Shangri-la
Rustic cabins built on stilts on North Vancouver's Maplewood mudflats were paradise to squatters until 1971, when they were burned to the ground in an effort by the district council of the time to prepare the way to build a shopping mall on the site. But a growing awareness of environmental issues prevented that plan from coming to pass, and today the Maplewood Conservation Area is a protected bird sanctuary.
Malcolm Lowry, the author of the novel Under the Volcano, lived on the mudflats during the 1940s and '50s and wrote about the experience in novels and short stories.
Then world-renowned artist Ken Lum was commissioned to replicate the shacks in miniature, and his work was originally displayed outside the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
After the Olympics, Lum readily agreed to gift the artwork to the District of North Vancouver and they were put back in the same spot as the original shacks.
Zoom in to take a look around :)
Shangri-la
Rustic cabins built on stilts on North Vancouver's Maplewood mudflats were paradise to squatters until 1971, when they were burned to the ground in an effort by the district council of the time to prepare the way to build a shopping mall on the site. But a growing awareness of environmental issues prevented that plan from coming to pass, and today the Maplewood Conservation Area is a protected bird sanctuary.
Malcolm Lowry, the author of the novel Under the Volcano, lived on the mudflats during the 1940s and '50s and wrote about the experience in novels and short stories.
Then world-renowned artist Ken Lum was commissioned to replicate the shacks in miniature, and his work was originally displayed outside the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
After the Olympics, Lum readily agreed to gift the artwork to the District of North Vancouver and they were put back in the same spot as the original shacks.
Zoom in to take a look around :)