Hybridization Territory
What a funny idea to insert social housing into the downtown core! Especially when we know very well that lots are subject to strong property value speculations, thus it is practically unthinkable to build buildings that generate little revenue! Yes, it is a fact. But also, actually, taking into account of the actual parameters of down-town, would you like to live there? No! The context is inhuman, a kind of no man's land created by the austerity of site and the absence of neighbourhood liveliness!
First of all, in the current context, the idea was to remove this pejorative vision associated to social housing in order to integrate it in this coveted zone. Firstly, it would be necessary to dissect the idea of the social. What is sociable in today's day and age? It is certainly not these buildings where we are simply a number juxtaposed to a door bell. And what if social housing also had the desire to open up lifestyles? Today, we live in a society that is based on individual success, in which contacts have become as much virtual as physical. And if we paid attention to demystify these moments of contact; the virtual seems to be much more interesting than that which is physical. The virtual replaces the real moment. And if the problem came from these buildings designed to encourage the individual's isolation. We cannot force the application of these tendencies. However, the build context's modulations may permit a new daily movement that, in the end, like the flow of water over stone, leaves the marks of its passage. While remaining in the thought process that social housing becomes critical to the proper functioning of the downtown core, it is necessary to identify the blaring need to socialize the contacts between people, the physical objective that allows for social housing to be indispensable. In the order of things, to transform social housing into a life-laboratory would allow the development of this new urban lifestyle. To do this, we must take into account the potential released by such a building in the down-town core and the site that it occupies.
The Site
The site, for its part, is particularly interesting since it allows for, when repositioned, to have a visual link on its ensemble. This repositioning is permitted by the subtraction that the parking lots create on the built form of the typical Montreal block.
This visual link has, in a way been our source of inspiration for the following project. When developing this idea, this link became a pathway, similar to path of lava flowing during a brutal eruption. This link, inversed, juxtaposed and superimposed has given us a shape of a giant root (a bit like that of a magic beanstalk). This root would become a building. A building that would sit on the totality of the site and that would, by means of certain ramifications, attach itself to the neighbouring constructions. This shape would allow the creation of a filter between the city and the collective.
Social Housing
By its function, social housing permits to rapidly increase density in a zone; meaning that the building encompasses many more occupants than the rows of bungalows in a residential neighbourhood. Furthermore, by its surface area (plus or minus 14 300m2), the building becomes an important motor for the neighbourhood. Given its importance, we pushed this idea in order to turn this building into more than a space for habitation with diverse users (low income families, students, artists, young professionals and the elderly) but also by linking the occupants of the building between themselves by the encounter of diverse actions connected to the building (community center, garden, market, social integration center, artist studios and commercial spaces occupied by the users of the building). Social housing is no longer static but adopts a dynamic shape under the image of the hybridization of its functions.
In the same vein, the building also becomes energy autonomous and redistributes its surpluses to the neighbouring offices and commerce. Thus, the building is no longer seen as an obligation of human charity to society, but rather like a profitable resource and a necessity to the proper functioning of the downtown core; it becomes autonomous because of its financial profitability, its use of energy resources, and also allows for the encounter between the occupants depending on diverse actions undertaken within the building's walls.
Housing
The goal was to create a standardised unit where one could add elements to complete its use. For example, the studio represents the standard unit. We add to it a room to make it a one-bedroom apartment. For a two-bedroom apartment, we add a floor of the same dimension as the studio unit. For a three-bedroom apartment, we adopt the same composition as the one-bedroom apartment, and add the two-bedroom floor. Thus, all the modules are standardised to facilitate the prefabrication procedure. Each individual dwelling is perceived as important units of the building's whole. It is the combined uses of all the living units, which act individually as batteries, assembled to generate a surplus of energy. Outdoor passageways (alley within the building) allow for a double orientation; this facilitates the dwellings' natural ventilation. Collective and individual balconies (to give the choice between privacy and neighbourhood liveliness).
Renewable Energy
Green Roofs to Garden; a roof with communal gardens for food cultivation destined to the residents of the complex. Greenhouses are arranged in the complex in order to garden year round! The surplus may be sold at the complex's market.
Solar panels; the site is favourable to periods of sunshine. Photovoltaic and thermal panels can produce the necessary energy for the complex's commercial and residential spaces. In a near future, a surplus could be sold to neighbouring buildings.
Solar Chimney and Carbon Exchange; every dwelling is provided with a solar chimney that permits heating or cooling of the living spaces using little energy. This system is also used to cool or heat the adjacent offices and commercial spaces. It reduces the necessary energy for the city core's functioning.
Water Retention Basins; allows for the recuperation of rain water and grey water for domestic use.
Green Walls; a screen against pollution (dust and noise) and against solar overheating during the summer.
Building Detached from the Ground; provides a means to reduce ground impact during construction. This also allows the rediscovery of a biodiversity of flora and wildlife downtown.
In the end, social housing in the city's downtown is no longer perceived as a nuisance but as an essential tool for the development of the city center. It is a territory of hybridization.
(Competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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