“Newly wed and nearly dead.” This is the adage by which Victoria has long been known — a quaint, if sleepy, coastal town, where young couples settle down to raise their families alongside retirees seeking a quieter life outside the big city. So, when I visited earlier this month, the unmistakable energy in the air took me by pleasant surprise. As far as design scenes go, the BC capital is hardly on the global radar when compared with established epicentres like Milan and New York. But there is something exciting about exploring a city that is, in many ways, still becoming — and meeting the players who are shaping it in real time.
My introduction to the city came by way of an interdisciplinary panel discussion that unpacked “the relationships between values, design and social exchange in Victoria’s urban public spaces,” set inside The Rotunda, s home base in the atrium of a LEED Platinum office building across from City Hall. Here, Miko Betanzo, an urban designer and Senior Planner at the City of Victoria, explained that while the city has historically been defined by its lush landscape, Gold Rush era fabric, and its role as the first landing port for Chinese immigration in Canada, its identity is still one of contrast — in other words, it’s not Vancouver. Now, the task is to build a vision for the city they want to be.
According to City Councillor Krista Loughton, that vision should allow greater access to the water’s edge — an important public space for the coastal city — by activating unused lots around the harbour. “When I think about great design, I think the private sector has taken a step in determining how the street relates to open space, but there’s a lack of real investment in activating these spaces to make sure they’re vibrant all the time,” added Nathan Flach, Design Director of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation. “What makes public spaces active is often accidental.” Flach has some ideas to make this happen more intentionally, referencing his work in redeveloping Calgary’s Olympic Plaza, which, like New York’s highly successful Bryant Park, will be realized through a public-private partnership that reduces reliance on government funding. By planning for year-round programming, including a dog park and a skating rink, the goal is to create a flexible, inclusive space that naturally encourages social behaviour. That starts with designing a place that sparks real joy. “It doesn’t matter how much you activate a space if it’s not a nice space to be in,” says Betanzo. “Beauty is a shorthand for the right thing to do.”
But as moderator Erica Sangster (who is a Principal at local firm ) rightly emphasized, these changes won’t come from the top down, but from the bottom up: “Having a vibrant downtown is a participatory process. It’s not strictly a design problem. How do we help people understand what’s possible? And how can people effectively have input as to what they want?”
Despite its scale, Victoria is grappling with many of the same issues cities face across the country: housing affordability, the need for more equitable public spaces, and outdated procurement frameworks that create obstacles to designing better cities. The difference is that Victoria is early enough in its growth that it can still avoid some of the mistakes we’ve made in denser urban centres. It is aspirational — a canvas waiting to be painted.
While the panelists described Victoria as conservative, polite and quiet, the forward-thinking projects I toured the following day painted a more progressive picture of the city. In the Quadra Cultural Corridor, the First Metropolitan United Church is slated for redevelopment as a mixed-use hub by local developer . Once complete, the densified complex, designed by MA+HG Architects, will see the heritage building reimagined as a performance venue with a new accessible entrance; a mid-rise next door will deliver 128 homes, a mix of market-rate and affordable units. In a nod to the Edwardian church’s stained-glass windows, the balconies will embrace a playful palette of purples, greens and yellows. The residences wrap around a south-facing courtyard, which expands the public realm while creating a key social space for residents, amplified by live-work loft units designed to drive commercial activity. “This is obviously a part of the city that is undergoing a lot of change. There’s a lot of new housing, a lot of political shifts. We think that strengthening that with commercial activity, with really intentional housing, and a thriving cultural centre would really benefit this area,” explained Kieran Lynch, Development Manager at Aryze. “A big part of the intention of this project is to create more porosity throughout the site.”
Just a few days after my visit, Victoria City Council voted unanimously in favour of the project. As societies become less religious and congregations dwindle in number, this is exactly the kind of development we need to see more of — making responsible use of prime real estate by designing for what communities need now. As I explored the complex, I found myself lamenting: “This would never happen in Toronto.”
