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Canadian Architect February 2008
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LAVAL’S NEW METRO STATIONSLEARNING FROM COPENHAGEN
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CONTENTS
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 7
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11 NEWSManon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of
atelier TAG win the Professional Prix de
Rome in Architecture; International
Garden Festival seeks guest curator for
2009.
28 INSITESA detailed history of the evolution of
Montreal’s public spaces is given by Gavin
Affleck.
31 REPORTJonathan Cha reports on the design work-
shop aimed at revitalizing Place d’Armes, a
critical public space in Montreal’s urban
fabric.
42 TECHNICALDigital imaging technology has completely
revolutionized the way architectural pho-
tographers work, according to author and
photographer Gerry Kopelow.
49 CALENDARORD: Documenting the Definitive ModernAirport at the University of Toronto; Reiser
+ Umemoto lecture at McGill University.
50 BACKPAGEFrançois Cartier of the McCord Museum in
Montreal ensures that the legendary Bens
Deli will be remembered.
15 MAKIRA OUTPOSTA NEW PAVILION DEDICATED TO LEMURS AT EDMONTON’S VALLEY ZOO REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT IN BOTH ANIMAL CARE AND ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN. TEXT LESLIE JEN
20 LAVAL METRO STATIONSTHE CITY OF MONTREAL BENEFITS FROM SOCIALLY DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC PUBLIC SPACESSEEN IN THE THREE NEW STATIONS FORMING THE LAVAL METRO EXTENSION. TEXT GAVINAFFLECK
36 DANISH UTOPIANCANADIAN ARCHITECTS HAVE MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT DESIGN METHODOLOGY FROM THECITY OF COPENHAGEN. TEXT IAN CHODIKOFF
COVER THE DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATIONIN MONTREAL, DESIGNED BY MARTIN +MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES. PHOTOGRAPH BYMICHEL BRUNELLE.THE NATIONAL REVIEW OF DESIGN AND PRACTICE/
THE JOURNAL OF RECORD OF THE RAIC
FEBRUARY 2008, V.53 N.02
p07 Contents 2/7/08 11:07 AM Page 7
EDITORIAN CHODIKOFF, OAA, MRAIC
ASSOCIATE EDITORLESLIE JEN, MRAIC
EDITORIAL ADVISORSJOHN MCMINN, AADIPL.MARCO POLO, OAA, MRAICCHARLES WALDHEIM, OALA(HON.), FAAR
CONTRIBUTING EDITORSGAVIN AFFLECK, OAQ, MRAICTREVOR BODDYHERBERT ENNS, MAA, MRAICDOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB
REGIONAL CORRESPONDENTSHALIFAX CHRISTINE MACY, OAAMONTREAL DAVID THEODOREWINNIPEG HERBERT ENNS, MAAREGINA BERNARD FLAMAN, SAACALGARY DAVID A. DOWN, AAAEDMONTON BRIAN ALLSOPP, AAA
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8 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
VIEWPOINTSU
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issues that large-scale bureaucracies cannot
manage alone.
In today’s world, architects must react quickly
to issues of disaster, conflict and rapid large-
scale urbanization, thereby developing new
building practices to effectively respond to
these challenges. AfH’s response includes the
Open Architecture Network (OAN), an online,
open-source community listing hundreds of
projects around the world. Information on each
project is easily accessible, with drawings, pho-
tographs and project descriptions that can be
viewed on screen or downloaded for free, as
long as the authors are properly credited. The
OAN makes it possible for an idealistic archi-
tecture student in Denver to instantly connect
with a young volunteer in Zagreb who has a bril-
liant idea for a mobile health clinic in Kenya.
While some of our schools might be placing
too much emphasis on the manipulation of 19th-
century annotations to 16th-century architectur-
al treatises inside 21st-century software pro-
grams, design communities around the world
are collaborating like never before, thanks to
technological advancements in communication
and the sharing of ideas virtually. Architecture
for Humanity is just one example of a sophisti-
cated network that uses the simplest of princi-
ples: communicate widely, actively engage the
communities in which you work, and leverage
the design talent and energy of young architects.
An equal number of buildings will be con-
structed over the next 40 years worldwide as
there have been throughout the course of
humanity, yet one in three people will be living
in slums by 2030. We need more architects to
solve the enormous challenges occurring in the
real world. Sinclair asked the audience this
simple question: “Do you want 50 clients that
can afford you, or five billion people that need
you?” Judging by the hundreds of earnest stu-
dents who came to hear Sinclair speak, our only
fear is that we will squander the opportunities
for young designers to actively participate in the
process of community design and develop-
ment—for the sake of preserving an increasingly
outdated mandate of seeking and serving those
50 clients, wherever they may be.IAN CHODIKOFF [email protected]
It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said
it. In January, 34-year-old Cameron Sinclair,
co-founder and Executive Director of Archi-
tecture for Humanity (AfH) spoke to an over-
flowing room full of students, practitioners and
members of the public at the Ontario College of
Art & Design (OCAD) for nearly two hours, cap-
tivating the audience and empowering those in
attendance with a sense of responsibility and
purpose about improving the world, one design
at a time.
By now, many architects know of Sinclair’s
extraordinary San Francisco-based non-profit
organization that connects dozens of chapters
across the world through a network of thou-
sands of volunteers. These members contribute
their knowledge, time and physical efforts to-
ward community-based design projects located
primarily in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
and throughout various communities across
North America.
Sinclair’s lecture was part of a speaker series
organized by OCAD President Sara Diamond.
Since assuming her role in 2006, Diamond has
become highly influential in fostering ideas
about design that seek to address relevant issues
such as sustainability, aging and wellness, and
contemporary ethics. Sinclair’s presence at
OCAD is a reminder of the value and impor-
tance of socially responsible leaders who can
directly engage the public with present-day
real-life issues, such as rebuilding efforts in Sri
Lanka and Mississippi. For example, just after
Hurricane Katrina swept through the southern
US in 2005, AfH mobilized assistance at the
grassroots level to rebuild a considerable
amount of Biloxi, Mississippi—approximately
600 homes, or 38 percent of the town’s housing.
In post-tsunami Sri Lanka, AfH has been able to
partner with large organizations like UN Habitat
in working closely with various communities,
utilizing their collective skill to design and
build pre-schools that make children feel safe
and welcome. The community-designed metal
screen pictured above is a small detail, but it
serves to protect children from the significant
leopard population in the area. Being a net-
worked organization that relies on social capital
means that AfH can engage in global design
ABOVE LED BY SUSI PLATT—A YOUNG ARCHITECT WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE BE COORDINATINGDOOR SCHEDULES IN A CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE FIRM—THIS ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY PROJECT INVOLVES UN HABITAT IN CONSTRUCTING THREE COMMUNITY BUILDINGS AND A NEWLANDSCAPED SPORTS AND RECREATION AREA IN THE DISTRICT OF HAMBANTOTA ON SRI LANKA’SSOUTH COAST.
p08 Viewpoint 2/7/08 11:10 AM Page 8
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the new Region of Waterloo History Museum and
Visitor Orientation Centre. The exhibits at the
museum will be completed by a team of design-
ers led by VUE Design of Toronto. The new
museum will house permanent and temporary
exhibition space, as well as classrooms, a theatre
and other education facilities. The site will also
include orientation exhibits to the 1914 living
history village at Doon Heritage Crossroads,
adding indoor assembly spaces for school groups
and community events. The design of the new
museum is expected to be completed by late
spring of 2008 and construction is scheduled to
begin in the fall of 2008, pending approval of
capital funding by Regional Council. The open-
ing ceremony is planned for July 1, 2012, the
100th anniversary of the founding of the Water-
loo Historical Society. The total cost of the pro-
ject is estimated at $22.7 million.
AWARDS
Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki ofatelier TAG win the Professional Prix deRome in Architecture.The Canada Council for the Arts has awarded the
Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture to
Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of the
Montreal firm atelier TAG. The Canada Council’s
Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture is
valued at $50,000 and encourages the develop-
ment of artistic excellence in contemporary
architectural practice. Asselin and Yamazaki will
record interviews with young innovative archi-
tects and research studio activities, building
projects and construction sites underway in
Europe, East Asia and New York City. After their
research is complete, they will present a multi-
media exhibition which will highlight and com-
pare their findings within a Canadian context.
Founded in Montreal in 1997 by Asselin and
Yamazaki, atelier TAG has received five presti-
gious awards for its cultural projects, including
two Governor General’s Medals in Architecture,
an Award of Excellence in Architecture from the
OAQ, the Institute of Design Montreal Award in
Architecture and an Award of Excellence from
Canadian Architect.
Cohos Evamy Announces tenth year ofscholarship for Canadian architecture students.Established in 1998, the annual Cohos Evamy
Scholarship honours the memory of Michael
Evamy, a founding partner instrumental in build-
ing the practice from 1966 to 1993. This scholar-
ship is available to a Canadian student attending
a Canadian school of architecture in the year
prior to his or her final year of study in a profes-
sional architecture degree program. The scholar-
ship allows the recipient to undertake a research
project based on a field of study of personal
interest. The intent of the research is to enrich
and advance the recipient’s personal and profes-
sional experience and knowledge on a topic rele-
vant to the practice of architecture. In 2007, Kelly
Doran, a Masters of Architecture student in the
University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture,
Landscape & Design, received the award based on
his impressive submission entitled CompanyTowns: The Corporate Colonization of the MackenzieRiver Basin. The value of the 2008 award is
$5,000. A secondary amount of up to $3,000 is
available for project-related expenses, including
travel, during the course of the one-year study.
The application deadline for the award is March
19, 2008, and the award will be publicly
announced on March 31, 2008.
www.cohos-evamy.com
COMPETITIONS
White House Redux Competition.What if the White House, the ultimate architec-
PROJECTS
Preliminary designs for MUHC’s MountainCampus announced.The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC)
has released the preliminary design for the
Mountain Campus in Montreal. The LEED Silver
project will include a new emergency depart-
ment and renovated facilities at the Montreal
General Hospital, in addition to new facilities
for the Montreal Neurological Hospital. A merg-
er of five teaching hospitals affiliated with the
Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, the
$1.579-billion MUHC plan will redevelop two
campuses—Mountain and Glen. Les architectes
Lemay et associés, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et
associés architectes, André Ibghy Architectes
and Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux con-
tinue to be the MUHC’s master architectural
team, also responsible for the renovation of the
$379-million Mountain Campus renovation. In
November 2006, MUHC announced that archi-
tect Moshe Safdie had accepted in principle to
design the master plan for the $1.2-billion Glen
Campus of the MUHC, a 43-acre former brown-
field site in downtown Montreal; this would have
been Safdie’s first academic health-care centre
commission. But in the summer of 2007, the
Province of Quebec and the MUHC decided
instead on a public-private partnership (PPP)
approach to build the Glen Campus, and by
December 2007, the press reported that Safdie
had backed out, citing objections to delivering
this complex project using the PPP process.
However, Safdie had never signed a contract with
the MUHC to deliver any design services in the
first place. Currently, the two qualified consortia
bidding on the Glen Campus are Groupe immo-
bilier santé McGill, which includes SNC-Lavalin,
IBI Group, HDR Architecture Canada Inc., and
Yelle Maillé architectes associés. The second
consortium, Partenariat CUSM, includes John
Laing Investments Limited and Groupe ARCOP
architectes. A decision on the winning consor-
tium for the Mountain Campus will be reached in
late spring 2008.
