Parkdale Plaza is a new public space on the Memorial Drive Landscape of Memory.
A public art sculpture by Brian Tolle Studio – consisting of a scaled and inverted profile of Mount Peechee, the location of the Bow Glacier and the source of the water for the Bow River – provides the plaza’s focal point. The sculpture replaces an existing storm water outfall and invites two levels of discovery; the first being as an object in the broader natural landscape, the second being the meaning embedded in the inner topography of the sculpture.
As storm water flows though the inverted cast of Mount Peechee, it encourages the participation of pathway and plaza users in forming an intellectual link between the Bow River Valley and Bow Glacier, thereby fostering a collective understanding of the origins of the water that flows through this well-used river landscape.
Parkdale Plaza is conceived of as a response to the location of the art piece – in this sense, the sculpture itself forms the context for the plaza surrounding it. Conversely, the plaza is intended to establish a neutral context for the experience of art. It is thus envisioned as a point of intersection between the realm of the everyday and the sublime, where the work of art provides a mechanism for understanding our relationship to the broader natural landscape. As a node along the Memorial Drive Landscape of Memory, the plaza is intended as a moment of repose and contemplation that is both connected to and set apart from the busy metropolis surrounding it.
Parkdale Plaza is a new public space on the Memorial Drive Landscape of Memory.
A public art sculpture by Brian Tolle Studio – consisting of a scaled and inverted profile of Mount Peechee, the location of the Bow Glacier and the source of the water for the Bow River – provides the plaza’s focal point. The sculpture replaces an existing storm water outfall and invites two levels of discovery; the first being as an object in the broader natural landscape, the second being the meaning embedded in the inner topography of the sculpture.
As storm water flows though the inverted cast of Mount Peechee, it encourages the participation of pathway and plaza users in forming an intellectual link between the Bow River Valley and Bow Glacier, thereby fostering a collective understanding of the origins of the water that flows through this well-used river landscape.
Parkdale Plaza is conceived of as a response to the location of the art piece – in this sense, the sculpture itself forms the context for the plaza surrounding it. Conversely, the plaza is intended to establish a neutral context for the experience of art. It is thus envisioned as a point of intersection between the realm of the everyday and the sublime, where the work of art provides a mechanism for understanding our relationship to the broader natural landscape. As a node along the Memorial Drive Landscape of Memory, the plaza is intended as a moment of repose and contemplation that is both connected to and set apart from the busy metropolis surrounding it.