Connect Landscape Architecture: Deep within the international terminal, an unexpected wilderness emerges. The Mythical Island occupies an open-air courtyard at the heart of Pier D, pulling the drama of the British Columbia coastline into the terminal. Air travel has a way of pulling people from place. Mythical Island invites visitors to pause, however briefly, to experience a piece of the wild coast they may never get the chance to see.
The concept draws its atmosphere from the paintings of British Columbia artist, Emily Carr, as a symbolic island anchoring the terminal to the local region. Open to the sky, the atrium blurs the line between inside and outside. Sun, rain, and air move freely, letting the interior breathe with the weather.
The design conjures the temperate rainforest’s brooding, living character. Custom tide pools, carved from sculpted shoreline rock, rise and fall every twenty minutes, echoing the ocean’s rhythm throughout the concourse. A boardwalk threads visitors beneath a Western hemlock canopy and native understory. Fog misters recreate coastal mist and wave spray, sustaining a forest microclimate while sound recordings of the Pacific shores create a fully sensory and grounding place of respite.
Landscape architecture: Connect Landscape Architecture
Architecture office involved: Kasian Architecture, Interior Design and Planning, Grout McTavish Architects
Photo credits: Connect Landscape Architecture, Vancouver Airport Authority
Other credits: Daily Hive (photo 1 and 2)
