Musqueam crosswalk on Granville Street

An original crosswalk design by Musqueam artist Robyn Sparrow, rendered in TrafficPatterns on Granville Street and unveiled to coincide with National Indigenous Peoples Day.

On Granville Street, in collaboration with Musqueam, Square One installed a crosswalk designed by Musqueam artist Robyn Sparrow, unveiled to coincide with National Indigenous Peoples Day. The design is a run of nested chevrons in deep red, gold, grey and mauve that spans the full width of the crossing. It is the kind of project that shows what a road surface can do when it is treated as community recognition rather than traffic management alone.

Robyn Sparrow's artwork was translated into the colour separations and sheet geometry that TrafficPatterns preformed thermoplastic is cut from, and Square One worked with the Musqueam project team on colour, scale and placement so the finished crossing reads as it was designed. Because the sheets arrive cut, the geometry holds however complex the design; because they are heat-fused into the asphalt, the work is quick enough that an intersection can close for a single work day rather than several.

The photographs show the chevrons close up, where the flush edges of the fused sheets are visible, and from across Granville Street with traffic passing over them. The manufacturer publishes the sheet at 125 mil with anti-skid elements throughout. A municipality or Nation commissioning artwork for a crossing should ask for the artist's file to be prepared for cut sheets early, so colour and scale are settled before anything is heated.

Read the full story: Musqueam crosswalk design on Granville Street: Robyn Sparrow's TrafficPatterns installation