{"id":144,"date":"2024-07-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/the-shipyards-a-story-of-history-and-place\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T18:51:15","slug":"the-shipyards-a-story-of-history-and-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/the-shipyards-a-story-of-history-and-place\/","title":{"rendered":"North Vancouver\u2019s Shipyards: How Effective Public and Private Collaboration Resulted in One of Our Most Valued Public Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darrell Mussatto, former Mayor of North Vancouver and Joseph Fry, Landscape Architect and Principal, Hapa Collaborative, kicked off day 2 of the inaugural Urban Experience Alliance Symposium. Together, they explored the transformation of North Vancouver\u2019s now-iconic Shipyards District and demonstrated how this project acts as a testament to the power of effective public and private collaboration in creating purposeful spaces.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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For decades, Shipyards District, a former industrial shipyard and brownfield site, sat vacant. Yet now-former Mayor of North Vancouver, Darrell Musatto, believed that this relic of a time gone by, with its waterfront location and pristine city views, could be transformed into a public gathering place; an amenity much sought by the local community. To him, the site represented the beauty of a blank slate and an opportunity for bold change. <\/p>\n

Darrell and his team at the City of North Vancouver collaborated with Joseph Fry\u2019s landscape architecture and urban design practice Hapa Collaborative during what would become a decades-long planning process, both groups motivated by the principle of activating public spaces. To Hapa, it’s whether people use public spaces that acts as the ultimate test of success. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf [spaces] aren’t filled with people, if they\u2019re not providing the opportunity for activity – whether it’s kids playing, or the goh ballet performing outfront – I feel they\u2019re ultimately failures. We\u2019re always trying to accommodate daily life, the pulse of public life in these spaces.\u201d – Joseph Fry, Hapa Collaborative <\/p>\n

Reflecting on the project, Fry emphasized the importance of designing highly flexible and versatile spaces accessible year round. He highlights details like the Shipyards District splash pools, which are transformed into skating rinks during winter months. Even on a micro scale, details are everything; Fry recalled the effort that resulted in the megabench – a feature designed to respond to the waterside vista, to scale, and ensure comfort, all while withstanding the public realm. <\/p>\n

Watch Darrell Mussatto and Joseph Fry\u2019s presentation at the UEA symposium to learn more about how North Vancouver\u2019s Shipyards District became one of the most valuable public spaces in Canada, and a renowned urban planning success through collaboration.<\/p>\n

Darrell Mussatto, former Mayor of North Vancouver <\/strong><\/p>\n

Darrell is recognized for his long career in public service, serving as the mayor of the City of North Vancouver from 2005 until 2018, and acting as a city councilor for the 12 years prior. In recent years, he has dedicated his time to the municipal government, fine-tuning his focus on sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as focusing on socially inclusive housing initiatives. <\/p>\n

Joseph Fry, Principal, Hapa Collaborative <\/strong><\/p>\n

The founding principal of Hapa Collaborative, Joseph is a contemporary voice for landscape architecture and urban design in Vancouver. For over two decades, he has dedicated himself to deepening the discussion around the economic, societal, and environmental values of civic placemaking. In addition to his work on Shipyards, he has been the design lead for many of Hapa\u2019s projects including \u0161x\u02b7\u019b\u0313 \u0259n\u0259q Xwtl\u2019e7\u00e9n\u1e35 Square<\/a> at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Foot<\/a> of the award-winning Sun Hop Park<\/a> in Vancouver.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Fry from Hapa Collaborative talks to the former Mayor of the City of North Vancouver, Darrell Mussatto, about the vision, trials, and success of The Shipyards District in North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spaces"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1109,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/1109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.projectsota.com\/fox6\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}