Moriyama & Teshima Architects in asso-ciation with the Walter Fedy Partnership to design the new Region of WaterlooHistory Museum.The Region of Waterloo History Museum, to
be built at Doon Heritage Crossroads, will be
“an architectural statement integrated with the
landscape” and “symbolic of the ethics and
vision of our time,” according to the team hired
by the Region to design the new museum and
Visitor Orientation Centre. Regional Council
approved a recommendation by the Museum
Steering Committee to hire Moriyama & Teshima
Architects of Toronto in association with the
Walter Fedy Partnership of Kitchener to design
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 11
NEWS
ABOVE PRELIMINARY DESIGNS FOR MCGILL UNIVERSITY HEALTH CENTRE’S MOUNTAIN CAMPUS WILLIMPROVE ITS INTEGRATION WITH THE CITY OF MONTREAL WHILE PRESERVING THE VIEW OF MOUNTROYAL.
p11-12 News 2/8/08 10:47 AM Page 11
tural symbol of political power, were to be designed today? On occasion
of the election of the 44th President of the United States of America,
Storefront for Art and Architecture, in association with Control Group,
challenge you to design a new residence for the world’s most powerful
individual. The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will
be selected by some of the world’s most distinguished designers and critics
and featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront for Art and
Architecture in July 2008. All three winners will be flown to New York
to collect their prizes at the opening party. The jury is comprised of:
Beatriz Colomina, architectural historian, New York; Stefano Boeri,
editor-in-chief, Abitare magazine, Milan; Elizabeth Diller, Diller Scofidio +
Renfro, New York; John Maeda, MIT Media Lab, Boston; Geoff Manaugh,
BLDGblog and Dwell magazine, San Francisco; Mark Wigley, Dean of the
Graduate School of Architecture, Columbia University; and Laetitia Wolff,
editorial director, Surface magazine, New York. Online submissions are
accepted from March 1, 2008 onward until the April 20, 2008 deadline.
A fee of $20 must accompany each submission. Three prizes will be
awarded as follows: $5,000 first prize; $3,000 second prize; and $1,500
third prize.
www.whitehouseredux.org
International Union of Architects (UIA) launches competition forInformation Point in Turin, Italy.This single-stage ideas competition is organized within the framework of
the UIA Congress Turin 2008, illustrating the theme of “transmitting archi-
tecture.” The aim is to create a UIA information point in the city of Turin, a
public piece of architecture dedicated to urban democracy where people can
convene both day and night. It must not exceed 100 square metres, and
should be constructed of recyclable eco-friendly materials and be fully
equipped with current communication technologies. The competition is
open to architects worldwide who are under 35 years of age at the time of
registration. Registration opening and simultaneous transmission of
entries begins on March 4, 2008 and closes on March 11, 2008. A total of
X18,000 will be awarded as follows: first prize of X10,000; second prize of
X5,000; and third prize of X3,000. The winning project will be realized in
Turin for the UIA Congress. The all-architect jury is comprised of Luca
Molinari, Italy; Maria Theodorou, Greece; George Kunihiro, Japan; Reuben
Mutiso, Kenya; and Jennifer Lee, USA, along with a representative of the
Municipality of Turin and a representative of the Piedmont region. Entries
will be exhibited in Turin from June 30 to July 3, 2008, and prizes will be
awarded during a ceremony at the XXIII UIA World Congress Torino 2008
on July 2, 2008.
www.infopoint.uia2008torino.org
WHAT’S NEW
International Garden Festival seeking a guest curator for theFestival’s 10th edition in 2009.The Fondation des Jardins de Métis is seeking a guest curator for the 10th
edition of the International Garden Festival to be held at Les Jardins de
Métis/Reford Gardens from June to October 2009. Under the supervision of
the director, the guest curator will: manage the selection process for the
designers; promote the Festival and its designers; contribute to the prepa-
ration of grant applications; prepare texts for publications; oversee the
preparation of promotional and interpretive material; and elaborate a pro-
gram of activities held in conjunction with the Festival. S/he will have to be
available at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens for the construction peri-
od of the contemporary gardens in May and June. The proposed contract
runs from April 2008 to October 2009. Candidates should have a degree in
landscape architecture, architecture, art history, museum studies or a relat-
ed domain; have a solid understanding of the garden; have at least two years
of experience in project management; demonstrate a high degree of inde-
pendence and creativity; and be an excellent communicator. Dossiers
should be sent by February 29, 2008 and should include a letter of interest,
a curriculum vitae and a selection of articles or publications realized under
the candidate’s responsibility. For answers to any questions, please e-mail
www.jardinsmetis.com
International Conference on Fabric Formwork.CAST, the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology—will host the
first international conference on fabric formwork from May 16-18, 2008 at
the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. This will be the first gathering of
architects, engineers, builders, students, and manufacturers exploring
recent developments in flexible fabric formworks for concrete structures in
architecture and engineering. These two days of lectures and presentations
by inventors, practitioners and researchers will focus on the new architec-
tural forms made possible by this emerging technology. The conference will
also include workshop demonstrations of full-scale and model construction
techniques.
www.umanitoba.ca/architecture/ffc/
Ryerson University launches new graduate program in BuildingScience.Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science is launching a
new graduate program in Building Science in September 2008. This is an
interdisciplinary graduate program that focuses on the building science
principles necessary to deliver sustainable buildings. The program has a
strong interdisciplinary character and is open to candidates from a variety
of educational and professional backgrounds such as architecture, building
science, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, landscape architecture
and construction. An essential ingredient of the program is the students’
exposure to a wide variety of colleagues from different professional and
cultural backgrounds.
www.ryerson.ca/graduate/buildingscience
12 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
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ABOVE MAKIRA OUTPOST INTEGRATES WELL WITH THE LANDSCAPE ATVALLEY ZOO, BOASTING A NATURAL MATERIAL PALETTE, LARGE EXPANSESOF GLAZING AND A LOW-LYING TENT-LIKE ROOF FORM.
A NEW FACILITY FOR LEMURS AT EDMONTON’SVALLEY ZOO SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR ANIMAL CARE AND LEADS THE DISCUSSION ONTHE PRESERVATION OF WILD HABITATS.
PROJECT MAKIRA OUTPOST, VALLEY ZOO, EDMONTON, ALBERTAARCHITECT JOHNS GROUP2 ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERINGTEXT LESLIE JENPHOTOS ROBERT LEMERMEYER
In existence since 1959, Edmonton’s Valley Zoo is currently undergoing a
massive revisioning to bring it into the 21st century, promoting a unique,
sustainable approach to animal shelter, service and contemporary zoology.
The City of Edmonton commissioned Makira Outpost, a facility housing
four species of lemurs in a 226-square-metre pavilion incorporating both
indoor and outdoor habitats. As the first project conforming to the zoo’s
new master plan, the exhibition spaces enhance the experience of both
animals and visitors through natural landscape solutions rather than relying
on conventional architectural containment, thus contributing to the pas-
toral park-like setting of the zoo.
Lemurs are small primates found only in Madagascar and the neighbour-
ing Comoro Islands. Although there are 50 known species, 17 are on the
endangered species list, due to the decline of their natural habitat through
deforestation. As sociable, entertaining and demonstrative creatures,
lemurs are popular with zoo visitors and are wonderful didactic examples
for educating the public on global environmental destruction. In fact, the
facility derives its name from the lemurs’ natural habitat, the Makira rain
forest located in northeastern Madagascar, and the zoo has developed a
partnership with a conservation zone initiative called the Makira Forest
Project, donating significant proceeds to it from the sale of promotional
buttons during Makira Outpost’s unveiling in the summer of 2007.
In tackling this most unusual project, a great deal of research on lemur
behaviour was undertaken by the design team, with principal Barry Johns
travelling as far as Vienna, Austria (where the world’s oldest zoo has been in
operation since 1752) to educate himself on the latest developments in ani-
mal care and exhibition facilities. Wisely, the design and construction
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 15
ANIMAL HOUSE
p15-17 Lemur Pavillion 2/7/08 11:19 AM Page 15
16 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
AERIAL SITE PLAN
process involved zoo staff to ensure that every
component was executed with precision to meet
strict animal care standards.
Here, Makira Outpost replaces a long-disused
pheasantry compound and a penguin pool along
Buena Vista Road on the zoo’s property. Although
containment was obviously a major concern in
the design of the project, the desire was to mini-
mize the overt boundary condition of fences and
walls, keeping barriers between animals and
people as natural as possible. Consequently, the
lemurs enjoy a variety of dynamic spaces in their
home, including four climatically controlled
indoor exhibition habitats and three separate
outdoor exhibition habitats, two enclosed by a
resilient but nearly invisible mesh, and the third,
an “island” boasting two tall elm trees for climb-
ing, lacks enclosure but is instead moat-protect-
ed to contain the extremely hydrophobic lemurs.
Compared to the manner in which the zoo’s
buildings had been designed over previous
decades, Makira Outpost represents a radical
departure. Offering a dynamic interactive experi-
ence for both lemurs and zoo visitors, the project
engages the central visitor circulation route of the
immediate site and also the larger context of the
natural environment. Functions that are tradi-
tionally hidden are fully visible to visitors here,
such as the feeding of the animals which occurs
in the main exhibition space. The building’s
amorphous tent-like structure and large expans-
es of glazing convey an ethereal lightness
throughout, boasting generous interior spaces
that are awash in vast amounts of natural day-
light. Makira Outpost is the first primate habitat
at the zoo that eliminates the need to capture and
relocate the animals once the weather turns cold,
as it provides the lemurs with natural light year
round and allows them the option of outdoor
space on nice days in the shoulder seasons.
The building’s details are extremely well
resolved: formally, the design evokes an abstract-
ed landscape of a canopy of tree branches over
the forest floor, recalling the lemurs’ natural
habitat. And to emphasize the integration
between interior architecture and exterior habi-
tat, the structural wood beams and concrete
columns continue beyond the building envelope
into the landscape. Instead of relying on the clut-
ter of children’s toys and other objects to mental-
ly and physically stimulate the animals, architec-
tural and structural elements were designed for
play and are integral to the building’s expression.
For example, deep mullions were specified to
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT ENCIRCLING THE OUTDOOR ISLAND HABITAT OF MAKIRA OUTPOST, A MOATOFFERS A NATURAL MEANS OF CONTAINMENT FOR THE ANIMALS; TREE-LIKE COLUMNS SUPPORTINGTHE ROOF CANOPY WERE DESIGNED TO EVOKE THE LEMURS’ NATURAL RAIN FOREST HABITAT; A LEMUR STRIKES A DRAMATIC POSE.
p15-17 Lemur Pavillion 2/7/08 11:19 AM Page 16
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 17
A
A
B
B
C C
0 10M
0 10M
AXONOMETRIC
SITE PLAN
SECTION A-A
SECTION B-B
SECTION C-C1 OUTDOOR EXHIBITION ISLAND2 MOAT3 PUBLIC ENTRY4 INDOOR VIEWING AREA5 MAIN INDOOR EXHIBITION AREA6 KEEPER AREA
frame the windows, serving as sills upon which
the lemurs can comfortably perch and watch the
world go by. The deliberately off-grid and irregu-
lar column placement reflects the randomness of
trees in nature, and the columns are expressed as
independent entities within the interior spaces
to function as a natural play habitat for the
lemurs.
The zoo wanted their role to evolve as environ-
mental stewards with respect to not just the ani-
mals but to the buildings located at the zoo. As
such, the design team implemented a number of
energy-saving features such as the use of solar
energy and recaptured water, and a mechanical
system premised on displacement ventilation
and heat recovery. The use of raw, natural and
CLIENT CITY OF EDMONTONARCHITECT TEAM BARRY JOHNS, TROY SMITH, EUGENE GYORFI, LAURAPLOSZ, GRAEME JOHNS, KATRINA SZEKELY, CHAD OBERG, CHRISTIEGRAYSONSTRUCTURAL WALTER CHAMBERS & ASSOCIATES LTD.MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL HEMISPHERE ENGINEERING INC.LANDSCAPE EIDOS CONSULTANTS INC.CONTRACTOR LORAC CONSTRUCTIONAREA 226 M2BUDGET $1.7 MCOMPLETION JUNE 20077 HOLDING AREA
8 ISOLATION AREA9 MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL ROOM
10 WEST OUTDOOR EXHIBITION AREA11 EAST OUTDOOR EXHIBITION AREA
1
2
3
4
5
567
5
9
10 11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7 77 78
9
1011
unfinished materials not only results in much
lower emission levels of VOCs but evokes the
natural habitat of the lemurs, particularly en-
hanced by the presence of a green living wall.
