SAINT-LAURENT LE FILON
A MONTÉRÉGIAN INTRUSION INTO THE HEART OF URBAN TERRITORY
Le Filon's ambition extends beyond its own spatial scale, namely to become a structuring link in a large-scale biodiversity corridor linking Oka Park to Mount Royal, and eventually to the entire Montérégie Hills. These geological formations are the main landforms of the Saint-Laurent plain, as well as being important places of identity and biodiversity.
Looking at the first Monteregian segment, between Oka Park and Mount Royal, we can see that habitats south of the Rivière des Prairies are highly fragmented. The Saint-Laurent Biodiversity Corridor provides an opportunity to reinforce a first section of this missing link, to introduce a thread of life through the city.
THE VEIN OF LIFE
Inspired by Montérégie formations, the corridor's formal identity is based on a series of rocky intrusions that modify the ground's topography, creating mounds and depressions. They metamorphose through space, becoming a continuous landmark that structures, organizes and defines each section of the corridor. Reinterpreted and reappropriated, these rocky intrusions are visible on several scales, from the small animal to the pedestrian, the motorist and even the airplane.
From the renewal created by the rock intrusion emerge the four vital layers making up the vein:
Vegetation, planted with the native species needed to restore wildlife habitats and contribute to the quality of life and comfort of residents;
Water, reintroduced on several scales, notably through the extension of Brook Creek or the creation of wetlands and water retention areas;
Wildlife habitats, intrinsically linked to the presence of vegetation and wetlands, but also to the reintroduction of shelters, dormitories, nesting boxes, passageways and feeding stations adapted to the needs of each species targeted by the program;
The human experience, enhanced by renewed contact with nature, the consolidation of places of identity and the creation of new active routes.
FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY FIRST AND FOREMOST
The interventions put forward to feed the vein are aimed at achieving functional ecological connectivity, not just structural connectivity. They enable the movement of wildlife by taking into account the maximum travel distance of the targeted species categories (wasteland, wetland, forest and generalist), their habitat requirements and the obstacles that fragment the territory.
Based on the results of the ecological connectivity portrait of the territory, the general intervention zone identified aims to create a redundancy of routes and habitats, so as to promote the corridor's long-term functionality, stability and resilience. The proposed interventions preserve the assets and fill the gaps of each sector, by maintaining and enhancing existing habitats or restoring fragmented environments.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
This proposal stands out for its approach on the scale of the very large landscape, a strong bias that gives the concept a clear signature and guideline. The superimposition of the program's various challenges on the territory is well expressed. The team has skilfully synthesized its approach into four main types of spatial treatment. These appear to be well balanced and distributed throughout the corridor, providing a good, simple and methodical basis for further development. The overall plan integrates all the intervention zones in relation to the natural attributes of the territory, without limiting itself to the division of sites, a coherent approach within the framework of a master plan and a biodiversity corridor. It was also noted that the ecological aspect was well developed, and the improvement of the creek was appreciated.
However, jury members questioned the choice of the rocky intrusion as the concept's binding and identifying element. The rock or mound, while appreciated for its natural character, does not appear as a specificity of the Laurentian territory, which is attributed to an agricultural past rather than rocky soil. The result is a fictitious and potentially disconnected topography. The jury also highlighted a concern that the rocky vein could become a barrier to micro-meso-fauna, in terms of ecological connectivity. The integration of a repetitive, punctuating element is a strong component of the concept, but this formal response (or thread) could be refined.
In stage 2, the jury will be looking for a better understanding of the materialization and concrete integration of the space typologies on the territory in response to the targeted programmatic elements. Last but not least, the experience and appropriation of the site by the public should also be expressed more clearly: people should participate in the landscape and feel challenged by it.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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