How Do We Move People?

Creating Compelling Destinations

November 18, 2019

The creation of every compelling destination begins with a vision. As designers, it’s our job to ask the right questions to tease out the details of each project’s unique vision and understand how to translate the intangibles of experience into the built environment. By thinking holistically and asking tough questions, we deliver our clients’ visions, so nothing is lost in translation.

Asking the right questions is about asking the questions that uncover the experiences people crave. People always come first.

How do we move people?

Designing heathy cities begins with understanding how we can better help people thrive in every aspect, including how they live, work, and play. Healthy cities also enable people to move around freely and easily. Robust public transportation systems offer safe, convenient, and affordable options for getting around. Meanwhile, easy connections between spaces and places increase pedestrian movement. The more we can get people walking to their destinations, the healthier they’ll be. How we get around is also changing dramatically as mobility evolves, including ride hailing and the proliferation of small vehicles in our urban spaces such as bikes, scooters, e-bikes, skateboards, “hoverboards” and other small battery-powered personal use transportation vehicles. With burgeoning mobility choices, less people are choosing to drive or even own cars.

The master plan for Coquitlam Centre repurposes the existing suburban shopping mall, located about 40 minutes east of Vancouver as a massive mixed-use development that could create a regional Town Centre that rivals those nearby. With the arrival of SkyTrain running along the border of the site, the site is positioned to become a major local transit hub and mixed-use community. The first phase is planned at Lincoln Station and will include a commercial component connected directly to the station. Development adjacent to the station will include restaurants, pubs, lounges, nightclubs, movie theatres, and live entertainment venues.

The Coquitlam Centre redevelopment is a high-density mixed-use plan that will feature a new street grid and pedestrian and bike infrastructure that revolves around creating the site as a destination rather than a through route. A strong focus on public realm introduces a preference for street retail over indoor mall or strip mall concepts, engaging people at ground level. Creating a new and exciting downtown core, the new Coquitlam Centre offers a community for people to live, work, play and move with ease.

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