Because Alberta’s frenzied construction indus-
try at the time exacerbated project delays and
increased costs, initial plans for a green roof had
to be scrapped due to the additional $40,000
expense. And the same budgetary constraints
also meant that there was no funding to apply for
LEED certification at the time of construction,
but it is likely that Makira Outpost would achieve
LEED standard were it submitted retroactively.
Interestingly, the City of Edmonton has now
mandated that from 2008 onward, all buildings it
commissions must meet a minimum standard of
LEED Silver.
With so much controversy in recent years
about the quality of care that animals receive in
zoos around the world, this project sets a prece-
dent for future development that should assuage
the concerns of animal activists and establish
more humane conditions for animals in captivi-
ty. What is clear is that staff love the facility, and
the lemurs seem to also, although they haven’t
verbally expressed their sentiments as such. And
in recognition of the thoughtfulness and rigour
of the facility’s design, Makira Outpost was
recently awarded the Canadian Association of
Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) prize for enrich-
ment recognizing significant advancement in
animal care. CA
p15-17 Lemur Pavillion 2/7/08 11:19 AM Page 17
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PROJECT DE LA CONCORDE, CARTIER AND MONTMORENCY METRO STATIONS,LAVAL, QUEBECPROJECT TEAM GROUPEMENT SGTM: SNC-LAVALIN, GMAT, TECSULT, AND THEMBGF CONSORTIUM (MUNICONSULT, BISSON & ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTES,GIASSON ET FARREGUT ARCHITECTES); DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉSARCHITECTS MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTES, BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉSARCHITECTES, GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTESTEXT GAVIN AFFLECKPHOTOS MICHEL BRUNELLE, MARC CRAMER, MICHEL VERREAULT
20 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
Being asked to write about Montreal’s subway system, the Metro, is like
being asked to write about sunshine. Your humble correspondent’s opinions
are unapologetically biased—coloured by more than 20 years of combining a
15-minute walk with a seven-stop ride on the Metro to begin and end my
work day. Montreal’s Metro is among the most architecturally expressive
and beautiful subways in the world and has been contributing to my quality
of life for years. The Metro presents a daily pageant of life in a spacious,
colourful, and comfortable environment—businessmen with noses in news-
papers, noisy hordes of schoolchildren, elegantly dressed women, blue-
collar types with lunch buckets—all manner of urban characters. For the
habitual traveller, it is also an informal social network of brief, friendly
encounters—a pleasurable experience that leaves one mystified that many
Montrealers actually prefer sitting alone in their automobiles.
Subways exist in counterpoint to cars, and the public transit/private car
debate is central to an understanding of the contemporary North American
city. What is the source of the unflagging appeal of the automobile? A gross
deformation of the idea of individual liberty? Unrealistic expectations of
practicality and efficiency? Rampant consumer fetishism? The right to pri-
vacy defiantly subverting urban space? Looking at the debate from the pub-
lic transit side, one thing is clear: the Metro is public space in its most
dynamic and expressive form, and if anything defines the contemporary city
in Montreal, it is the Metro.
A dream for the first half of the 20th century, construction of the Metro
began in the early 1960s. The initial network of 25 stations, opened in 1966,
typified a halcyon period in Montreal architecture: this was inventive, un-
selfconscious and adventurous architecture of international calibre. Each
station had its own identity, the trains rolled on silent rubber tires and
p20-25 Laval Metro 2/7/08 11:28 AM Page 20
MA
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RAM
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OPPOSITE THE INFLUENCE OF ARCHITECT VICTOR PRUS—WHO DESIGNEDMANY INTERIORS OF THE CITY’S METRO STATIONS IN THE 1960S—IS INEVIDENCE AT DE LA CONCORDE STATION, WHERE COMMUTERS EXPERI-ENCE MONUMENTAL EXPOSED SITE-CAST CONCRETE ELEMENTS. ABOVE ATTHE CARTIER SUBWAY STATION AND BUS TERMINAL, HEIGHTENING PAS-SENGERS’ EXPERIENCES OF ARRIVING BY CAR OR BUS WAS A SERIOUSCONSIDERATION IN THE PROJECT’S LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE ANDURBAN DESIGN.
Montreal’s Underground City, more topographic circumstance than architec-
tural intention, grew along with the Metro in happy symbiosis. Four major
extension projects undertaken over the last 40 years have created today’s
system of 68 stations on four lines. Building underground presupposed a
certain solidity and produced outstanding station design at Peel and Champ-
de-Mars, exemplary in their integration of art; and at Préfontaine and
Lasalle, notable respectively for their generous skylighting and expressive
geometry. The most recent extension to the system prolongs the northern
line off the Island of Montreal into the suburban satellite city of Laval.
The Laval extension is a coming of age for the Metro. Suburbia was young
and innocent when the Metro was first built and city and suburb were not
the antagonists they are now. The debate surrounding the Laval extension
underscores the fundamental divisions between urban and suburban cul-
ture in Montreal—divisions not uncommon to most North American cities.
Is the new Metro in Laval a panacea of urban complexity that will temper
suburban banality or is it the introduction of urban decadence into the sub-
urban pastoral? From the panacea side we have the arguments of planners
and architects advocating transit-oriented development and pedestrian-
friendly nodes; from the decadence side come hysterical populist warnings
of a portal of entry for street gangs and urban violence. More interesting
than the denouement of this debate, however, is the manner in which it
presents the Metro as a conceptual support for a wide spectrum of interest
groups and social aspirations. Sharing space among multiple users and cre-
ating inclusive environments that celebrate diversity are the basic functions
of public space in a civil society.
Subways offer a clear expression of the cultural identity of the cities they
serve. The London and Paris subways, the oldest and largest in the world,
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 21
are evocative symbols of Old Europe: vast, tightly knit, historically rich but
aging infrastructures that require continuous upkeep to maintain their con-
nection to the modern city. Moscow’s chandelier-lit, marble-clad subway,
one of the busiest and most beautiful in the world, graphically illustrates the
contradictions of the Soviet regime that built it. This is doctrinaire social
realism at its strangest—the most collective of spaces in the workers’ utopia
were rendered in an aristocratic vocabulary as ornate, neo-Classical
palaces. Asian cultures consider the subway more as a machine or a process
than a physical artifact and the complex systems in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and
Seoul are notable as much for their sophisticated electronic controls and
digital lighting as their architecture. Latin America has always had its own
sense of urbanity: São Paulo’s subway rivals Montreal and Madrid as a
champion of contemporary design, and Mexico City’s subway is renowned
for its integration of archaeology and for its signage—a system of pictograms
that engages modernity, pre-Columbian art and the challenge of illiteracy.
The three new stations in Laval are well served by the Metro’s longstanding
tradition of different architects designing each station. The alternative
approach—standardized station design—has had mixed results. In Bilbao,
Spain, an elegant all-Norman Foster subway is quietly rivalling Frank Gehry’s
p20-25 Laval Metro 2/7/08 11:28 AM Page 21
22 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
Guggenheim Museum as a catalyst of urban
renewal; in Toronto, the subway’s uniform public
washroom look recalls the parsimonious efficien-
cy of “Toronto the Good’’ from days gone by.
Bisson et associés, who were responsible for
the design of the first new station, Cartier, also
added a new platform to the former terminus,
Henri-Bourassa. Both of these schemes use
sober, modular ceramic panelling systems in
stainless steel frames to structure their design.
The Henri-Bourassa platform takes a page from
contemporary Asian subways by featuring a con-
tinuous orange light integrated into the modular
wall panels—a literal, but not unpoetic, reference
to the colour code of this Metro line. The empha-
sis on creative lighting is reinforced by a digital
light sculpture by artist Axel Morgenthaler that
doubles as interactive directional signage.
Planned as an intermodal node that creates a
focal point in an unstructured landscape, the sec-
ond of the new stations, de la Concorde, designed
by Martin + Marcotte architectes, ties together
the Metro, a major traffic artery, a suburban train
station and a park-and-ride. Described by its
architects as an “underground cathedral,” the
station is an intriguing take on a classic peristyle
hall—soaring columns support a spacious con-
crete cube, freeing its perimeter to become a
continuous skylight. Stairs on opposite sides of
the platform open generously to each other, max-
imizing human contact through space. This cir-
culation pattern recalls an architectural paradigm
of a bygone social order—Charles Garnier’s Paris
Opera—and argues that “seeing and being seen”
is a universal human imperative that transcends
history.
The limited palette of finishes and interior
details of de la Concorde station are accom-
plished minimalism—glazed blue ceramic and
black granite play against neutral, sandblasted
concrete and three great circular openings in the
concrete walls confer a quiet monumentality to
the ensemble. The project architects’ interest in
the timelessness of Louis Kahn is evident—this is
a powerful and simple design that has the poten-
tial to become a classic among Montreal Metro
stations.
The third station and new terminus, Mont-
morency, designed by Giasson Farregut archi-
tectes, is strategically located at the crossroads of
two major traffic arteries. The station serves a
sprawling community college, provides a direct
link to a new regional bus terminal, and features
broad, well-lit stairways and a colourful approach
LEFT, TOP TO BOTTOM CHOREOGRAPHING THEARRIVAL OF PASSENGERS AT DE LA CONCORDESTATION INCLUDES LANDSCAPING WALKWAYSFROM THE PARKING LOT AND BUS TERMINAL;CREATING A DRAMATIC ENTRY DESCENDINGTOWARDS THE SUBWAY PLATFORM; NATURALDAYLIGHT FLOODS THE SUBTERRANEAN HALL,AND A ROOFTOP GARDEN WAS CON-STRUCTED ON TOP OF THE IMPRESSIVELYLARGE WAFFLE SLAB.
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p20-25 Laval Metro 2/7/08 11:28 AM Page 22
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 23
to finishes. Parking spaces in the generous park-
and-ride are offered free of charge as a public
transit incentive. Despite its calling as a harbin-
ger of a new way of life on the edge of the city,
Montmorency station limits its urbanity to
abstract concerns of function and infrastructure,
while the scale, organization and architectural
expression of the station are resolutely suburban.
The project’s references to commercial architec-
ture—big box stores, gas stations, billboard sig-
nage, strip malls—find expression in the flat
pressure plates and pastel spandrel panels of
curtain walls; in robustly exaggerated awnings; in
masonry walls canted to suggest dynamism; in
volumes inflated like Wild-West façades in
relentlessly horizontal landscapes. Observing
suburban projects like this, it is facile to attribute
such bombast to wayward consumerism or poor
judgement, particularly when a Venturi-inspired
exploration has not been engaged. But suburbia
is not so benign: in frontier suburban develop-
ment, the visceral need to dominate the land-
scape with buildings is a collective force much
greater than the talents of individual architects.
Canada’s wilderness complex, that series of
defensive behaviour patterns developed to deal
with the great unknown of our northern expans-
es, only exacerbates the suburban land-grab in
the Canadian context, accentuating the brutality
with which sprawl conquers the land.
What happens above ground to subway stations
is of particular interest when they reach out to
suburbia. At Cartier and Montmorency, the auto-
mobile is dominant, building volumes are self-
referential and the architecture is rhetorical. New
streets with expansive vehicular rights of way and
little differentiation in the ground plane have
created broad mineral expanses and sprawling
landscapes. De la Concorde station concentrates
its energy on its great underground room and
treats its surface-level spaces with modest intel-
ligence. The level change created by the railway
underpass is used to break down traditional sub-
urban horizontality and the resulting movement
pattern generates the pedestrian approaches to
the station. On a second, higher level, the railway
TOP A LARGE FORECOURT IS NECESSARY TO RECEIVE THE THOUSANDS OF COMMUTERS PASSINGTHROUGH DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATION EVERY DAY. ABOVE THE ROOFTOP GARDEN ABOVE THECENTRAL ATRIUM OF DE LA CONCORDE STATION.
