At the turn of the century, Montrealers ventured to the Pays d'en Haut for the unique feeling of excitement that winter sliding brings. Just in time for Montreal's 375th anniversary, after much reflection on the city's recreational facilities, the City of Montreal adopted a policy of installing permanent and seasonal slides, strategically placed throughout the city. Since then, residents, workers and tourists have enjoyed an exceptional attraction, highlighting the city's winter character. This playful landscape has quickly become an international symbol for Montreal, the "Skim City". Taking advantage of the distinct topography of the city of Montreal, slides have been installed at various locations in the city, inviting passers-by to use these slides as a spontaneous, functional and playful mode of travel.
In the continuity of Frederik Law Olmstead's winding paths, the slides, meticulously inscribed in the Mount Royal landscape, uniquely link the natural environment to the various neighborhoods that surround it, notably the downtown area and the Université de Montréal campus. The canonization of Brother André increases the popularity of St. Joseph's Oratory. Frozen in 2015, the Escalier des Pèlerins is at the forefront of Montreal's fun and contributes to the growth of cult tourism in the city of a hundred steeples.
Montreal's vertical drops, once synonymous with accessibility problems in winter, have now become synonymous with instinctive pleasure. Here we see the slides at the Bell Centre, where the tradition of lining up to go down to Griffintown after each Canadiens' victory was born; the lines often reach several hundred people. Once synonymous with the border, the Ville-Marie Expressway can now be crossed quickly thanks to slides winding through the St-Jacques cliff and the highway pillars. In the historical axis of Des Seigneurs Street, the slide now allows an alternative and fun route between downtown and Little Burgundy.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
This proposal celebrates the singular topography of the city of Montreal by deploying a system of different slides that play with the slopes on the south side of the city. It is an idea that is both playful and original, but also has potential from the point of view of active transportation, inviting people to walk by creating sparks in each route (like the slide creating an alternative to crossing under the highway).
Like a game of snakes and ladders, the project leaves you dreaming. On the other hand, the materiality of the proposal was discussed; it would have been interesting to impregnate this proposal more deeply into the theme of winter, with slides made of ice and snow, thus expressing and affirming more the winterness of Quebec.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
8 scanned / 8 viewable
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