Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 06/99) - Yellowknife's Old Town is often characterized by its bottlenecked roads, sparse pedestrian access and dilapidated properties.

A group of Yellowknife designers say its time to change that view, and highlight Old Town's charm.

Three design teams put their heads together over the weekend to create three separate visions of what Old Town's future could be.

"We thought it would be great to bring the design community together to talk about Yellowknife, how it's changing and what new directions it will take as it develops," Pin-Matthews architect, Tracey MacTavish said.

"Yellowknife is really pockets of cities that sit next to each other. We hope to develop ideas to create linkages. A city is a functioning thing, if we can dissolve boundaries then the city becomes a working whole that has more vibrancy."

Team one was made up of Wayne Guy, Simon Taylor and Bruce Valpy. Their design suggestion included creating better access to the Old Town waterfront while making changes to accommodate increased traffic.

"Forty years ago, Old Town was pedestrian-based, so we wanted to preserve the ability for pedestrians to enjoy the space while not having increased vehicular traffic impact negatively on the waterfront amenities and old historic structures," Guy Architects owner, Wayne Guy, said.

The second design team was Luis Groening, Artur Zajdler, and Tracey MacTavish.

They envisioned linking Old Town with the downtown core while at the same time linking Back Bay with Yellowknife Bay.

"We wanted to create a destination that people would want to visit, which includes increasing recreational paths and developing areas for marketplaces," MacTavish said.

Constantina Tsetsos and Darrell Vikse formed the last team. They focused on trying to entice people into the heart of Yellowknife in a leisurely way. Like both previous groups, pedestrian boardwalks figured heavily in their design. All three groups utilized the enormous potential that exists with waterfront areas.

"We connected points of interest with boardwalks, pedestrian walkways and a beach. By doing that, we created new points of interest," Tsetsos said.

"It's the kind of exercise that gets our creative juices flowing. We used our skills to be visionaries and applied them to ideas, objects and places of interest that improve our environment."

The groups embarked on the exercise to raise the profile of Yellowknife's design and planning community and to create discussion around an area that many residents feel needs attention.

Yellowknife mayor Dave Lovell was at the presentation Saturday and met with the designers to discuss their designs.

"It's only through public input like this that we'll find some kind of compromise on community redevelopment," Lovell said.

"Living in Old Town used to be seen as a lifestyle choice but more and more, it's being viewed as a community resource. I think it's going to evolve into an area where there will be more public use -- it's just a part of the natural evolution of the city."