19 best designs for Robson Street's summertime plaza | Daily Hive

What will this summer’s Robson Redux look like? The submissions for the City of Vancouver’s 2015 competition to fill the 800-block of Robson Street includes designs such as colossal letters, DNA strands, grassy knolls, varying porches and patios.

The temporary summer public space program first began in 2011 with ‘Picnicturbia, a sloping landscape for passersby to experience urban picnicking, with the intention to animate the city block for pedestrian use.

Subsequent summers saw installations resembling giant bean bags, outdoor patios, and wooden ‘Urban Reef’ benches. This year’s competition theme is: “people’s connection to one another and to urban space.”

According to the City of Vancouver, this year’s design competition saw over 80 local and international entries, with some entries originating from as far away as Hong Kong, New York, Seoul and Vienna.

In addition to a $5,000 honorarium, the winning team will receive a $40,000 budget to build and install the project.

Just like last year’s competition, the final design will be chosen by a panel of local architects and designers, but the public can also add their input by voting online to choose the winner for the ‘People’s Choice Award’.

Both the online voting period and the Robson Redux exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver are scheduled to end on March 16. The winner will be announced on March 18, and the winning team will have the next few months to build their design. Installation on Robson Street is currently scheduled for late-June.

Here’s a compilation of what we thought are this year’s best design submissions: