Sustainability Street

Beyond Conventional Signage: Sustainability Street’s Creative Vision

Sustainability Street was an innovative project led by the UBC Sustainability Office with design contributions from Space2Place Landscape Architects. Conceived as a platform to promote sustainable thinking, the project required a visual identity and an interpretive signage program that broke away from traditional approaches.

Dennis Boyle and Rhonda Gill were selected to create a distinctive visual identity and craft an unconventional signage program that aligned with the street’s mission to inspire sustainability through design.

Crafting a Signless Streetscape: A New Typology for Sustainable Messaging

Designed as a living example of sustainable innovation, Sustainability Street reimagined urban communication. Rather than relying on standard interpretive signage, the project adopted a groundbreaking “signless street” approach. Inspired by the resilience of the dandelion, the design featured large dandelion-inspired elements as gateways, while sustainability messages were integrated directly into the streetscape. Words like “BEYOND” and “MOMENT” were etched into the surface and filled with recycled glass, transforming the space into an interactive canvas for reflection.

The dandelion was chosen as a metaphor for Sustainability Street due to its powerful symbolism of resilience, regeneration, and the spread of ideas. Like the dandelion’s seeds, which are carried by the wind to propagate in diverse environments, the street’s design aimed to spread sustainable thinking far and wide, fostering awareness and sparking inspiration among all who experienced it.

The streetscape became a form of urban poetry, with carefully chosen words inviting personal interpretation and engagement. This design, blending subtlety and creativity, avoided didactic tones, instead fostering an environment that encouraged visitors to explore sustainable ideas organically.

Earthworks celebrated the blending of natural landscapes with artistic interventions. For Sustainability Street, this concept informed the “signless street” approach, embedding messages and designs directly into the environment rather than relying on separate, imposed structures. Inspired by American artist Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, the project embraced the notion that design should be part of the landscape, not an addition to it.

From Concept to Recognition: Sustainability Street Garners National Acclaim

The project earned widespread recognition, receiving a National Award of Merit from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and a Silver Award from the Design Exchange Awards. Its innovative integration of sustainability principles and ability to engage the public made it a landmark achievement in urban design.

Sustainability Street is an incredible achievement. You deserve our gratitude for taking this project so seriously and being so committed to its vision and intent. It has truly been an accomplishment on the design firm to develop this street. Congratulations on so successfully implementing the communications component of this project. I wish to extend my gratitude to you, your hard work and dedication to the vision of Sustainability Street.

Freda Pagani, Diana Foldi
UBC Campus Sustainability Office