(VANCITY BUZZ) The Vancouver Art Gallery was buzzing last evening with design and architecture enthusiasts that had the opportunity to view local and international talent for the Robson Redux Design Competition 2014.

Fred Lee, Vancouver’s Man-About-Town on CBC Radio One, kicked off the evening with an introduction to the event. The Robson Redux competition featured over 80 designers and 100 submissions for this year’s temporary summertime transformation of the 800 block of Robson into a fun summer plaza for pedestrians. International submissions came from as far away as Ukraine and Japan.

The City of Vancouver’s VIVA Vancouver program intends to transform downtown with an innovative and environmentally friendly design that will turn road spaces into people friendly public places. The winning team will be announced on April 15, and the first place designer will receive $40,000 to cover the costs of materials, fabrication, construction, installation, and de-installation for their projects.

Online voting opens today and individuals can participate and cast their vote on the Viva Vancouver Design Competition website.

Over the last few years, VIVA Vancouver teamed up with various local partners working on repurposing and transforming road spaces into a temporary or semi-permanent public space for residents to enjoy. This program is intended to create a vibrant and vivacious space where passersby can enjoy each other’s company by creating social connections.

In the past, we have seen some interesting concepts and designs that have been featured, showcasing local and international talent, like 2013′s winner – Corduroy Road.

HUFFINGTON POST - If you've ever spent a day (or 10) wandering through the greenery of downtown Vancouver's Stanley Park, you've undoubtedly come across the famous Hollow Tree.

The majestic (and literally hollow) tree has huge significance for many — even, as it turns out, beloved artist and Vancouverite Douglas Coupland.

Coupland was commissioned by real estate developer Intracorp to create a sculpture for display outside of its new MC2 condo and retail development at Southwest Marine Drive and Cambie. Coupland came up with a sculpture version of the Hollow Tree, the plan for which he unveiled Wednesday.

"My decision was to create a mirror image of the Hollow Tree, as though the real tree had been teleported across the city to compensate for the city’s new centre of gravity," Coupland said in his artist's statement.

Aptly named "Golden Tree," it will be made out of steel-reinforced resin and fiberglass encased in a gold patina finish, according to a press release. It will stand at 43 feet in front of a 25 by 40-foot image of Stanley Park.

"To the uninitiated this new golden tree becomes a sacred object — a reminder of nature’s abundance that allowed the city to become what it is — as well as an acknowledgement that we have a relationship with nature and aren't foolish enough to think that we created what we did all on our own."

It is set to be installed in 2015.

MICHELLE DE SILVA (GEORGIA STRAIGHT) - A Large spinning chandelier by B.C. artist Rodney Graham is set to be installed under the Granville Street Bridge. The sculpture, which will hang directly over Beach Avenue, is associated with the Vancouver House development by Westbank Projects Corporation.

The chandelier is part of a larger exhibition, Gesamtkunstwerk—a German word loosely translated to mean artwork synthesized from many art forms—opening March 22. The show curated by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who has also been tapped to design the 52-storey Vancouver House, will observe Vancouver’s architectural coming-of-age.

Graham’s work measures four by six metres and mimics an 18th century candelabra. The spinning chandelier will slowly rotate as it ascends, and once per day, release and spin rapidly back to its starting point.

The Abbotsford-born artist best known for his association with the Vancouver School group of artists has worked in painting, photography, performance, music, and film. His work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, and Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 2011, Graham won the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts.