$640,000 "staircase to nowhere" art at Hastings Park now complete

10 years later, the $640,000 "staircase to nowhere" public art sculpture at Hastings Park is finally complete

"Home + Away" staircase and bleachers public art at Empire Field in Hastings Park. (City of Vancouver)

A highly visually prominent yet functional public art sculpture for Hastings Park has been more than a decade in the making, and it is now finally complete.

As of today, the public can climb the stairs of the 17-metre-high “Home + Away” installation at the northwest corner of Empire Fields at Hastings Park, and immediately east of Playland.

Reaching almost six storeys in height, the “staircase to nowhere” also features purpose-built bleacher seating within the upper section of the structure to allow people the option to watch the activities on the field, including events, training, practices, and other leisure recreation.

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Additionally, it also offers spectacular views of Hastings Park, the surrounding East Vancouver area, and the North Shore mountains.

home + away staircase bleachers empire field hastings park

“Home + Away” staircase and bleachers public art at Empire Field in Hastings Park. (City of Vancouver)

This structure symbolizes a slice of the historic grandstands of Empire Stadium on the current footprint of Empire Fields. The 33,000-seat venue was built in 1954 for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games and subsequently served as a major entertainment venue for the PNE for decades, including the previous home of the BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps until the 1983 opening of BC Place Stadium.

The original Empire Stadium was demolished in 1993 due to its age and condition, and the growing use of BC Place Stadium. Between 2010 and 2011, Empire Field, a temporary 28,000-seat stadium, was built at the site, essentially reviving Empire Stadium, for the use of the BC Lions and Whitecaps during BC Place Stadium’s renovations.

The design of the sports field today is a legacy of the permanent improvements made after the removal of the temporary stadium.

pne empire stadium ski jump vancouver 1958

The former Empire Stadium at Hastings Park. (City of Vancouver Archives)

empire field pne hastings park vancouver stadium 2010 2011

The temporary Empire Field stadium on the former site of Empire Stadium, 2010-2011. Captured during a CFL BC Lions game. (Unitech Construction Management)

Up to 49 people can sit on “Home + Away” on its 16 rows of bleacher seating. At the very top of the structure, a playful scoreboard sign, stylized as a digital scoreboard for events, reads “HOME” and “AWAY.”

The design is by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, Seattle-based artists working under the studio name Lead Pencil Studio.

This is their first Canadian art commission, and they were selected in 2015 by the Vancouver Park Board from a design competition that invited experienced artists from British Columbia and Washington state.

This project is part of the Hastings Park/PNE master plan approved in 2010 Vancouver City Council, which calls for adding public art to Hastings Park as one of the many components of revitalizing the fairgrounds for entertainment and park uses.

“Home + Away” staircase and bleachers public art at Empire Field in Hastings Park. (City of Vancouver)

“It’s wonderful to see this piece realized within the context of such a well-used public space,” said Han in a statement today.

Mihalyo added, “Home + Away was inspired directly by the site history of spectatorship, and we hope it will connect Hastings Park users to that history and the majestic views of the environment for many decades to come.”

After very significant delays, construction on the installation first began in 2022.

When the project was first approved a decade ago, it had an estimated cost of $450,000. City staff told Daily Hive Urbanized the project’s final cost came to $640,000, and it was funded by developer fees towards the municipal government’s requirement for a public art contribution. Some developers provide an in-kind public art contribution on their development site, while others opt to provide the City with a cash contribution towards the municipal government’s pool of funding for public art projects.

“The cost of this piece is in line with major, high-quality, large scale public art installations in Canada and around the world,” the City told Daily Hive Urbanized, noting that the installation’s funding was accumulated from two previous capital plans (2012 to 2014, and 2015 to 2018) and completed under the Signature Projects Reserve.

“The Signature Projects Fund was established by Council in 2014 and is funded from the private sector public art requirement. It holds funds that come to the City through private development requirements when they don’t build art on site.”

Over the past decade, the design has undergone significant value engineering. In 2015, the original design featured two staircase-like grandstand slivers, with each grandstand featuring signs that read “HOME” and “AWAY.” A slide was also incorporated from the structure’s mid-height as a playful way to descend to ground level.

But at some point over the past decade, the design was consolidated into a simpler single grandstand sliver without a slide, and the structure has been slightly reoriented to provide better views of Empire Field.

Original 2015 design:

home away staircase bleacher empire field hastings park design 2015

Artistic rendering of the 2015 original design of “Home + Away” at Empire Field at Hastings Park. (Vancouver Park Board)

Completed design:

“Home + Away” staircase and bleachers public art at Empire Field in Hastings Park. (City of Vancouver)

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