1 UPPER ENTRY2 LOWER ENTRY3 GREEN ROOF AND SKYLIGHTS
FOR PLATFORM BELOW
1 UPPER ENTRY2 LOWER ENTRY3 TICKET BOOTH4 PLATFORM LEVEL
1
2
3
44
5
6
7
1
23
4
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SECTION THROUGH PLATFORM—DE LA CONCORDE STATION
PLAN—DE LA CONCORDE STATION
SITE PLAN—DE LA CONCORDE STATION
BOU
LEVARD
DE LA
CON
CORD
E
4 ENTRY TO COMMUTER TRAIN5 PARKING6 SUBWAY TUNNEL7 COMMUTER TRAIN
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p20-25 Laval Metro 2/7/08 11:28 AM Page 23
24 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
platform slides elegantly under an overhanging
roof of the Metro aedicule. Putting the pedestrian
first in its outdoor spaces is as important an
achievement of this station as its dramatic
underground hall.
The Laval extension is a phenomenal success
in terms of ridership, far surpassing initial pro-
jections. The three new stations are frequented
by all walks of life, and few public spaces in
Montreal are as socially diverse or dynamic.
While on the surface, we are a long way from
Norman Foster’s glass tubes delicately inserted
into the fabric of Bilbao, patience is advised. The
fundamental first step towards urbanity—the
establishment of a transit-based, pedestrian-
friendly infrastructure—has been taken, and it is
only a matter of time before the city prevails.
With this primary layer in place, more ephemeral
layers of architecture can be built, reconsidered,
criticized and rebuilt again. CA
Gavin Affleck is a partner in the Montreal-based firmAffleck + de la Riva Architects. He has been a con-tributing editor of Canadian Architect since 2004.
SECTION—CARTIER STATION
MEZZANINE LEVEL—CARTIER STATION
GROUND LEVEL—CARTIER STATION SITE PLAN—CARTIER STATION
1 SUBWAY ENTRANCE2 VENTILATION3 BUS TERMINAL WAITING ROOM4 ADMINISTRATION5 TECHNICAL ROOM
1 TICKET BOOTH2 MEZZANINE LEVEL3 ELEVATOR4 RETAIL5 VENTILATION6 TECHNICAL/ADMINISTRATION7 FOOT BRIDGE8 PLATFORM9 TURNSTILES
10 RAILWAY
0 100M0 25M
0 25M
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89999
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10
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BOULEVARD DES LAURENTIDES
BO
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CA
RTI
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T
MONTÉE MAJOR
RU
E LABELLE
6 TICKET BOOTH7 WC8 ELEVATOR9 COMMERCIAL
10 BUS TERMINAL
p20-25 Laval Metro 2/7/08 11:28 AM Page 24
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 25
RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM A CROSS-SECTION OF THETHREE NEW METRO STATIONS; WAITING FORA BUS AT THE CARTIER STATION; THE ARCHI-TECTURE FOR CARTIER METRO STATION PRES-ENTS A VERY CIVIC YET APPROPRIATE RES-PONSE TO ITS SUBURBAN CONTEXT; MONT-MORENCY STATION IS AN ASSEMBLAGE OFBUILDINGS AMOUNTING TO A SMALL TRANSITCAMPUS; TWO INTERIOR VIEWS OF THEMONTMORENCY STATION.
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PROJECT DE LA CONCORDE METRO STATIONCLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT)ARCHITECT MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTESARCHITECT TEAM ANDRÉ MARCOTTE, MARIE-CLAUDE LEBLOND, ROBERTMARTIN, JOSEPH SKAFF, ERIC MASSÉ, GÉRARD SCHIRMER, ROBERT ROBITAILLESTRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULTLANDSCAPE DAA PAYSAGE, MUNICONSULTINTERIORS MARTIN + MARCOTTE ARCHITECTESCONTRACTOR EBC INC. (EXCAVATION AND TUNNEL), OPRON INC. (STA-TION), SIMARD BEAUDRY INC. (LANDSCAPING AND INTERIOR EQUIPMENT)PUBLIC ART YVES GENDREAUAREA 7,000 M2BUDGET $40 MCOMPLETION MAY 2007
PROJECT CARTIER METRO STATION AND BUS TERMINALCLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT)ARCHITECT BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉS ARCHITECTESARCHITECT TEAM RICHARD A. FORTIN, CHRISTIAN BISSON, DOMINICLAFORCE, ANDRE NAUD, EVANGELOS TZANETAKOS, LAN-GIAO VO, JEAN-MICHEL TEULE, RENÉ CHEVALIER, YANN LEROUX, ISABELLE DERAGONSTRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULT, SNC-LAVALINLANDSCAPE DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉS PART OF GROUPEMENT SGTMINTERIORS BISSON FORTIN ET ASSOCIÉS PART OF GROUPEMENT SGTMCONTRACTOR POMERLEAU (SUBWAY STATION AND BUS TERMINAL),LOUISBOURG (CONCESSIONS BUILDING, CANOPIES AND LANDSCAPING)AREA 8,000 M2BUDGET $60 MCOMPLETION APRIL 2007
PROJECT MONTMORENCY STATION AND BUS TERMINALCLIENT AGENCE MÉTROPOLITAINE DE TRANSPORT (AMT)ARCHITECT GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTESARCHITECT TEAM GUILLERMO FARREGUT, MARIE-JOSÉE BARBEAU,EMMANUELLE KLIMPTSTRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL TECSULTLANDSCAPE DANIEL ARBOUR ET ASSOCIÉSINTERIORS GIASSON FARREGUT ARCHITECTESCONTRACTOR POMERLEAUAREA 8,000 M2BUDGET $59 MCOMPLETION APRIL 2007
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28 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
INSITES
meant by his aphorism “less is more,” the project
argues that the creation of a void in a city can be
considerably more exciting than the construction
of a building.
In many ways the story of recent public space
design in Montreal has been a story of moving
from more to less. The city core boasts an im-
pressive inventory of public spaces ranging in age
from colonial squares to contemporary corporate
plazas. During the last 20 years, the design of
both historic refurbishment schemes and con-
temporary projects has been marked by a gradual
shift towards a more minimal expression. The
most successful of recent projects are evidence
that well designed urban space is simple, flexible
and free of physical encumbrances. What public
space is about is human activity; what it is not
about is architectural objects. The great urban
spaces of European cities are precisely that:
spaces. What fills them is the ebb and flow of
life—events, experiences, activities. Rather than
aesthetic, formal or visual concerns, the measure
of success of a public space is the degree of vitali-
ty it achieves as a support for human activity. The
Nolli Map, architectural history’s quintessential
mapping of urban space, is more than a plan of
solids and voids—it is a celebration of potential
experiences.
While Montreal has a long history of formally
designed spaces complemented by statuary and
monuments, the first concerted attempt to inte-
grate contemporary art with public space was the
Viger Square redevelopment in the 1970s. The
construction of a new underground freeway had
resulted in the destruction of a classic 19th-cen-
tury square including the heartbreaking chop-
ping down of a proud copse of mature elms. In
hindsight, it is remarkable that the team formed
for this first foray into multidisciplinary urban
design consisted of engineers from the provincial
Ministry of Transportation (responsible for the
freeway underneath) and avant-garde Quebec
sculptors. Strikingly absent were urban design-
ers, architects, landscape architects, and munici-
pal officials. To paraphrase Mies a second time,
the new Viger Square created by engineers and
sculptors was a classic example of “more is a
bore’’—the project was object-oriented and
architecturally complex—a seemingly endless
plethora of concrete park pavilions, pergolas,
retaining walls, fountains, planters and outdoor
sculpture—so much stuff, in fact, that there was
no space left at all. A great irony of the project
was that it inverted the classic architectural para-
In a vibrant city, architecture can have its
moments as a spectator sport and one such
moment is the spectacle of a downtown construc-
tion site. Montreal’s most exciting downtown
construction site in recent years has been the
Saint James Cathedral refurbishment on rue
Sainte-Catherine, the city’s main commercial
thoroughfare—the project attracted more rubber-
necking and pedestrian pauses than any other
site in recent memory. This attention was all the
more remarkable since no buildings were actual-
ly being built—the project consisted of the demo-
lition of a commercial building dating from the
1920s and the creation of a new square designed
by Claude Cormier. The magnificent sculpted
stone façade of Saint James Cathedral, hidden for
more than 70 years, now presides grandly over
the new square and participates actively in the
sidewalk life of rue Sainte-Catherine. While this
might not have been what Mies van der Rohe
IN FULL VIEW: PUBLIC SPACE IN MONTREAL
THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC SPACE DESIGN INMONTREAL IS VEERING TOWARDS MINIMALEXPRESSION TO SUPPORT THE NATURAL EBB ANDFLOW OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.
TEXT GAVIN AFFLECK
MARC CRAMER JEAN-FRANÇOIS VÉZINA
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p28-30 Insites-Montreal 2/7/08 11:42 AM Page 28
of the project, overseen by Rose, reintroduced
long-neglected ideas of Romantic landscape
design with its serpentine ponds and rustic park
pavilions. Cardinal’s second phase, apparently
innocuous when built, actually contained the
seed of a renaissance in Montreal public space
design—the fundamental tenets of a formally
minimal, programmatically fluid and experi-
ence-based urban design took form here for the
first time. Instead of applying historicist formu-
las, minimalism was discovered by returning to
the industrial archetypes of the site and urban
gestures took precedence over the creation and
display of objects. Spaces like the new waterfront
promenade generate a messy vitality with the
daily mixing of pedestrians, bicycles, tour buses,
street vendors and all manner of recreational
vehicles.
The minimalist imperative first observable in
the later phases of the Old Port is fully developed
as a conscious ordering of space in Clément
Demers’ and Réal Lestage’s Quartier Inter-
national, a recently completed scheme that
reconfigures the urban landscape of more than a
dozen downtown blocks, creates a new square
(Place Riopelle) and gives new life to a neglected
public space (Victoria Square). The project does
the obvious so well that the result is unique and
exceptional—straightforward urban design ideas
such as the realignment of streets, balancing of
pedestrian and vehicular space, and rhythmic
sequencing of street furniture are carried out
with uncompromising excellence. The under-
stated elegance and minimalism of the project
embraces numerous practical concerns including
the reality of Montreal’s climate—fountain basins
are simple, shallow granite trays that don’t
appear forlorn and empty in the winter.
The years between these pivotal projects saw
the emergence of a new sensibility to public
digm of a promising concept poorly realized—
here we had an inherently flawed concept built
with great care and precision—the project’s re-
inforced concrete, for example, rivals the best
work of Arthur Erickson for its quality of execu-
tion. Ultimately, the new Viger Square was such a
hostile environment that it became a refuge for
the homeless, and more recently, the theatre of a
contemporary art installation seeking to find
meaning in urban incoherence.
