The Globe and Mail

It smells like home," says builder Shane Hartlen, 23, of Vancouver's StructureCraft, taking in the 60-metre-long, undulating sculpture of B.C. red cedar that encircles London's Canada House. He and colleague Ben Mills spent a month installing the work by Vancouver's Bing Thom; it was officially unveiled Monday as part of the Vancouverism: West Coast Architecture and City Building exhibit. Organizers hope that passersby will be lured not only by the beauty of the wood, but by the promise of Vancouverism - the new urbanist buzzword that has seen the city celebrated internationally for its experiment in high-density, highway-free, sustainable downtown living. "Some locals ask if it resembles the Vancouver skyline," Canadian co-curator Trevor Boddy says of the sustainably harvested wood panels, "or perhaps a Salish basket." But he cheekily refers to the work - which runs serpentine near a statue of Horatio Nelson and stares down the National Gallery - as "the empire strikes back."