Hiiye’yutul’ Friendship Square Placemaking
2022-2025 | City of Duncan, BC
The City of Duncan was ready to revitalize the community space known as Station Street Park. The park was aging and had potential to be more functional and accessible.
McElhanney was engaged to provide planning and detailed design services. A team of McElhanney’s landscape architects set to work bringing life to a preliminary design that included a raised stage with accessible ramp, grassed gathering space, rain gardens, shade canopies and seating walls, and a new washroom building. The landscape architecture team incorporated murals on adjacent buildings into the space, while the City of Duncan collaborated with Cowichan Tribes to prepare the space for the installation of three refurbished totems of cultural significance to Cowichan Tribes.
McElhanney also provided civil engineering, structural engineering, environmental engineering, tender and construction services. Once the major renovations and upgrades of the site were under way, Duncan’s city council joined community members in exploring a name change for the park. The result was a rename to Hiiye’yutul’ or Friendship Square. The name “Hiiye’yutul’” means ‘be friendly with everyone’ in Hul’q’umi’num’ and reflects the accessible design of the park’s stage, seating, drinking fountain, and other features.
The Cowichan Valley Citizen describes the feelings around Hiiye’yutul’ well with this quote from Mayor Michelle Staples;
“It’s a place where people can come together to relax, celebrate, share stories, and just enjoy being in community. It reflects the vibrant spirit of Duncan; our diverse cultures, creativity, and deep connections with one another. This is what building community looks like.”
McElhanney provided:
- Concept design
- Detailed design, including planting, paving, custom stage and canopy structures, seating wall details, and a Class ‘D’ cost estimate
- Tender support
- Construction drawings
- Construction administration, including site inspections, request for information responses, and completion certificates
- Landscape architecture
- Civil engineering
- Structural engineering
- Environmental engineering