Two major projects—one recently completed
and the other dating from the 1990s—form a con-
ceptual bracket for the last 20 years of public
space design in Montreal. The redevelopment of
the city’s Old Port, realized in the early ’90s
under the direction of Aurèle Cardinal and Peter
Rose, was a key project in redefining Montreal’s
character as a port city and reconnecting the con-
temporary city to its historic riverfront. As a last
gasp of the Postmodern critique, the first phase
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 29
OPPOSITE, LEFT TO RIGHT MONTREAL’S SAINT JAMES CATHEDRAL PRESIDES OVER A NEWLY REFURBISHED PUBLIC SPACE, ENHANCING PUBLIC LIFE ALONG RUESAINTE-CATHERINE; PUSHING A BABY STROLLER IN PLACE D’YOUVILLE. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT MONTREAL’S PARKS SERVICES ARE CURRENTLY REFURBISHINGDALHOUSIE SQUARE WITH NEW LANDSCAPE AND PUBLIC ART INTERVENTIONS; DALHOUSIE SQUARE AT NIGHT; CHAMP-DE-MARS ILLUSTRATES A SUCCESS-FUL EXAMPLE OF SOME OF THE PUBLIC SPACE PROJECTS REALIZED IN THE 1980S.
CIT
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p28-30 Insites-Montreal 2/7/08 11:42 AM Page 29
30 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
spiralling aluminum sculpture inspired by
Montreal’s curved staircases, plays an important
role in the new park developed around the
Papineau subway station. Less successful were
Gilbert Boyer’s controversial cube in Place
Jacques-Cartier and the collection of Rice
Krispies-like concrete planters and art things on
the esplanade of Place des Arts. Recently, munic-
ipal officials have begun experimenting with a
new formula that fully integrates the artist with
the design team—the space itself is given recog-
nition as the artwork and the artist is no longer
required to produce a distinct work.
Among the most ardent defenders of the idea
of public space as a gesture of collective generos-
ity in Montreal is Atelier Big City. In both their
teaching and built work, Big City have insisted on
the importance of optimizing opportunities for
social interaction and creating a fluid, open-
ended attitude to programming. Their recently
completed skate park under the Jacques Cartier
Bridge is an excellent example of this approach
and a model for the creation of contemporary
urban space. Claude Cormier’s projects, includ-
ing Place d’Youville (in collaboration with
Groupe Cardinal Hardy) and the Complexe des
Sciences at the University of Quebec (UQÀM),
integrate historic and pop-culture references in
often surprising ways. Widely discussed as a cele-
bration of the artificial, Cormier’s Lipstick
Garden, an interior landscape of pink tree trunks
in the city’s new Convention Centre, is a provoca-
tive and humorous comment on the pratfalls of
banality that can handicap contemporary archi-
tecture. Montreal has also benefited from the
enthusiastic input of a new generation of land-
scape architects with a critical attitude to public
space including NIP Paysage, Vlan Paysages and
Espace DRAR.
Another important player in ensuring the
quality of public space design in Montreal has
been the city’s Municipal Parks service. In its
heyday in the 1980s, this service was one of North
America’s largest landscape design offices. While
now more modest, the service remains notable
for its progressive attitude and insistence on
design quality. Three recent downtown projects
under the direction of landscape architect Robert
Desjardins—the refurbishment of Place Jacques-
Cartier, Place de la Paix and Dalhousie Square are
excellent examples of the Parks Service’s ongoing
commitment to quality design.
As the density of the contemporary city in-
creases, so the spaces between buildings assume
an increasingly critical role in fostering a sense
of identity and quality of life for the urban
dweller. The minimalism of an Italian piazza is
directly related to the intense urbanity of its
edges: like Kasimir Malevich’s black-on-black
painting or Frank Stella’s white-on-white paint-
ing, the relationship between a taut and clearly
defined edge and the space of imagination it con-
tains creates a fundamental dynamic. Putting
stuff in urban space is a fundamentally suburban
idea, and as Montreal has densified, its public
spaces have cleared out, simplified, and evolved
into generous supports for human activity. CA
Gavin Affleck is a partner in the Montreal-based firmAffleck + de la Riva Architects. He has been a con-tributing editor of Canadian Architect since 2004.
space design in Montreal and the development of
a multidisciplinary design methodology which
has refocused the potential of public space as a
collective utopia. Government agencies were
established to bureaucratize the collaborative
process and both financial conditions for the
integration of art (1% of construction budgets)
and contract procedures were standardized.
Public space projects realized under the auspices
of the new programs in the 1980s included Place
Roy, Place Émilie-Gamelin, and the Champ-de-
Mars. The high point of the early years of the
integration of art with public space was Melvin
Charney’s Garden for the Canadian Centre for
Architecture (CCA), probably his finest built
work. The CCA Garden is a seamless integration
of art, architecture and landscape and is at once
theoretically grounded and experientially rich.
While the myth of multidisciplinary collabora-
tion in public space design idealizes a group
effort with the sum being greater than the parts,
in practice the results of these collaborations
have been mixed. In many cases, landscape
architects continued to create surfaces occupied
by artist-made art objects and architect-made
buildings. The integration of art often amounted
to little more than the replacement of traditional
statuary with contemporary outdoor sculpture.
Among the more evocative examples of the inte-
gration of art and public space are Jocelyne
Alloucherie’s Cor-Ten steel sculpture in Dal-
housie Square, which focuses references to the
city’s historic fortifications in a contemporary
form, and Jean-Paul Riopelle’s spectacular fire-
breathing fountain in the new square that bears
his name. Michel de Broin’s Revolutions, a
ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT ONE OF THE MANY WHIMSICAL COURTYARD GARDENS SITUATED THROUGHOUT THE COMPLEXE DES SCIENCES AT UQÀM; THE OVERALLMASTER PLAN FOR UQÀM’S COMPLEXE DES SCIENCES.
AN
NIE
YPP
ERC
IEL
p28-30 Insites-Montreal 2/7/08 11:42 AM Page 30
time has come to reconsider its fate. A victim of
sustained tourism, Place d’Armes is also con-
fronted with the problem of habitability. Traffic
congestion—exacerbated by the diesel fumes and
noise of tourbuses—continues to smother it.
For the workshop, the three participating
teams rejected the legacy of a garden square and
advocated for reverting the Place back to a
European-style public space, focusing on broad-
ening its limits and clearing the periphery, cur-
rently encumbered with trees and flowerpots.
They also chose to reveal the hidden potential of
the Place—the buried and embedded archaeolog-
ical traces—by reopening the underground wash-
rooms, revisiting the monument to Paul
Chomedey de Maisonneuve, and resuscitating the
first Notre Dame Church (built in 1683). All three
teams conserved the southern orientation,
favouring the Notre Dame Church over the sur-
rounding buildings.
Team 1 (led by Atelier Big City and Daniel
Pearl) proposes to excavate the ground of the
Place while increasing links to the underground
network. Like the courtyard of the Louvre, the
Place then becomes a monumental space reveal-
ing its historic thickness, both on its surface as
well as underground. Team 2 (led by Claude
Cormier) suggests cleaning up the Place by
removing elements judged as superfluous. Taking
on the architectural character of a stage, Place
d’Armes becomes a major event space, with the
installation of artificial snow guns and a Christ-
mas tree rivalling that of New York’s Rockefeller
Center. And Team 3 (led by Atelier in situ and
Vlan Paysages) disarms Place d’Armes by dividing
the monument and redistributing its figurative
constituents through a “depoliticized” space,
thereby making the Place more democratic on
an unsteady and sculptural ground. The middle
of the square features a shallow depression,
and presents either a watery or icy surface—
depending on the season—animated by free and
programmed uses. The buildings thus contribute
to a Place d’Armes that regains its 18th-century
versatility.
Opening up the discussion and potential for
the future of Place d’Armes, these three proposals
deal with the concept and identity of the Place
in a present-day urban context: they tackle the
ideas of narration, sensationalism, and the re-
establishment of a public square in the city. Be-
yond a necessary “revitalization,” Place d’Armes
is integral to the continued existence of
Montreal. CA
Jonathan Cha is a landscape architect, urbanist, anda doctoral student in urban heritage at the Universitédu Québec à Montréal. For further information on theworkshop and details of the three proposals, pleasevisit www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/placedarmes.
Plans for the evolution of Place d’Armes contin-
ue. Last October, a UNESCO Urban Design Work-
shop entitled “Imaginer la place d’Armes” was
held in Montreal to develop a fresh perspective
on this highly emblematic Montreal public space.
Goals included encouraging participation by res-
idents and community groups in shaping an
enriched redevelopment program, and fostering
the recognition and influence of Montreal as a
UNESCO City of Design. The workshop was
organized by Design Montreal in partnership
with the provincial Ministère de la Culture, des
Communications et de la Condition féminine and
the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environ-
mental Design at the University of Montreal.
Among the 15 multidisciplinary teams who
applied, three were chosen to participate. This
workshop brought together architects, artists,
designers, and landscape architects from Mon-
treal, Berlin and Buenos Aires, thus sustaining
relationships and creative exchanges between
these three UNESCO cities of design.
The second-oldest public space in Montreal at
more than 365 years of age, Place d’Armes had
always been the vital heart of the Greater Mon-
treal region until the business district was moved
towards Place Ville-Marie in the early 1960s.
Twenty-seven years after its last restoration, the
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 31
REPORT
EVERYTHING IN PLACE
BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT PLACE D’ARMES AS IT EXISTS TODAY; AN ANALYSIS OF THE SITE, COURTESY OF TEAM 3 LED BY ANNIE LEBEL, STÉPHANE PRATTE,JULIE ST-ARNAULT AND MICHELINE CLOUARD.
TEXT JONATHAN CHA
p31-32 Report-Montreal 2/8/08 11:04 AM Page 31
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TOP LED BY ATELIER IN SITU AND LAND-SCAPE ARCHITECTS VLAN PAYSAGES,PLACE D’ARMES HAS BEEN “DEPOLITI-CIZED” OF ITS PAST TO ALLOW FOR MOREYEAR-ROUND FUNCTIONS. FAR LEFT ATELIERBIG CITY AND DANIEL PEARL LED THEDESIGN TEAM THAT INCISED THE SITE TOALLOW FOR MORE DIVERSE PROGRAM-MING. LEFT LED BY CLAUDE CORMIER,TEAM 2 EXERCISED GREATER DEFER-ENCE TO THE MONUMENT OF PAULCHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE, THEFOUNDER OF MONTREAL, AND TO THEBASILICA DOMINATING THE SQUARE.
p31-32 Report-Montreal 2/8/08 11:04 AM Page 32
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What lessons can Canadian architects learn from a country like Denmark?
On a recent tour of Copenhagen last November, I had the opportunity to
visit several inspiring Danish projects that were neither exorbitantly expen-
sive nor demonstrative of technical complexities beyond the general capa-
bilities of Canadian architects. This quick survey of the evolving Copen-
hagen architecture scene revealed several case studies from which innova-
tive and energetic architects can derive some inspiration when designing
current and future commissions in Canada.
The success of contemporary Danish architecture can be attributed to a
pragmatic approach to sustainable design and quality of life. For example,
the elimination of air conditioning in Danish buildings through strict legis-
lation and performance criteria means that the associative costs of design-
ing substantial HVAC systems can be transferred to improving the quality of
architecture. On an urban scale, Copenhagen is a densely built city with
low- to mid-rise buildings designed with smaller footprints which makes
for buildings that are inherently more efficient, especially when it comes to
natural daylight, egress and code compliance issues. For example, a typical
Danish townhouse is 12 metres deep, whereas a typical Dutch house is
roughly 20 metres deep. As for urban design initiatives, Copenhagen’s
transportation and circulation infrastructure—which includes subways,
canals, light rail, and designated bicycle lanes—have all contributed to suc-
cessful urban design.
There are several factors contributing to the rich environment in which
MANY LESSONS CAN BE LEARNED FROMCOPENHAGEN—A CITY THAT EMBRACES PUBLICLIFE EVEN DURING THE WINTER, AND WHOSEARCHITECTS DESIGN INNOVATIVE, PRACTICAL,YET STILL POETIC BUILDINGS.
