incorporates difference. The project site is the Woodward's building located in the Eastside of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. Once a thriving market centre serving lower and middle class shoppers, the Woodward's building has been vacant since 1993. Located at the edge of sprawling gentrification and lower class and unemployed residents, a revitalized Woodward's building will have to meet disparate economic and social interests.; The intent of the project is to demonstrate how the creation of a flexible and adaptable interior public space can meet the needs of urban consumers and less fortunate district residents, now and in the future. An overarching goal of this project is to illustrate the need and capacity for the interior design field to address complex issues and create well-informed designs. |
