Terry Fox Hometown Square, Port Coquitlam: a StreetBond and DecoMark plaza

The Terry Fox Plaza at Port Coquitlam Community Centre has been officially renamed Terry Fox Hometown Square, and as part of that transformation, we were engaged to install StreetBond® and DecoMark surface treatments across the plaza.

Terry Fox grew up in Port Coquitlam. The plaza at the community centre that bears his name is a place where the community gathers, where children play, where events are held. It's a civic space that carries real emotional weight for residents.

Getting the surface right here meant understanding what the space represents, not just specifying a coating system.

The surface design

The combination of StreetBond and DecoMark gives us the full palette for a project like this one.

StreetBond handles the colour field: the broad zones of the plaza surface that establish the visual character of the space. DecoMark handles the detail work: custom preformed thermoplastic elements that carry specific imagery, text and design motifs associated with Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.

Together, the two systems produce a finished plaza surface that reads as a designed civic space, not a functional pad with some paint applied.

What the photograph shows

The lede photograph is a detail of the plaza floor. A path in a purple brick pattern winds across a tan field broken by teal shapes, and set along it are circular DecoMark medallions in deep red with a blue ring, each carrying a running figure and a line from the Marathon of Hope. One reads "July 11, 1980, Toronto, Day 91: Terry ran 10 miles. Total: 2148 miles." The next, further along the path, is Gravenhurst, Day 108. The plaza is a walk along the run: the medallions mark the days and the miles, and the path between them is the road. The project record holds the frame at full size.

The systems

Square One installs both; the figures are the manufacturer's. StreetBond is a water-based acrylic pavement coating for asphalt or concrete, with an anti-skid aggregate, more than 50 standard colours plus custom mixing, and an 8+ year life cycle that the manufacturer describes as refreshed rather than replaced: the field colours here can be recoated without touching the medallions. DecoMark is preformed thermoplastic, heat-fused to the pavement, with fully custom artwork (logos, emblems, wayfinding symbols) in a full colour spectrum and the durability of standard thermoplastic marking; the manufacturer notes its use for community identity projects across Canada. Specifications: StreetBond and DecoMark, under our decorative coatings and preformed thermoplastic services.

Port Coquitlam's commitment to the space

Port Coquitlam has invested consistently in the Terry Fox civic identity over the years. The renaming and improvement of the plaza is part of that investment: creating a public space that lives up to the significance of the name it carries.

Surfaces that people use daily, in spaces that matter to a community, are the installations that stay with us.

For a municipality planning a commemorative plaza

• Let the coating carry the composition and the thermoplastic carry the words. Text and fine detail hold their edge in DecoMark; broad colour is StreetBond's job. The public art gallery shows the pairing on other civic sites, including a commemorative map inlay elsewhere in Port Coquitlam.
• Fix the facts before the file is cut. Dates, distances and names on a medallion are permanent once fused; the proofing stage is the time to check them.
• Plan for the surface to be walked on, not looked at. Anti-skid aggregate in the coating and heat-fused thermoplastic mean the plaza stays a plaza (event floor, play space and gathering place) rather than a display.

For municipalities and civic organizations planning plaza and gathering-space surfaces across BC, send a plan or a photo and a postal code to office@squareonepaving.com, call 604-612-6209, or use the contact form. We come out, look, and put a written quote together.