Pop-Up @ the Square Design Competition

Congratulations to the winners!

Grab your binoculars! A pod of life-sized orca replicas will be popping-up in Centennial Square this summer.

Selected from 33 submissions, ranging from design concepts from a local secondary school to as far afield as Indonesia, Mexico and Poland, the jury selected ‘Follow the Pod’ as the overall winner of the Pop Up @ the Square Design Competition. The ‘Follow the Pod’ play structure aims to raise awareness of the threatened Southern Resident Killer Whale population by allowing visitors to play and interact with the life-sized sculptures.

The winning design was submitted by a Vancouver Island-based team led by WildVision Edutainment Inc. and Envision Designs and Development. The winning team will receive a $5,000 award, and up to $50,000 for the design, construction and installation. ‘Follow the Pod’ will be installed in Centennial Square in early July.

Complete List of Winning Submissions:

Overall Winner:‘Follow the Pod’ (WildVision Edutainment and Envision Designs and Development) #13

People’s Choice Award Winner ($1,000 cash prize): ‘Game Plan’ (Waymark Architecture) #32

Honourable Mention:‘Under the table and dreaming’ (Cascadia Architects Inc.) #9

Honourable Mention:‘Spindle Whorl Playscape’ (Yiwen Ruan and Bo Lu) #24

Overall Winner #13 People's Choice #32 Honourable Mention #9 Honourable Mention #24



About the Design Competition

In early 2017 urban designers, industrial designers, architects, landscape architects, contemporary artists and creative types were invited to apply to create a playful pop-up installation for kids of all ages in Centennial Square, in the heart of Victoria’s vibrant downtown.

Location: Centennial Square is located downtown next to Victoria’s City Hall, at Douglas Street and Pandora Avenue.

Jury Details: A panel of qualified jurors judged submissions based on the following criteria: play value, relationship to events, local context, robustness, feasibility.

About Centennial Square

Centennial Square is located in Downtown Victoria. The Square is bordered by Victoria’s heritage City Hall, the offices of the Capital Regional District and the MacPherson Playhouse Theatre. It is directly adjacent to Victoria’s Chinatown district, the oldest Chinatown in Canada.

Centennial Square is one of the City’s most popular outdoor event and festival venues. On average, there are programmed activities in the Square 130 days each year, ranging from food truck festivals and dance classes to outdoor markets and concert performances. Creating the opportunity for daily play and vibrancy while allowing the Square to continue to function as a primary outdoor event venue is a key objective of this design competition.

The City is coordinating a renewal of Centennial Square through a master plan. This long term planning exercise will begin in 2017, and guide future renovations to the Square.