Myfanwy MacLeod’s The Birds at Olympic Village Point To Fragile Biodiversity

Located in the common area shared by the Olympic Village’s Community Centre and the Salt Building is a plaza which will become a gathering place for the entire Southeast Falsecreek community. Here out in the plaza is where Vancouver artist Myfanwy MacLeod put two larger-than-life sparrows (or ‘The Birds’) painted with the true colors of the small bird that was introduced to North America from England in the 1800s. Since then, sparrows have become so commonplace that they drove out many other native species. MacLeod’s pair of giant sparrows (one male and one female) are 18 ft. tall and they dwarf visitors who come near them. The artist said the idea of making the small bird bigger was to underline the message that when a foreign specie is introduced, it could adversely upset the eco-system of an area and thus we should pay attention to the interdependence of nature. Southeast Falsecreek was an industrial wasteland that was very much polluted before the Olympic Village was built. When the Millennium Water project was developed, the focus was on environmental impacts, both in the past and in the future. The whole site was designed to follow LEED Gold and Platinum standards. As a result, the Olympic Village was recognized as the World’s Greenest Neighborhood.











Olympic Village, 181, 1st Avenue West, Vancouver BC, Canada