Through the intermediary of this project, we wish to show you our vision of the urban and architectural potentials that can be generated by the creation of both temporary and flexible social housing in Montreal's downtown core. Today, more than ever, mobility and prefabrication redefine our habitat. As we explained in our submission text (for Phase I), the pre-established concept of sedentariness is a thing of the past. Thus, we believe that the architecture of tomorrow will have to be defined by the principles of recovered mobility. We wish to express this premise of mobile individuals, through a project that will be both flexible and portable. Indeed, these thoughts play a determining role in the definition of the project since they suggest an evolving, temporal, and catalyzing recipe for urban change. How do we resolve questions of evolution and temporality with an architecture that is both standardized and tailored?
This project consists of recycling obsolete containers, icons of mobility, by reinterpreting their modular qualities at a human scale. This approach raises the question of standardisation, but also of mass production, as inscribed in the history of architecture. With this in mind, we propose standardised components with available options, in order to satisfy the heterogeneity of basic needs. Composed of polyurethane, these components hide mechanical systems, and also insulate, compartmentalize, and subdivide the space within the units. Thus, each family can determine the configuration most suitable to their need for privacy. The agglomeration of containers is composed of numerous layers. Two growing walls frame the containers. The first is attached to the blank façade and allows for personal and intimate balcony-gardens. The second partition is inserted directly beyond the containers to filter the public spaces of the parking lots and the private passageways.
Currently, the selected site of intervention is particularly unstructured and consists mostly of parking lots framed by blank façades. The implantation of this project is aimed at the temporary use of underutilised or provisionally unoccupied urban spaces. The project can be perceived as a universal device that can be applied to most buildings with blank façades. The pre-equipped containers offer temporary housing that is rapidly installed for a new generation of mutating urbanites. The containers react to Montreal's typology by grafting themselves to the available blank walls. Since this is a temporary intervention, the parking lots are maintained. However, depending on need and possibly in the near future, the parking lots could also be occupied by coloured containers. Furthermore, the project proposes a particular attention to the restructuring of urban spaces by punctuating a diversified, yet localized set of interventions throughout the site. This sporadic intervention allows for restructuring and prevents the isolation of social housing within the city, and favours social diversity in the neighbourhood.
This project suggests an architecture that is mindful of its architectural, urban, industrial, and political points of views. The project demonstrates how concepts linked to the ephemeral can be translated into a social housing project, and conversely, how the project can influence the conceptual development of an evolving society.
(Competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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