TEXT IAN CHODIKOFF
36 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
PRAGMATIC UTOPIA
contemporary architecture flourishes in Denmark. In the last two years
alone, Danish architects have won more than 50 international prizes and
awards. For a country of 5.5 million people, this is truly remarkable and
could be attributed to the fact that the country has a strong awareness of the
relationship between economic development and good design. Denmark is
traditionally cited at or near the top of the World Economic Forum’s ranking
of the best places to live in the world. It currently ranks third, just behind
the US and Switzerland, but far ahead of 13th-place Canada. Its high rank-
ing is partly due to the fact it spends a larger share of its Gross Domestic
Product on social programs than Canada. And its healthy economy is largely
due to an enduring pragmatism that such a small and culturally homoge-
neous country has adopted over the past 40 years, achieving great strides in
such areas as energy production and the financial services sector. Many of
the country’s recent architectural commissions have directly benefited from
innovative or newly created financial institutions or banks, proving that a
commitment to economic development and progressive architecture are not
mutually exclusive. And of course, special acknowledgment should also
be given to the Danish government’s $20-million commitment to promote
architecture through its comprehensive architectural policy entitled
“A Nation of Architecture—Denmark.”
Any success story relating to Copenhagen (population 500,000; the
metropolitan region is 1.2 million) must include a brief mention of the
Strøget, a pedestrian-friendly district created in 1962 as part of the city’s
initiative to enhance public space. For decades, Copenhagen has encour-
aged commuters to leave their cars at home and ride into the city on bicycles
via designated bike lanes. It is therefore not surprising that in 2007, roughly
40 percent of its citizens arrived at school or work on their bicycles. To fur-
ther control traffic volume, Copenhagen has reduced the number of cars in
the city centre through the elimination of parking spaces at a rate of 2 to
3 percent per year. While there are no strict height limits in Copenhagen,
the city has not adopted the tall building as an expedient solution to city-
building. And besides, low-rise buildings are receptive to the reliable west-
erly breeze coming off the Øresund, which passes through the thousands of
ARKITEMA
p36-41 Copenhagen 2/8/08 11:11 AM Page 36
OPPOSITE LED BY THE MASTER PLAN TEAM, AN INFORMAL COMPETITIONWAS HELD TO DESIGN NUMEROUS FAÇADES TO ENCOURAGE GREATERARCHITECTURAL VARIETY IN AN AMBITIOUS DEVELOPMENT IN COPEN-HAGEN’S SOUTH HARBOUR. ABOVE DESIGNED BY HENNING LARSENARCHITECTS, THE COPENHAGEN OPERA HOUSE (2005) REMAINS ONEOF THE CITY’S MORE CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS, LARGELY DUE TO THEWAY IN WHICH IT WAS COMMISSIONED AND FINANCED BY COPEN-HAGEN’S WEALTHIEST CITIZEN, SIR MÆRSK MCKINNEY MØLLER, THEOWNER OF MÆRSK SHIPPING LINES.
naturally ventilated apartments, houses and office buildings throughout the
city—efficiently and free of charge. Tower configurations don’t lend them-
selves to cross-ventilation strategies.
The breeze coming in from the Øresund is of considerable benefit to the
city. With revenue earned through taxation—such as the onerous luxury tax
on automobiles—Danes have invested heavily not only in the creation of
bicycle lanes, but in wind technology as well. The Danish government hopes
to have 30 percent of Copenhagen’s electricity generated by wind technology
by 2015. Beneath the city, Copenhagen operates a subway system with vast
amounts of natural daylight present in every station—an important design
feature given the short days of winter.
A lawsuit in the making by Canadian standards, small trays of burning
coal positioned throughout Copenhagen’s famous Tivoli Gardens symbolize
an important aspect of the Danish sensibility regarding public life. Al-
though a convenient way to warm one’s hands or the little faces of snow-
suited children strolling through the city’s famous outdoor winter gardens,
these platters of burning-hot embers could easily become a safety hazard—
were it not for the willingness of Danes to responsibly engage in an active
public life in winter. Throughout the city, Copenhageners can also enjoy
numerous outdoor cafés that provide blankets to patrons, while heated
benches and gas-lit heaters on street corners make winters in the city
extremely enjoyable...Canadians take note.
One of the earliest buildings representing the recent architectural
renaissance of Copenhagen is the expansion to the Royal Library, completed
by Schmidt Hammer Lassen in 1999. Known as the “Black Diamond,” the
project has become a focal point of the city’s harbour. In addition to
containing millions of books, the black granite-clad building contains a
concert hall, an exhibition space, a bookshop, a café, and one of the city’s
best restaurants. The project’s enduring legacy is that it has renewed
Copenhagen’s faith in the value of its numerous waterfronts.
Founded over 20 years ago by three architects sharing the common
Danish surname of Nielsen (two have moved on to other pursuits, while
Kim Herforth Nielsen remains as the only original partner), the architec-
ture firm of 3XN have emerged as an internationally recognized firm with a
consistent output of high-quality built work demonstrating a commitment
to research and the development of structure and materiality. A 2007 publi-
cation by Black Dog Publishing entitled Investigate, Ask, Tell, Draw, Buildprofiles much of the firm’s recent work.
The Danes are relatively pragmatic in their architecture, although perhaps
not as pragmatic as the Dutch, Nielsen explains. Many of 3XN’s projects
amount to roughly $250 per square foot. And according to Nielsen, construc-
tion budgets in Denmark tend to be about 30 percent less per square metre
than in England. With projects currently in design and construction in the
UK and across Europe, Nielsen is confident that Danish architecture and tal-
ent has benefited from globalization. The international architectural com-
munity will eagerly await the results of this phenomenon in the coming years
as more Danish projects reach completion on the world stage.
In 2005, 3XN achieved a turning point in its history by completing the
highly acclaimed Deloitte Touche headquarters in Copenhagen. Using a
double-skin glass envelope, the project plays with a sleek, solid exterior
envelope while sculpting an open, interior architecture employing numer-
ous sustainable design strategies such as natural ventilation and exterior
sun-shading devices. Following the success of this project is the recently
completed Ørestad College, an experimental school focusing on media,
communication and culture. After beating out Dominique Perrault, Massi-
miliano Fuksas, Sauerbruch Hutton, and three other Danish firms in a
design competition for a new high school, 3XN managed to convince the
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 37
HENNING LARSEN TEGNESTUE/ADAM MØRK
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38 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
ing for Rem Koolhaas from 1999-2001, Bjarke
Ingels founded the firm PLOT with his Belgian
friend Julien De Smedt. Together, the two began
entering competitions all over Europe, winning
enough projects to build up a sizable office.
Under the aegis of PLOT, they completed their
VM Housing project in 2005, a 240-unit apart-
ment complex named for the shape of its two
buildings which were designed in the form of a
“V” and “M” respectively. Shortly after VM’s
completion, PLOT disbanded. De Smedt formed
JDS, a 35-person firm with offices in Brussels
and Copenhagen, while Ingels, an avid self-
promoter, went on to establish the Bjarke Ingels
Group (BIG), an office currently hovering at
around 85 people—quite an accomplishment for
an architect still in his early thirties. BIG has
already completed about seven significant pro-
jects and has over 300,000 square metres of con-
struction on the drawing board. Ingels was re-
cently invited to display his High Society project
as part of a current exhibition on contemporary
architecture entitled Urbanopolis which is being
held at the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City
until April 2009.
One of the questions that arises when touring
BIG’s office is the source of Ingels’ financial
backing. It seems that there is no shortage of
private investors and banks prepared to support
his designs. One of his more ambitious projects
currently under development is Big House, a
62,000-square-metre 540-unit residential
development with retail and office space. Here,
the most expensive unit is afforded the best view,
but occupies the lowest level of the project. This
is done so that the remaining units are given rea-
sonable views of the adjacent protected natural
habitat. The project is unique in that there is a
continuous promenade and cycling path up to the
tenth floor. For a transit-oriented development
situated along the environmentally protected
Kalbeod Fælled, it is interesting to note that the
clients include Hopfner, Frederikslund and the
Danish Oil Company.
Shifting from the young radical character of
BIG to a firm with a more corporate structure,
Arkitema is one of Denmark’s largest firms with
over 300 employees. One of their recent and
ambitious projects is located in Sluseholmen, an
innovative new residential community criss-
crossed by newly constructed canals leading off
Copenhagen’s South Harbour. Spread out over
2,000 acres and incorporating 135,000 square
metres of new construction with nearly 38,000
square metres devoted to commercial and resi-
dential functions, the overall master plan was
developed in conjunction with the owners of the
land—the Port of Copenhagen and the City of
Copenhagen—and the Dutch firm of Soeters Van
Eldonk Ponec Architecten. While this develop-
ment offers a group of standardized units to
emphasize diversity and variety in the neigh-
bourhood, Arkitema invited several smaller firms
to design numerous façades throughout the
client that they could integrate the building’s cir-
culation requirements into the classroom pro-
gram, thereby resulting in a successful experi-
mental open-planned high school measuring
12,000 square metres instead of the 16,000
square metres of program initially required by
the college. The program is essentially divided
into four levels or study areas, and each level is
shaped like a boomerang that is slightly rotated,
providing two and three storeys of open space
around an atrium—in which a central staircase
behaves as a primary social condenser. Through-
out the college, several “drums” comprise class-
room spaces with special light and sound re-
quirements. On top of those drums, piles of giant
beanbags are strewn about, on which students
can think, socialize or simply relax. Canadian
architects can only sigh as our commissions for
secondary schools continue to be tendered on
increasingly constrained budgets. The final
budget for Ørestad College cost ¤27 million, or
about $300 per square foot.
Of the more radical firms in Copenhagen, one
need not look any further than BIG. After work-
TOP WHILE WORKING IN THE NOW DEFUNCT FIRM OF PLOT, BJARKE INGELS AND JULIAN DE SMEDTCOMPLETED THEIR VM HOUSING PROJECT TO GREAT ACCLAIM IN 2005. ABOVE KNOWN AS BIG,BJARKE INGELS’ NEW 85-PERSON OFFICE IS CURRENTLY DESIGNING A 540-UNIT RESIDENTIAL DEVEL-OPMENT CALLED BIG HOUSE WHICH IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN 2009.
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development to encourage greater architectural
variety. With some units already occupied, the
entire complex will not be finished until 2012.
To be sure, one of Copenhagen’s more recent
and controversial projects over the past few years
is the Copenhagen Opera House, designed by
Henning Larsen Architects. The project’s contro-
versy derives largely from the way in which it was
commissioned and financed by the wealthiest
citizen in Copenhagen—Sir Mærsk McKinney
Møller, the owner of Mærsk shipping lines. It is
believed that Møller, a man in his nineties,
played an active if not overly intrusive role in the
project’s design process, creating a difficult situ-
ation for Larsen, a relatively younger man (only
in his eighties!), who intended the Opera House
to represent the capstone project of his career.
While it is generally regarded as a success, the
architectural merits of the Opera House remain
in debate, largely due to the manner in which this
private citizen directed such a high-profile public
project.
Founded in 1959, Henning Larsen Architects
has grown over the decades to number just under
175 staff representing 19 different nationalities.
Like 3XN, the firm views itself as a very inter-
national firm, to the extent that just over 75 per-
cent of its work comes from projects abroad.
Some of the more interesting work includes a few
projects in Reykjavik, such as the Icelandic Con-
cert and Congress Centre, a ¤250-million build-
ing whose envelope is based on the concept of
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 39
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE 3XN’S ØRESTAD COLLEGE (2006) IS AN EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL FOCUSING ONMEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE WITH AN OPEN-PLAN APPROACH TO EDUCATION; THECOLLEGE’S EXTERIOR SUN SHADES PROTECT THE INTERIOR SPACES FROM EXTREME HEAT AND LIGHT;INSIDE THE WORLD-FAMOUS TIVOLI GARDENS (2005), 3XN RECENTLY COMPLETED THEIR VAGUELYKITSCH BUT APPROPRIATE ADDITION TO THE CONCERT HALL IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST FUN FAIRS; BURNING EMBERS ARE STATIONED THROUGHOUT TIVOLI GARDENS FOR THE BENEFIT OFVISITORS DURING THE WINTER MONTHS; ROUGHLY 40 PERCENT OF COPENHAGENERS TRAVELTHROUGHOUT THE CITY ON BICYCLES; DESIGNATED BICYCLE LANES ARE ONE WAY IN WHICHCOPENHAGEN MITIGATES AUTOMOBILE TRAFFIC IN THE CITY.
