the Pergola Garden installation by Polymetis at the West Cambie Neighborhood Park — Photography by Andrew Latreille/Latreille Architectural Photography.

June 29, 2023

Pergola Garden by Polymetis Takes Root in Canada

In a Canadian park, an installation by Polymetis integrates not only natural materials but also vines that will eventually climb the towering structure.

a rendering of an early model of the Pergola Garden in Richmond, BC — Image courtesy of Polymetis.

An early card stock model with acrylic figurine depicts Pergola Garden, a permanent sculpture for West Cambie Neighbourhood Park in Richmond, British Columbia, by Polymetis that will eventually be covered in Akebia vines.

An early Rhinoceros rendering of the tall pavilionlike form at a Canadian park — Image courtesy of Polymetis.

An early Rhinoceros rendering reveals the tall pavilionlike form.

a rendering of an installation by Polymetis — Image courtesy of Polymetis.

More renderings helped finesse the cutting and milling files for the structure, which would be made of Corten steel and Alaskan yellow cedar.

tests of how an installation would interlock at Polymetis's factory — Image courtesy of George Third & Son.

Tests at the steel fabricator’s Burnaby studio determined how materials would interlock and the piece would be shipped to the park site in four large, prefabricated sections.

welders working on an installation for a Canadian park — Image courtesy of George Third & Son.

In total, 256 pieces of steel were CNC-cut and welded together, including segments that formed the outer faces.

cedar boards being cut and shaped at a woodworker shop — Photography by Geoff Watts/Spearhead.

At the woodworker workshop in Nelson, cedar boards were CNC-milled into 144 individual pieces, glued together, and then shipped to site.

plywood formworks make the supports for the bottom of this installation — Image courtesy of Paul Langais/GPM Civil Contracting.

Plywood formwork provided support for the three poured-concrete piers that ground the installation.

hydraulic cranes help to secure steel sections of an installation — Image courtesy of George Third & Son.

Behind the Making of the Pergola Garden Installation

16 designers, engineers, fabricators, landscape architects, and consultants led by Polymetis cofounders Nicholas Croft and Michaela MacLeod
1,544 square feet of Corten steel
149 linear feet of Alaskan yellow cedar
3 years of design

The steel sections were assembled with ladders and a hydraulic crane and secured to the concrete piers with anchor bolts.

Polymetis, a multidisciplinary Toronto firm, conceived of Pergola Garden as a site-specific artwork that doubles as a shade canopy and gathering point in the 6-acre West Cambie Neighbourhood Park.

the Pergola Garden installation by Polymetis at the West Cambie Neighborhood Park in British Columbia — Photography by Andrew Latreille/Latreille Architectural Photography.

Nine White Chocolate Akebia vines planted at the bases are expected to grow 10 feet a year, covering the 17-foot-high structure in greenery in three years.

a close-up of the winding sections of the Pergola Garden installation — Photography by Andrew Latreille/Latreille Architectural Photography.

Lengths of 4mm stainless-steel cable will provide support for the plants, which flower in the spring with fragrant blooms.

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