ReFabricate
2023
Reimagining textile waste as a resource for artmaking and public engagement, the project is set in a Kitsilano park site with adaptively reused buildings. Responding to the 20,000 tonnes of textiles discarded annually in Metro Vancouver, equal to 44 t-shirts per resident, the site becomes a hub for cultural and material exchange. Donations are collected and sorted on-site, then transformed into art in flexible studio spaces. Finished works are displayed indoors, outdoors, and throughout the landscape, encouraging public interaction. A new gallery complements the reused structures, carefully designed around mature trees. Fixed building forms feature soft, adaptable edges, breezeways, open-air transitions, and fabric installations that respond to weather and seasonality. The entire site becomes a living exhibition of reuse, reframing discarded textiles as a source of creativity and inviting the public to see waste as opportunity.