TOWN CENTRE PARK PERFORMANCE PLAZA

Located in the City of Coquitlam’s premier park and on the shore of Lafarge Lake, the Town Centre Park Performance Plaza is the City’s prime outdoor event and festival venue.

Client: City of Coquitlam

Location: Coquitlam, BC

Project Type: Landscape Architecture

About This Project

Located in the City of Coquitlam’s premier park and on the shore of Lafarge Lake, the Town Centre Park Performance Plaza is the City’s prime outdoor event and festival venue.

The $2.7 million project features an elevated plaza surrounded by a semi-circular amphitheatre set into an existing grassy embankment. The amphitheatre consists of seat walls and lawn terraces. The seat walls provide seating for audiences up to 900, while the terraces and plaza floor can accommodate 300 additional temporary seats. The plaza is backed by a dramatic vertical steel structure. The ISL-designed structure, in the form of leaping salmon, manifests the meaning of Coquitlam’s name: “red fish up a stream” in the Coast Salish language. The City’s identity is further expressed with inscriptions in the seat walls that reference the City’s history and cultural heritage.

The plaza’s flexible design accommodates events of varying sizes from non-profit community shows to professionally staged performances. With smaller events, the back half of the plaza can be screened resulting in a more intimate performance space. The plaza is also designed for the installation of a festival season canopy.

During non-event times the plaza offers views to the lake, a sunny aspect and informal picnic areas. The Town Centre Park Performance Plaza design includes lighting and event power for the site as well as acting as a power hub for adjacent outdoor festival venues.