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40 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
TOP THE MASTER PLAN FOR SLUSEHOLMEN, A NEW RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY INCORPORATING135,000 SQUARE METRES OF NEW CONSTRUCTION WITH NEARLY 38,000 SQUARE METRES DEVOT-ED TO COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL FUNCTIONS—IS CRISS-CROSSED BY NEWLY CONSTRUCTEDCANALS LEADING OFF COPENHAGEN’S SOUTH HARBOUR. MIDDLE SLUSEHOLMEN AS IT MORE ORLESS APPEARS TODAY. CONTRUCTION WILL NOT BE FINISHED UNTIL 2012. ABOVE HENNING LARSENARCHITECTS’ FAÇADE FOR THE ICELANDIC CONCERT AND CONGRESS CENTRE IN REYKJAVIK WILLINCORPORATE THE CONCEPT OF ICELANDIC BASALT STONES FOR A DOUBLE-SKIN FAÇADE COM-PRISED OF AIR-FILLED GLASS CELLS.
basalt stone columns which grow into uniquely
shaped hexagonal clusters that are commonly
found in Iceland. The concept of the basalt
stones morphs into a double-skin wall com-
prised of cellular glass structures filled with
geothermally heated air.
Perhaps one of the most intelligent projects
recently completed in Copenhagen is Dorte
Mandrup Arkitekter’s Sports and Culture Centre
in Holmbladsgade, a working-class neighbour-
hood. Traditionally populated by immigrants,
Holmbladsgade was an industrial area known for
its dye and glue factories, metal works and
chemical plants. Beginning in the late 1800s,
five-storey housing blocks were built which con-
tinued until the 1970s and ’80s when larger
housing projects began replacing former indus-
trial sites, and a Turkish immigrant influx altered
the character of the neighbourhood. Over the
past 20 years, social problems have persisted:
poverty, unemployment, drug abuse and the
ghettoization of immigrant and ethnic minority
groups in this area of the city. In a relatively cul-
turally homogeneous population, this neigh-
bourhood comprises a population of 20 percent
foreign-born with close to 50 percent of students
coming from non-Danish ethnic backgrounds.
In 1998, City Council decided to build a neigh-
bourhood centre and community drop-in centres
for social activities in Holmbladsgade. Through
community involvement at a variety of levels, a
Neighbourhood Charter was developed and pre-
sented to public officials and policy makers to
identify a coherent action plan to establish out-
lets for creative and physical activities. Thus
began the mandate for a new sports and cultural
facility. In October 2006, the neighbourhood’s
dream was realized when Dorte Mandrup com-
pleted this exceptional community centre. The
3,400-square-metre building’s construction
budget came in under $2 million and uses a
material palette that includes polycarbonate and
unfinished wood. To cut down on HVAC costs
and maintenance, the building utilizes the stack
effect for cooling in the summer while a geo-
thermal heating system yields maximum temper-
atures of around 10-12 degrees during the cold-
est days of winter—warm enough for boisterous
youth to enjoy a good game of basketball. When
touring the facility more than a year after its
opening, it is amazing to see how many children
actually use the facility. Despite kids hanging off
guardrails and soccer balls bouncing off every
surface, the building remains in pristine condi-
tion—a telltale sign of respect by the community.
The level of innovation in a country like
Denmark stems from an overall appreciation of
good design combined with practical solutions.
Many lessons can be learned from how the
Danes design: maximizing natural daylight,
encouraging healthy living environments, and
incorporating inexpensive material palettes—all
of which can still produce a rich architectural
experience. CA
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TOP LEFT BRIGHT GREEN BLEACHERS EMULATE AGRASSY KNOLL OVERLOOKING THE INDOORSPORTS FIELD OF DORTE MANDRUP’S WON-DERFUL RECREATIONAL FACILITY IN HOLMBLADS-GADE, COPENHAGEN. TOP AND ABOVE THE NEWFACILITY, SEEN IN THE CONTEXT OF ADJACENTAPARTMENT BUILDINGS AND THE FIVE-STOREYSTREETSCAPE OF ITS WORKING-CLASS NEIGH-BOURHOOD. LEFT DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATE HOWTHE PROJECT BACKS ONTO FOUR PARTYWALLS, WHILE CREATING A SPATIAL PROGRAMSHEATHED IN POLYCARBONATE PANELS.
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p36-41 Copenhagen 2/8/08 11:11 AM Page 41
42 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
TECHNICAL
This is a great time to be a professional architec-
tural photographer. However, today’s digital
imaging technology has completely changed my
working life.
I have been liberated from having to lug
around hundreds of pounds of photographic gear.
Happily gone is my old 4′′ × 5′′ technical view
camera, and all that film (both conventional and
Polaroid) needed to operate it. Also happily gone
are dozens of film holders, my light-proof (but
not dust-proof) film-changing bag, cases full of
high-power lighting gear, and a monster tripod.
Today, everything I need to produce superior-
quality architectural work on location can be car-
ried onto an airplane.
Every architectural shooter can now make
images that are more interesting, more true to
life, and more useful than ever before. My book,
Architectural Photography the Digital Way(Princeton Architectural Press, 2007) tells the
whole story, but the basic information necessary
to take advantage of the new technology doesn’t
require a book-length dissertation. The following
paragraph provides a compact overview.
To begin with, we need to consider something
called the “digital workflow.” Sounds intimidat-
ing, but this is simply a list—ordered in the most
sensible way—of the things one has to do in order
WITH FILM TECHNOLOGY BEING RENDEREDOBSOLETE, A FEW ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS AREREQUIRED TO ENSURE THE SUCCESSFUL DOCU-MENTATION OF YOUR PROJECT USING DIGITALPHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT.
TEXT AND PHOTOS GERRY KOPELOW
TOP LAPTOP COMPUTERS CAN INTERFACE WITHPROSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL CAMERASOVER FIREWIRE, USB, OR WIRELESS CONNEC-TIONS (INSET), TO PROVIDE PREVIEWS THATWILDLY ENHANCE THE ABILITY TO EVALUATEDIGITAL IMAGES ON LOCATION. THE SUBTLESTNUANCES OF IMAGE, TONE, COLOUR ANDDETAIL ARE EASY TO SEE ON A COMPUTERSCREEN. WORKING TETHERED DELIVERSANOTHER BONUS BY NATURALLY ENGAGINGTHE CLIENT IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS. MIDDLE
THREE EXPOSURES WERE USED TO BUILD THEFINAL COMPOSITE IMAGE. IN ADDITION TOENCOMPASSING THE WHOLE TONAL RANGEPRESENTED BY THE SUBJECT, THE FINAL IMAGEHAS BEEN CORRECTED FOR BARREL DISTOR-TION AND OVERALL RECTILINEARITY. LOCALANOMALIES INTRODUCED BY THE USE OF ANEXTREME WIDE-ANGLE LENS HAVE BEENADDRESSED INDIVIDUALLY. BOTTOM THE CENTREIMAGE IS THE RAW, UNPROCESSED FILE JUST ASIT CAME OFF THE CAMERA SENSOR. ON THELEFT IS THE JPEG FILE PROCESSED BY THE CAM-ERA. ON THE RIGHT IS THE FINAL IMAGE AFTEREXTENSIVE CORRECTION IN PHOTOSHOP.
SEEING DIGITALLY
p42-44 Technical 2/7/08 11:51 AM Page 42
The Photographer’s WorkflowThis series of images helps define the process of
transforming a raw digital file. Image 1 came
from the camera, in this case, a Canon 1Ds MKII
fitted with 17-40mm wide-angle zoom, set to
17mm. It is the exposure that the camera recom-
mended; a reasonable compromise that sacrifices
dark and light tones at both ends of the tonal
scale. Images 2, 3, 4 illustrate bracketed expo-
sures to recapture the missing tones from the
average exposure. In Image 5, Photoshop’s Magic
Wand selects the darkest tones (highlighted in
green for clarity) from Image 1. Additionally, the
rich detail in the darker areas from Image 2 was
selected, copied, and then pasted into the select-
ed areas. Using Photoshop, adjusting the image’s
levels set a pleasing balance of tones. In Image 6,
the Magic Wand was used to select burned-out
highlighted areas in the new composite image.
The selection was feathered by 50 pixels. Image
4, with lots of rich detail in the highlights, was
selected, copied, and pasted into the selection in
our ever-expanding composite image. The levels
control was used to adjust the brightness of the
imported highlight for a convincing match with
the overall image. For Image 7, the wide tonal
range composite must be corrected for perspec-
tive distortion. The canvas colour was set to red
so that the effects of the Distort control in
Photoshop could be more easily seen. In Image
8, a local correction was made to the trunk of the
tree so that is would appear somewhat thinner.
After selecting the portion of the image demar-
cated by the light-blue rectangle, a Scale control
was then applied to the horizontal dimension.
The image is then cropped (Image 9) to form a
conventional rectangle. On account of the shape-
shifting induced by the earlier Distort operation,
the triangular void in the lower right-hand cor-
ner of the frame must be filled in, using the
Clone tool, also found in Photoshop. Image 10
represents the last stage of the workflow where
the colour and tonal distribution is tweaked with
iCorrect. A bit of image sharpening is applied as
well. The histogram shows that the final compos-
ite image encompasses the whole tonal range,
from light to dark. Image 11 illustrates the final
image.
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 43
p42-44 Technical 2/7/08 11:51 AM Page 43
44 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
to produce decent digital images of buildings,
inside and out. Here it is: 1) compose the image
and make the exposures, 2) collect image files
from the camera and move them to a computer,
3) electronically “process” image files into a rec-
ognizable format, 4) electronically edit, correct,
and enhance selected files, 5) distribute/print/
display final images, and 6) archive image files
for future use.
Since the digital workflow describes a sequen-
tial chain of events, it stands to reason that each
step requires some care—in other words, it’s best
to resist thinking, “I’ll fix it in Photoshop.” Like
all computer-based technologies, digital imaging
is ultimately governed by the maxim of “garbage
in, garbage out.”
To compose an image and make the exposures,
one first needs to choose a camera. A good point-
and-shoot machine is sufficient for images des-
tined for the web, but for print and publication, a
higher-end digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) is a
must. Buy the best machine you can afford, bear-
ing in mind that digital cameras eliminate all
costs for film and processing. I used to spend
$2,000-$4,000 per month on film and chemi-
cals. That cost evaporated the minute I bought my
first digital camera.
The selection of an appropriate point of view is
the next challenge. Study the excellent work of
professional architectural photographers readily
available at any newsstand. Deconstruct the
images that appeal to you by asking and answer-
ing the following questions: What is the point of
view? Why was the particular point of view cho-
sen? What is the quality (colour, direction, soft-
ness or hardness) of the light? Why is that partic-
ular lighting condition effective? Perhaps the
most attractive aspect of digital imaging is that,
aside from one’s own time, there is zero cost
associated with experimentation.
“Making the exposures” means mapping the
tonal values of the subject onto the functional
tonal range of the electronic sensor in the cam-
era. A powerful temptation is to put the camera
into automatic mode, and let the camera decide
the settings. This works well for family portraits
and vacation snaps, but architectural subjects are
more troublesome. Fortunately, there is a solu-
tion built into all but the most basic of digital
cameras called “auto-bracketing,” a user-selec-
table option that creates two or more additional
exposures above and below the exposure setting
recommended by the camera’s light meter. (Best
to put the camera on a tripod, so all images are
framed identically.) Another point in favour of a
higher-end camera choice is their ability to save
files in RAW format. RAW, as opposed to JPEG,
preserves the maximum of image information—
information that will be extremely useful later
along in the digital workflow.
