LOCATION   

Emily Carr University of Art + Design is built on what were once tidal mudflats; part of an enormous and richly diverse saltwater marshland where water streams and the ocean met. The mudflats covered an area shared amongst txʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Their stolen and unceded land host what is today known as Vancouver. According to the city’s historical timeline: In 1915, it officially began filling the mudflats with soil, landfill, and waste from surrounding development projects, factories, and industries: in short, with piles of garbage.   

To account for the unstable mudflats [filled with garbage], the threat of seismic activity, and climate change, the building that hosts Emily Carr University was built upon a large concrete raft foundation over the soft soil. Before the foundation was poured, the mud-like soil was rapidly compacted by vibration to densify the land and large stone piles of loose aggregate were bored deep into the ground as vertical columns to offer stability.    

While learning about the land on which our campus is situated, and the engineering methods employed to ground the building, we imagined this land pre-colonial time. We reflect on what is lost, what stories (geological, natural, human) are compacted beneath our feet, and the possible future of this place (for regeneration and reparation). We acknowledge the connections to this land that indigenous peoples fostered before they were forcibly displaced. We wonder about the piles that formed over time: A slow stacking of garbage/detritus forming the ground and the rock piles on which the stability of an entire building relies. Our horizon shifts, to consider the verticality of time and stories piling up.