Vancouver Covers Its Sidewalks With Giant Pillows

Commissioned by the City of Vancouver, "Pop Rocks" is an architectural installation that aims to transform the city’s downtown area using repurposed industrial materials. Designed by AFJD Studio and Matthew Soules Architecture, the temporary installation was crafted entirely out of post-consumer waste (definitely a contender for the Architizer A+ Award for Materials) in a response to the city’s initiative to become the greenest city in the world by 2020.

The installation consists of 15 large pillows, each made from Canada Place Sails and Recycled Polystyrene, peppered across a city block to create an unusual landscape offering visitors a soft place to rest. Free and open to the public, the pillows were on display in the City of Vancouver from August 15 through September 3, with a plan to recycle all materials at the project’s end. The designers explained the project, stating, "Pop Rocks borrows post-industrial waste on its way to be recycled, marking a departure from traditional top-down design methods towards a contingent, emergent, and tactical design ethos."

All photos courtesy of Krista Jahnke

This post originally appeared on Architizer, an Atlantic partner site.