The Proposal: trail & classroom
In 1949, UBC took over management of the forest, given to the university by the province for the purposes as an outdoor teaching cam- pus for the forestry programme. Since then, the forest has been used for education and research by various groups. It is also home to a small scale logging operation that provides income. To truly gain knowledge of one’s bio-region- alism through experiential learning, one must become fully immersed in the natural sur- roundings. Here, the proposed 22km system of trails and interventions within the Malcolm Knapp UBC research forest takes one deep int the Georgia Basin bio-region, with the moodiness of the temperate rainforest and the various phenomena of the woods on the western slopes of the Coastal mountain range. The site, 60km east of Vancouver, is readily accessible to a large local population. Lo- cated at the north-western edge of the Fraser Valley where low-lying farmlands abut the western edge of the Coastal Mountain range, the site is protected from encroaching devel- opment, but is not artificially preserved from research and industry as are provincial parks. This proposal brings a large cross-section of lower mainland society into this forest, from school and community groups to first-time hikers wanting to learn more about the out- doors. Acknowledging the conditions within the forest, from the natural phenomena to the ongoing forestry, the trail system intensifies the experience of the users. The trail becomes a classroom as it brings to life the contrast in scale of its species from seedlings to gigantic old growth trees, and composition from coniferous to deciduous trees; the shift in light and darkness that oc- curs over the course of the day, the cool mists rising from the forest floor. It highlights the contrast between the rush of water from
View from space: Location of the site.
above: Intervention 4: exploded axono- metric of fire lookout tower. below: skunk cabbage, typical of swampy areas in this region.
mountain creeks and the quiet dark of a moss covered forest floor. It responds to incessant rain and dramatic shifts in topography from the wind scoured tops of mountains to the dark valley bases. It draws attention to points of human contact with the natural world – newly logged areas, evidence of logging from 75 years past, and the remains of fires
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architecture and land
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