Hatching
"Landscapes (...) are archetypes of natural place. They are born out of the fundamental relationship between earth and sky; they reveal categories that help us 'understand' genius loci in all concrete situations."
Christian Norberg-Schultz: Genius Loci: Landscape, Ambience, Architecture
Between the city and the sky, the highway crosses the clouds at high speed. Everything happens in a hurry, time is compressed, our view is concentrated on the concrete strip in front, the rest blends into the peripheral vision, the images become distorted and rounded. The city is fractured, both horizontally and vertically.
The demolition of the unused ramps of the Dufferin-Montmorency highway has left traces: the scar of the cliff, the triangles of lane dividers. The residual forms are there, unused and futile. But nature wants to take back its rights. As on any wasteland, new forms of life develop. Like cryptogams, the cells develop, regroup and invade the environment. Emerging and diverging concrete balls, attached to the ground but wanting to detach themselves, are held in place by a translucent skin, a sort of protective placenta.
Intriguing and sensual, the form unfolds during the movement and dilutes with the speed: the balls, like particles, detach themselves during the accelerations or unite during the decelerations. External dynamics become internal movement. The unifying skin captures the physical ambiences, refracts and disperses them. Seen from the lower city, elements suspended in the sky visually link the curious observer with atmospheric structures and their movements. The clusters, with their rounded shapes and undefined contours, refer to the clouds that sometimes absorb these suspended roads and must be crossed to reach the city. The shapes visually mark a transition, a passage.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
The selected proposal stands out for its boldness and contemporaneity, as well as for its potential impact on the experience of motorists who will observe it from the highway, or pedestrians who will discover it from various locations in the city. The intriguing nature of the project, consisting of a series of spheres of varying size covered with a translucent membrane, combines with a wide variety of possible perceptions, depending on the speed of the motorists, the seasons, the weather conditions and the time of day, thus producing an experience that is constantly renewed.
(...)
This proposal quickly stood out from the others for its audacity, its contemporaneity and for the impact that the work could have on the experience of those who would pass by it in motion from the highway or who would perceive it from a distance from various vantage points in the city. The intriguing nature of the blobs, consisting of a series of spheres of varying sizes wrapped in a translucent membrane, combines with a wide variety of possible perceptions depending on speed, season, weather conditions and time of day to produce a constantly renewing experience. This intriguing work is both monumental and controlled in its size. The concept remains open to modifications to fit the budget, which is appreciable considering that the actual cost of the work remains difficult to validate for the moment. Its realization has raised many questions within the jury and the technical committee, questions that were echoed in the hearings, but to which all the answers have not yet been given. These questions concern in particular the quality of execution of the work once it is completed, its durability as well as its inclusion in the concerns of sustainable development. In spite of these reservations, the jury considered that the strong idea behind this proposal deserved to be recognized as the most meritorious of the lot with regard to the challenges posed by the call for applications and by the project. More in-depth technical studies, which were difficult to carry out during the short period allotted to the call for candidacies, will be prioritized at the beginning of the mandate. The search for alternative solutions to the one recommended by the designers will also be encouraged, in order to ensure the durability of the work and to meet all the requirements of the Ministry of Transport. In the end, the jury wishes to emphasize that it is worthwhile to work on this daring project rather than to choose a solution that would be more reassuring, but less in keeping with the ambitions of the project owner for the project.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
25 scanned / 16 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Photograph
- Photograph of Model
- Photograph of Model
- Elevation
- Axonometric Drawing
- Section
- Section
- Section
