THE MATRIX: CONTEMPORARY NODE: A MODERN SQUARE
The contemporary city is infinitely more complex than a built framework of local structures and points in the city. Manuel Castells speaks of a mutation of urban structures from a space of place to a space of flow. The contemporary city is a condition composed of a multiplicity of demographic, mobility and network conditions. These conditions require a programming of spaces capable of weaving themselves into the urban matrix to become nodes capable of evolving, gathering, adapting to offer a multitude of potentials to the population.
We propose that the structure of the church becomes this node for the people of Aylmer. This space woven with the matrix of the city opens and welcomes the urbanity of the street, the parking lot, the networks and the most varied programs in a spirit of social incubator.
SACRED SPACE
The second access proposes an urban weaving while dialoguing with the history of churches in Quebec. A trench under the church opens a new space that allows the rediscovery of the basement. The basement becomes the entrance to community events: the foyer for theatrical evenings and music concerts, the reception room for family celebrations, the meeting place for community groups, the vernissage space for temporary exhibitions that are organized in the church. The practice room for the upcoming rock band. The Saturday morning painting classes and of course the bingo nights. The beauty of the contemporary city lies in the coexistence and the dynamic exchanges possible between all these activities. This parish hall is a social and economic catalyst for the city of Aylmer.
ARCHITECTURAL WALK
The tour is organized in this new basement and is articulated in a will of progressive discovery of all the spaces of this structure. Like a landscape that unfolds with our progress in the building, we discover the restored stone walls and an envelope in expanded copper, a prosthesis of the original building. Built on and around the existing limits, this skin allows us to discover the interior and exterior of the original church, its fullness and emptiness, as well as its articulation in the urban context. This stroll takes us into the church from the parish hall accessible from the street and from the parking lot. From the sacred floor, a new path is offered to us. Climbing to the mezzanine and balconies, we encounter some programmatic elements, such as a store, a bar, and rental rooms. The walk then takes us up to the ultimate point of our journey. The observatory on the City of Aylmer and the surrounding area.
MATTER AND PROSTHESIS
Thanks to this concept that enhances the heritage by a contemporary gesture, we propose an envelope/prosthesis that protects, differentiates and organizes the project spaces. This skin is composed of a steel structure, insulated and opaque on the north and west sides, translucent and transparent on the south and east sides. The envelope appears as a continuous folded surface that undulates and modifies the existing relationships between the stone walls and the site, between the basement and the sacred level and between the interior and the exterior. In our design methodology, the prosthesis is derived from a reference to a sheet that molds to the original structure and then modulates and transforms to assert a new contemporaneity. This skin maintains a cyclical and symbiotic relationship with the course of the Sun by allowing gains and blocking losses.
An act of inhabiting in the Heideggerian sense, the prosthesis cultivates spatial and social relationships, and protects the interior and the existing structure: its filigree design brings us back to the idea of a primitive construction that shelters us.
SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
The concept aims to make the occupant aware of the environment through a constant dialogue with the path of the Sun. The light that floods the spaces is modulated by the expanded copper prosthesis, whose perforations adapt to its orientation according to the seasons. The concept reveals the relationship with the environment through an active envelope, natural ventilation, recovery, storage and constant reuse of energy losses. A water tank and an ice tank placed in the basement are the rechargeable batteries and constitute the heart of a passive cooling and heating system. Green design strategies place the occupant at the center of sustainable building thinking. The thermal massing of the concrete floors and the use of stone walls reinserted into the path of the church, maximize the radiation of the sun's heat. In summer the tower becomes a solar chimney drawing in warm air and providing passive air conditioning of the spaces.
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