Guest post by Marie Erikson, fourth-year Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy Honours student
Captivating architectural features are common on UBC’s extensive campus. When you need a quick break or want to recharge your emotional, physical or mental battery, try one of these short wellbeing walks designed to help you explore the details that make our campus beautiful.
- Buchanan Tower (15-20 minutes)
- Koerner Library (20 minutes)
- The Fountain (20-25 minutes)
- MacMillan (25 minutes)
Starting point: Buchanan Tower
Estimated Length: 15-20 minutes
Start by crossing East Mall and continue down Walter Gage Road, then take a left passing Great Dane Coffee and the Vancouver School of Theology. The first spot is past the playground and inside the building with a stone facade.
The stone-faced Iona Building is one of the older buildings on UBC’s campus and was built in 1927. Though the building is now owned by UBC and houses the Vancouver School of Economics, the 1944 Chancel Window reflects the building’s past ownership by the Vancouver School of Theology. The stained-glass window depicts Jesus, so students often refer to the study space housing the window as the “Jesus Room.” The Chancel Window can be found in the centre of the second storey of the Iona Building.
Outside the Iona Building on its southeastern side is The Labyrinth, originally created in 1997 and made permanent in 2006. Designed to resemble the labyrinth at the Chartres Cathedral in France, the UBC stone labyrinth offers a place for quiet reflection and movement. If you have time, be sure to also check out the spectacular mountain and ocean view from the northern side of the Iona building.
To return to Buchanan Tower, simply head back to Walter Gage Road and follow it toward East Mall.
Starting point: Walter C. Koerner Library
Estimated length: 20 minutes
Leaving the library from the front entrance, turn left on Main Mall, then left on Memorial Road or at the W. Robert Wyman Plaza. After crossing West Mall, turn right into the garden space with trees.
Just past a bust of poet Rabindranath Tagore, the Asian Centre’s grounds feature the Pacific Bell, a work by master Japanese caster Masahiko Katori. The bell was presented to UBC in 1983 and is now housed in a traditional Japanese yellow cedar tower. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone dedicated the tower in 1986.
Return to Memorial Road and turn right onto West Mall.
In front of their office in Ponderosa Annex B on West Mall, UBC Press employees created and maintain a little free library. The library is a medium-sized box that impressively replicates the facade of Ponderosa Annex B, complete with a blue sign like those identifying all of UBC’s buildings. Anyone is welcome to take or leave a book from the library.
Turn around and continue down West Mall, then turn right onto Agricultural Road. Look in the grass for a stone monument.
The Great Trek Memorial Cairn is located in the centre Main Mall in front of the Chemistry Building’s centre wing. The monument commemorates the 1922 march of 1,200 students from downtown Vancouver to Point Grey, demanding that the government complete construction of a permanent campus. Beneath the cairn, a time capsule placed on the Great Trek’s 100th anniversary in 2022 contains items to honour the Musqueam history of and connection to the land, as well as items from UBC, the AMS and other student constituencies.
Return to the Walter C. Koerner Library by following Main Mall in the opposite direction for a couple of minutes, and the library will be on the left.
Starting point: Martha Piper Plaza or “The Fountain”
Estimated length: 20-25 minutes
Head southeast on Main Mall, and turn right just after the Neville Scarfe building, or follow the wall covered in leaves and vines.
Tucked within the Neville Scarfe building on the right, a small garden with a stream offers a quiet hidden space and looks into the Education Library. On the left is the outdoor exhibition Stone Slabs from the Pacific Museum of the Earth where 21 labeled symmetrically arranged stone slabs line three walls of the Earth Sciences Building. The exhibition showcases a variety of stone from North America, Europe, China and India.
Return to Main Mall, pass Martha Piper Plaza and turn right on University Boulevard, heading toward the AMS Nest.
The fourth floor of the Nest includes a rooftop terrace, a partially covered space with views of campus, a fountain and produce gardens managed by the student club Roots on the Roof. The Nest’s fourth floor also houses the GSS Loft, a study and event space exclusively for graduate students.
To return to Martha Piper Plaza, return to University Boulevard. Walk to the west and past seating area made of western red cedar called C-Shore, built and designed in 2019 by graduate students in the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
Starting point: H.R. MacMillan Building
Estimated length: 25 minutes
Turn right on Main Mall, cross Agronomy Road and turn left.
The atrium of the Forest Sciences Centre features the Haida Looplex X Canoe, a fibreglass replica of a traditional Haida canoe carved by Bill Reid for the 1986 Vancouver World’s Fair. The canoe was restored from 2012 to 2015 and has hung amongst the trees in the Forest Sciences Centre since 2016.
Exiting the Forest Sciences Centre, turn right on Agronomy Road and on your right, look for a building covered in windowed cubes.
Inside the Pharmaceutical Sciences building, the interactive exhibition Story of Medicines presents pharmaceutical sciences’ contributions to human health. The exhibition is displayed on the ground and mezzanine floors. “The Origins and Evolutions of Pharmacy” just inside the western entrance to the building is a highlight of the exhibition, displaying artefacts used for pharmacy from a range of time periods.
Return to Agronomy Road and head to the left. Then, turn right on Health Sciences Mall, left in front of the Health Science Parkade and right on East Mall.
On the left is the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Laboratories building, one of the most architecturally unique buildings on campus. Its facade is made of rusted corrugated metal, earning it the second name of “Rusty Hut." An enclosed walkway crosses the roof of the building and connects it to the adjacent Civil and Mechanical Engineering building.
To return to the H.R. MacMillan Building, walk around the Civil and Mechanical Engineering Laboratories and turn left on Main Mall.
Additional routes, group programs and places of interest for a wellbeing walk can be found through UBC Recreation.
