VGH Energy Centre

Steam Plaza

Stainless steel, concrete pavers, electro mechanical valves, steam and water.

Vancouver 2008

Set on top of an underground steam boiler plant, this work utilizes the steam, cooling water and gas exit ports from the mechanical equipment below. The 45 air and gas intakes and outputs are designed into the urban interactive park setting at and above ground level. In the pavers of the plaza there are 6 trigger pads that cause steam vents to open in some of the vertical pipes. The overhead spiral that runs from one of the main stacks, down and across the plaza and over the pool, carries cooling water from the plant which rains into the pool in the last section. A vortex drain in the pool, under the tightest part of the spiral, is the return for the water back into the cooling system in the plant. This project was designed as and integrated artwork into the mechanical, architectural and landscape