Across the street, Aryze’s vision for the neighbourhood is already taking shape as the final touches are placed on The Estoya, a residential tower designed by Winnipeg’s . The design, though far from radical by most cities’ standards, is striking in its simplicity. With 91 rental units and a slew of first-class amenities — from social lounges to rooftop saunas with panoramic coastal views — the building will add much-needed, high-quality housing stock to the growing city when it opens this fall.
What was perhaps most refreshing about Design Victoria was its pace — a reflection of the laid-back, West Coast lifestyle. Unlike most design weeks, which have become an exercise in plotting out the most efficient schedule to cross as many events as possible off an impossibly long list, no one seemed to be in a rush. I found myself fighting to resist the usual temptation to double-book myself, spreading myself so thin I practically melt into the pavement.
If Milan or Copenhagen asks how much you can do, Victoria asks how present you can be. Nowhere was this ethos more apparent than at an intimate talk hosted at Softer Drink, a non-alcoholic beverage shop designed by (and an ). After being greeted with a warm cup of sundried black tea, artist Sara Graorac started the morning with a somatic grounding exercise that felt like a collective exhale. Armed with a regulated nervous system, I found myself able to appreciate the details of the space more than usual. The interior — which reflects the owners’ view of sobriety through the lens of abundance rather than abstinence — is an intentionally maximalist pastiche of polarizing design choices.
“The owners, Andrea and Jonathan, were like, ‘We are wet, not dry. We are juicy and abundant and liquid — we’re not about wellness as a kind of policing of the body,” explained Saksun. From the vibrant chartreuse walls to the hammered copper bar that snakes around the room, evoking bubbles formed through fermentation, to the translucent, candy-like stools by Calen Knauf, every detail works in service of this narrative.
Making the most of a tight budget, the project was a true collaboration between the owners, Saksun and Graorc, from the art that hangs on the walls to the scrappy light fixtures that nearly the entire team had a hand in making. Softer Drink is undeniably cool for the exact reason that it doesn’t try to be. The project radiates authenticity — a manifestation of patience, presence, and the fruit that can only be borne through time and nurturing.
That focus on relationships permeated throughout the festival, especially in its Indigenous programming. The final day of Design Victoria opened with a Paddle Welcome Song. This performance by the Lekwungen Traditional Dancers set the stage for artist to introduce her collage panels, part of the ReWilding Douglas Street in collaboration with and the , which maps the precolonial landscape before it was paved over. A patchwork of archival maps and photos shows traces of the creek that once flowed through the city. The project is not about villainizing urbanization, but about honouring the past. “You’re welcome to be here on these lands, with a good heart and a good mind,” said Bear.
British Columbia was an early leader of the Truth and Reconciliation movement in Canada, and including Indigenous voices is integral to its evolving design culture. Just north of the city, the University of Victoria’s new Indigenous Law Wing — designed by with and — is an example of what this can look like in practice. As I toured the space, I was struck by how lightly the building sits on the land, demonstrating deep respect for the mature forest that surrounds it; in the atrium, the building brings the forest inside through its soaring tree-like columns. On the street-facing façade, meanwhile, pre-cast concrete panels rendered with a Coast Salish paddle motif elegantly make the building’s Indigenous identity visible without leaning into cliché.
While the tour understandably attracted a primarily industry audience, it was completely accessible and engaging for people of all backgrounds— including a design-curious couple and their child, who joined my group. “It’s added so much to the city,” remarked the woman, a librarian who has been attending the festival since its inaugural edition.
As Design Victoria grows, the challenge will be to retain the sense of intimacy that makes it special. Back in Fernwood (a neighbourhood that is also home to designer Nathan Martell), an open house at ’s idyllic backyard studio underscored the festival’s size as its strength. Visitors came and went as they pleased, relishing the opportunity to get close to the work and see the process in action. Perhaps it was the residential setting that made me feel so at home here, or the genuine conversations with local designers that encouraged me to linger. Either way, I left feeling not like an outsider, but like I was a part of Victoria’s growing design community, if just for a little while — and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s the whole point of events like this.
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