The next step is to move your captured images
from camera to computer. The fastest way is with
a stand-alone memory card reader: premium
units use the FireWire 800 data transfer protocol.
This can shorten download times by 75 percent or
more, as compared to USB, FireWire 400, or
plugging the camera directly into the computer.
As far as computers are concerned, faster is
always better since high performance allows for
manageably short download times and for crisp
performance during Photoshop enhancements of
the relatively large files produced by high-end
digital cameras. With respect to Photoshop, all
images destined for the web or for photographic
or lithographic reproduction need to be properly
“stroked” in Photoshop before use. This excep-
tionally well-developed image manipulation pro-
gram is an absolute necessity for anyone inter-
ested in producing superior architectural
imagery with digital cameras.
Photoshop is not a simple program, but it’s not
neurosurgery either. Bite the bullet and learn at
least the basic operations: colour and density
adjustment, perspective control, and other basic
retouching transformations that allow the addi-
tions of an interesting sky, and the removal of
signs and hydro poles, etc. Even the most basic
Photoshop skills will dramatically extend your
ABOVE ILLUSTRATING THE CONCEPT OF BRACK-ETING, THE TOP IMAGE IS OVEREXPOSED.ALTHOUGH THERE IS GREAT DETAIL IN THESHADOWS, THERE ARE BURNED-OUT HIGH-LIGHTS. THE BOTTOM EXPOSURE IS UNDEREX-POSED WITH HIGHLIGHT DETAILS, BUT THESHADOWS ARE FEATURELESS. THE MIDDLEIMAGE CAPTURES REPRODUCEABLE HIGHLIGHTAND SHADOW DETAIL.
visual repertoire. In my work, the camera occu-
pies perhaps 40 percent of my time, while
Photoshop takes up the balance. There are three
efficient ways of acquiring basic Photoshop
skills: 1) take a course, perhaps at a community
college or technical school, 2) buy a DVD tutorial
(there are several very good ones out there; check
availability with www.vistek.ca), 3) hire a graphic
arts student who has the necessary skills, and
take an hour or two of private instruction per
week over the course of a few months. Of course,
trial and error experimentation will speed up the
process.
Distribution of finished images has changed in
the digital era. I rarely handle prints anymore:
most images are distributed by e-mail or FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) uploads. Disks (CD or
DVD) are also common. Assuming that appropri-
ate tonal and colour values have been established
in Photoshop, the key requirement for successful
file transfer is to determine in advance the exact
file format and file size that the end user of the
image requires. Compressed JPEG files are typi-
cal for web use, while larger TIFF files are neces-
sary for printing and publication. It’s always best
to work with the largest-size files that your
equipment is capable of producing, since large
files can easily be made smaller if required, but
small files artificially enlarged are basically use-
less for reproduction purposes.
Anyone who is even moderately prolific in
generating electronic photos will eventually run
up against what I consider to be the Achilles Heel
of digital imaging: archival storage. The problem
is two-fold: decent cameras generate large files,
and lots of large files add up to lots of hard-drive
space, and it is not a question of if a hard drive
will fail, but when.
DVDs offer a method of cheap long-term back-
up, but over the course of a year or two the physi-
cal volume of DVDs will become an issue, as will
efficient retrieval of archived images. The best
solution for reliable long-term storage is some-
thing called a RAID (Random Arrangement of
Independent Disks) Array. A RAID is a box con-
taining two or more hard drives that are elec-
tronically interconnected so as to act as one large
drive. RAIDs come in different types, but the
most useful—a Level 5 RAID—uses three or more
hard drives configured to be “self-healing.” This
means that if one drive in a multi-drive Level 5
RAID fails, the bad drive can be replaced and the
data stored on the RAID will be automatically
rebuilt. This is a truly useful setup: fast, easy
access to huge amounts of data, with a built-in
bulletproof backup regime. At present a 2TB
RAID—that’s 2,000 gigabytes—can be had for
about $1,500. A bargain, in my view. CA
Gerry Kopelow is an architectural photographerwhose work has appeared in many publications. Heis the author of several books on architectural photog-raphy, including How to Photograph Buildings and
Interiors.
p42-44 Technical 2/7/08 11:51 AM Page 44
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p47-48 Showcase 2/7/08 11:54 AM Page 47
48 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
PRODUCT & LITERATURE SHOWCASE
Your product or service couldbe promoted here!Ad Sizes1/4 Page, 100 Words1/8 Page, 50 Words
For information about placing anad in our Showcase & LiteratureReviews, contact:
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p47-48 Showcase 2/7/08 11:54 AM Page 48
Juhani Pallasmaa lectureFebruary 26, 2008 Part of the
Bulthaup lecture series, Helsinki-
based architect and professor
Juhani Pallasmaa lectures on
“Ecological Functionalism:
Performance and Beauty in Animal
Architecture” at 6:30pm in Room
103 of the University of Toronto’s
Faculty of Architecture, Landscape,
and Design.
Evan Douglis lectureFebruary 26, 2008 Evan Douglis of
the Pratt Institute in New York
delivers this lecture entitled “Infra-
Thin: In an Era of Manufactured
Nature” at 5:00pm in Amphitheatre
3110, Université de Montréal School
of Architecture.
Roemer van Toorn lectureMarch 4, 2008 Part of the Bulthaup
lecture series, Roemer van Toorn of
the Projective Theory Program,
Berlage Institute/Delft School of
Design lectures on “The Quasi
Object” at 6:30pm in Room 103 of
the University of Toronto’s Faculty
of Architecture, Landscape, and
Design.
Iara Boubnova lectureMarch 6, 2008 As part of the Urban
Field Speakers Series held at the
Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art
in Toronto, Iara Boubnova, Curator
of the Institute of Contemporary
Art—Sofia and Co-Curator of the
Moscow Biennale speaks on urban
changes in the society of transfor-
mation at 7:30pm.
www.prefix.ca
Teresa Sapey lectureMarch 10, 2008 As part of the Carle-
ton School of Architecture’s Forum
series, Teresa Sapey of Teresa Sapey
Estudio de Arquitectura in Madrid
delivers this lecture at the National
Gallery of Canada in Ottawa at
6:00pm.
Mark Goulthorpe lectureMarch 12, 2008 Mark Goulthorpe of
dECOi/MIT in Boston delivers this
lecture entitled “Hox Aesthetics:
Second-Order Digital Design Stra-
tegies” at 5:00pm in Amphitheatre
3110, Université de Montréal School
of Architecture.
Reiser + Umemoto lectureMarch 18, 2008 Jesse Reiser and
Nanako Umemoto of Reiser +
Umemoto in New York deliver the
Sheila Baillie Lecture at 6:00pm in
Room G10 of the Macdonald-
Harrington Building at the McGill
University School of Architecture in
Montreal.
Alicia Imperiale lectureMarch 18, 2008 Alicia Imperiale of
Princeton University in Princeton,
New Jersey delivers this lecture
entitled “Seminal Space: Getting
under the Digital Skin” at 5:00pm
in Amphitheatre 3110, Université de
Montréal School of Architecture.
ORD: Documenting theDefinitive Modern Airport January 14-May 31, 2008 Curated by
Charles Waldheim and Urban
Agency, this exhibition takes place
in the Eric Arthur Gallery at the
University of Toronto’s Faculty of
Architecture, Landscape and
Design. ORD features photographs
of Chicago’s O’Hare International
Airport—a seminal modernist
structure—by Robert Burley and
Hedrich-Blessing.
www.ald.utoronto.ca
Citizen Lambert: Joan ofArchitectureFebruary 24, 2008 As part of the Reel
Artists Film Festival, the screening
of this film takes place at 3:30pm in
the Al Green Theatre at the Miles
Nadal Jewish Community Centre in
Toronto. Teri Wehn-Damisch’s film
provides a unique glimpse into the
world of Phyllis Lambert, renowned
Canadian architect, urban activist
and founder of the Canadian Centre
for Architecture in Montreal.
www.canadianart.ca
CALENDAR
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
02/08 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 49
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p49 Calendar&PD 2/8/08 11:16 AM Page 49
50 CANADIAN ARCHITECT 02/08
BACKPAGE
restaurants: Bens Delicatessen. Founded in 1908
by Lithuanian immigrant Ben Kravitz, the deli
quickly became a legend, a place that every
smoked-meat lover or tourist had to visit at least
once. Relocated in the ’50s to the corner of rue
Metcalfe and boulevard de Maisonneuve, its
kitschy interior—complete with yellow and green
Formica tables, walls covered with autographed
portraits of celebrities, and retro-style benches
and counters—hadn’t changed much since it first
opened. And now, for the first time in 98 years,
Bens was closed. Unionized since 1994, the
employees went on strike in July 2006 asking for
modest salary adjustments and better working
conditions.
I went back a few weeks later with a camera
and photographed the building and its interior.
Call it the “historian’s instinct,” but I felt I had to
document the “institution.” A few months later
and a few days before Christmas, the deli’s man-
agement decided to close the business for good.
The community was astounded. The employees,
some who had worked there for more than 50
years, were shocked. The media had a field day.
Almost a century after the first smoked meat
sandwich was served by the Kravitz family, the
mythical Bens was no more.
Bens was a symbol of many things. Its stream-
lined Art Deco building was one of a few of its
type in Montreal. Smoked meat, along with
bagels, became one of Montreal’s defining icons.
Most importantly, Bens was the success story of a
Jewish immigrant family and reflected a multi-
cultural Montreal. Luckily, the Kravitzes, who still
owned the restaurant after three generations,
also wanted Bens’ spirit to live on.
The McCord Museum was keeping a close eye
on the events and formal contacts were estab-
lished in early 2007. By September, I assembled a
team of curators and archivists to spend a week at
the deli to select artifacts and archives. Several
boxes of records were salvaged, along with key
pieces such as dinnerware, tables, chairs, paint-
ings and a few well-used kitchen knives (that had
sliced their fair share of smoked meat brisket!).
The “material culture” of Bens was thus protected.
Realizing that telling the complete tale of Bens
also meant preserving its vast oral history, the
salvage operation entered its second stage. The
Museum entered into a partnership with
Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History
and Montreal’s Musée de la Personne, both
experts in collecting personal histories, and
began conducting interviews with members of
the Kravitz family and former employees.
2008 will mark the centenary of Bens’ opening,
and the McCord Museum, with its interest in
food, business and community history, is con-
templating a small exhibition on the Montreal
delicatessen, with Bens at the forefront. With
objects, archives and oral testimonies gathered
from Bens, the McCord is well positioned to
chronicle the deli’s place in the culinary and
social history of North America—as well as one of
the best places to eat. CA
François Cartier is the Archives and History Curatorat the McCord Museum in Montreal.
It was a sweltering summer day back in 2006
when I was walking along boulevard de Maison-
neuve and noticed about a dozen people picket-
ing, holding up union-made signs, chanting and
asking onlookers to sign petitions. Clearly, a
strike was brewing in downtown Montreal! But
not just any strike—these were the employees of
one of Montreal’s oldest and most beloved
TOP A SECTION THROUGH ONE OF BENS’SMOKED MEAT SANDWICHES. ABOVE WITHPOSTERED WINDOWS ANNOUNCING ITSDEMISE, THE ONCE-BUSTLING DELI FINALLYCLOSED ITS DOORS AT THE END OFDECEMBER 2006.
A LANDMARK DELICATESSEN LIVES ON INMONTREAL, THANKS TO THE WORK OF THEMCCORD MUSEUM.
TEXT FRANÇOIS CARTIER
SLICING THROUGH HISTORY
FRA
NÇ
OIS
CA
RTIE
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