Parallel passage
Our project is located between Berri Street and Saint-Timothée Street, between Sainte-Catherine and René-Lévesque. Several vacant lots are connected, and we came up with the idea of restructuring this area adjacent to the lively gay district. Normally, we would have respected the urban typology by completing it, but a member of our team who lived nearby pointed out a small passage perpendicular to the blocks but, more importantly, parallel to the city's major streets (Sainte-Catherine). This route provides a private and quiet passageway in the heart of the block, allowing residents to enjoy the life of the neighborhood. We therefore attempted to structure our project around this idea of a passageway, but with a more refined approach. We would like to emphasize that our intention is not to negate the urban typology, but rather to engage in a dialogue with it.
So we imagined a passageway starting on Berri Street and ending in a block center overlooking Saint-André Street. The buildings attached to it change scale as one move from the major spaces of the city to the minor spaces. There is a 10-story building (including two floors of public services) facing Berri Street and UQAM, an eight-story building on Labelle Street, and five-story buildings on the rest of the blocks. Since we are losing construction space for the development of the passageway, we have taken the liberty of densifying the buildings by adding two additional floors to the traditional 3-story constructions.
In order to reduce the effect of the extra height and make the circulation space less stifling, we made successive recesses in the facade starting from the second floor. The building, thus divided, reveals its color like the flesh of a fresh fruit that has just been bitten into. In terms of building typology, we have two-story urban houses facing the street and the promenade (protected from public view). On the other floors, we have condos and apartments to promote the greatest possible diversity. We have tried to ensure that the buildings are visible to each other and guide us along the route.
In terms of landscaping, the emphasis is on linearity, which runs uniformly throughout the route. The straight paths are framed by horizontal planting areas, a line of upright shrubs, and a row of trees. In cross-section, these elements are arranged asymmetrically to respond to the forces at play between the volumes and textures of existing and proposed buildings.
Obviously, not all issues have been addressed, from the number of unprotected bays to rights of view and many other points, but through our research for this competition, we have observed what is being done in Europe, how they dare to develop all kinds of typologies for urban living, even in the most restricted spaces such as the centers of blocks, and that is what we have tried to do.
(From the competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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