IN PHOTOS: Vancouver Especially

photos and text by Geoffrey Daniel

Ken Lum critiques Vancouver’s housing affordability and architecture through the new public art exhibit Vancouver Especially. The piece lives at 271 Union St in Chinatown and lampoons the Vancouver special style housing. The boxy and boring architectural styling is typical of single family dwellings built from 1965 through to 1985. Lum was given $45,000 to produce the piece, which is roughly what a Vancouver special home would cost in the 1970s. Lum’s original thought was to create a replica at the same price and scale relative to the present day price of that kind of home. However, the size of the piece would be far too small, so the dimensions were multiplied by eight.