A weekly round up of the local news, events, and cultural happenings we’re tracking.

The answer to Vancouver’s real estate crunch might just be the stackable modular house pictured left. The innovative 220 sq. ft. structure, called L41 (a play on “all for one”), was created by architect Michael Katz and designer Janet Corne. It was previously on view on the Concord Pacific site downtown and is now at 550 Great Northern Way. A typical laneway house of 500 sq. ft. seems capacious by comparison. (Globe and Mail)

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Does MOV have a more enthusiastic supporter than Vancouver is Awesome? Doubtful. Since our relaunch last summer, the editors of the lively, relentlessly cheery blog-turned-not-for-profit-society have gone out of their way to support the Museum’s new direction and our feature exhibitions and programs.

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Since relaunching last summer, we’ve followed the blog Museum 2.0 with interest. On it, Nina Simon, a multi-tasking author, consultant, and exhibit designer, makes the case for making museums more visitor centered and engaging. In other words: Incorporate the kinds of participatory tools people are already using on the social Web en masse. Sounds like a no-brainer, but for museums it represents a dramatic shift in how visitors are defined; “passive consumers” are now “cultural participants.”

It’s not mere branding speak but a matter of survival. Over the past two decades, cultural institutions have seen their audiences decline as other forms of entertainment and learning have emerged. A 2008 survey by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts charted these trends; read it here.

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Our weekly round up of local news, events, and cultural happenings we’re tracking. Off we go…

One more whale skeleton and we’ve got a trend. The soon-to-open Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC has devoted their atrium to a blue-whale skeleton. On Saturday, Ottawa’s Museum of Nature will unveil an exhibit of a juvenile blue-whale skeleton, on view for the first time since it was donated in 1975. The museum has undergone an extensive six-year, $250-million overhaul that was part renovation (a view of the show-stealing staircases inside their ‘lantern’ addition is pictured left), part restoration, and aimed at showcasing Canada’s rich natural heritage. “Probably the only thing Canadians agree on is their pride in the physical beauty and remarkable nature of the natural environment of the country,” says Joanne DiCosimo, the museum’s president and CEO. “And our public wants to learn more about their impact on the natural environment as well as, as much as we can tell them about the changes through time in the natural landscape.” Image slideshow, video tour, and article found on Globe and Mail.

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Quick post: Love this shot of Peter Fox (left) and John Fluevog taken in 1971 outside the Hotel Europe. (What is it about a flat-iron building that’s universally popular? Read the Gastown blog’s nice profile of the 101-year-old structure here). Timeless. And when plaid, three-piece suits are worn this confidently, they might be too.

Image courtesy of John Fluevog

I recently stole away to Seattle for a brief field trip. Am always amazed by how two cities of similar vintage, size, and geography could have so much in common yet feel so very different; American and Canadian versions of each other.

One of the biggest news stories unfolding there currently is the redevelopment of South Lake Union. How the central neighbourhood has avoided redevelopment until now is uncertain, positioned as it is between downtown, Capitol Hill, and connected to the all-important I-5. Development has been spurred by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s investment firm Vulcan Inc., and the addition of a streetcar line to the area. (Side note: the line has been so well received that another line has just been approved. Click here for details.)

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A round up of news stories we’re following, plus other events and cultural happenings worth a notice.

Whales, actual and pixelated. Last week, a grey whale swam deep into False Creek, apparently drawn to the rehabilitated shoreline fronting the new Southeast False Creek neighbourhood. Then, a new public artwork depicting an orca whale was installed on the plaza outside the Vancouver Convention Centre. According to artist Douglas Coupland, Digital Orca “breaks down a three-dimensional Orca whale (they are really dolphins not whales, but I digress…) into cubic pixels—making a familiar symbol of the West Coast become something unexpected and new.” It’s already drawing crowds. (Price Tags)

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Has there ever been such a pun-friendly name as Fluevog? In the 40 years that John Fluevog has been in the shoe business, he’s certainly played off of it, using it as a noun, adjective, and verb—see his chatty website for a sample—all the while building a colourful, forward-thinking, and innovative business that’s only partly about shoes.

In a feature MOV exhibition that opens Thursday night, curator Joan Seidl has traced the Vancouver company back to 1970, when a men’s shoe store named Fox & Fluevog opened at 2 Powell St. in Gastown. With $13,500 borrowed from his dad, then-22-year-old Fluevog and business partner/mentor Peter Fox aimed to build off their retail experience at the venerable Evans Sheppard shoe store on Hastings Street. Peter Fox, a London native, was also working on his own shoe designs which reflected his interest in art history and Carnaby Street’s emerging modish aesthetic.

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This week’s round up of news and cultural happenings is rather museum-heavy; always lots going on as institutions prepare to launch their summer blockbusters. We’re no exception: Fox, Fluevog & Friends: The Story Behind the Shoes launches exactly one week today (one of the 150 pair of shoes featured in the exhibition is pictured left). The building is buzzing.

The quest for the 20-minute neighbourhood. Ever since last year’s feature exhibition Velo-City: Vancouver and the Bicycle Revolution, we’ve kept an eye on two-wheeled matters—news, ideas, design, etc. But what of pedestrian traffic as a city-making/organizing tool? The City of Portland recently unveiled a new 30-year plan for the city that introduced the concept of the 20-minute neighbourhood. “The idea? Simple: everything a person needs for his or her daily life should be within an inviting 20-minute stroll of home.” Key components include things like walkability, scale, density, and amenities like transit connections, schools, and parks. Most interesting is this: though Portland is held up as a model of progressive urban planning and livability, only one district comes closest to meeting this ideal. Wonder how many neighbourhoods in Vancouver would pass the test. (Portland Monthly)

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A round up of news stories we followed this week, plus other events and cultural happenings worth a notice.

You see arugula, I see an eyesore? As City Council pushes for a green, sustainable Vancouver (allowing backyard chickens, introducing new bike lanes, building a demonstration garden on City Hall property, etc.), awkward snags in the day-to-day functioning of city emerge. Two neighbours in East Van are going head-to-head over a vegetable garden. Seems the tenants at 470 E. 56th Ave. have turned the front and back yards of the property over to vegetables, growing everything from kale to raspberries to herbs. Every inch is maximized for growing—even the dandelions are used for tea. (An image of the yard from last summer is pictured left.) They write a blog about their “yarden” project, too, and have even offered workshops to would-be farmers. Their neighbour says their efforts are impacting the value of his property and that weeds are travelling into his yard. The City is now involved, expressing their support but also requiring clean up of beds planted on the city land the tenants have taken over between the sidewalk and the street, among other things. Question is: Would the neighbours complain, and thus the city be involved, if the house were located near Commercial Drive where such philosophies are more commonplace? Or are the tenants pushing things too far, too fast, politicizing the issue instead of just trying to get along? Would love feedback on all this. See the article in today’s Globe and Mail for additional background.

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