LEISURE HUB:

GENERAL APPROACH:

What is the place of leisure in today's world? What role is it supposed to play in our lives? Does the nature of leisure itself have evolved over the course of the past decades? Well, in the context of the society of consumption we are living in, to provide answers to these questions is not an easy task. Wasn't that the materialist promise of the Industrial Revolution -- that increased and automated production would lead towards a greater amount of free time, and consequently leave more space for leisure in our lives? Wasn't it supposed to solve the majority of social problems? So much production and consumption was supposed to translate into wealth, prosperity and affluence for all. Now that we've reached an advanced stage of this novel, a quick survey of the social landscape will reveal that the promise was not fulfilled.

It would seem that the human purpose has become grossly distorted in the industrialization process. If the purpose of human life is to discover and experience the meaning of human life, and to create the context in which an understanding of such meaning can naturally unfold, then what has occurred instead, is a substitution of the search for meaning with the endless search for the means of acquiring ever more material goods. Questions of who we are, what we value, and how we want to live as a society, are pressing ones and this pressure will increase with growing affluence, more work, and more consumerism.

Affluent people today spend significant time and money on stress-relief, anti-tension therapies, anxiety cures and other self-help strategies. Stress and tension are very real in people's lives. It becomes more and more obvious that for lasting and effective 'stress relief' and 'tension control' we need to reclaim leisure from a world that would eat it up in work, or in trivial and unsatisfying amusements. Today, this approach means reclaiming leisure from those who have long sought its commodification and so contributed to the slump in its recreational potential.

Cleary, leisure is a subject that deserves a particular attention. Moreover, a deep investigation imposes itself in order to fully understand all the implications that leisure has on other fields of the contemporary life, such as work. This is precisely what the present thesis is about; It proposes an exploration of the theme 'leisure' into our society, and ultimately aims at translating the discoveries made after such an exploration into an architectural built form that could help redefining the importance that leisure plays within our society.

For most people, 'leisure' is simply the opposite of work. It is what you happen to do in your free time, once your basic needs have been fulfilled. It is more than that. Work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure. Aristotle, the main source on pre-modern and contemplative leisure, also defines it as the disposal of our private time - but a time in which we can most be ourselves, without unwanted impositions or moral scruples. More precisely, 'Leisure' is the time freed from strictly utilitarian or dutiful activities, time that can be passed as one would choose, time that can be used, especially, to develop and refine those qualities that are one's unique orientation to the whole - these qualities being an expression of the individuated Self. Then, 'Leisure' is far than being the consequence of a situation, whether it is economical or social in nature. 'Leisure' relates to choices, the choices we make as individuals, what we want to do.

'Contemplative leisure' is a particular type of leisure that is not simply the disposal of our free time in whatever way we can afford or for our preferred pleasure. It requires and enhances an inner calm that is truly contemplative - that is, open to reality and new possibilities. 'Contemplative Leisure' consists in stepping aside from the daily logic of means-end production, from all external pressures and justifications, and most importantly, choosing enjoyable activity for what it really brings as an outcome. One can think about singing, telling stories, practicing a sport, painting, sculpting and many more. These are all activities that call for a certain personal achievement. What is better than a personal achievement to fulfill effective leisure time? If a single environment dedicated to contemplative leisure would exist, providing many different activities and allowing individuals to perform personals achievements, it could prove that leisure really has a place of importance into the society.

What the thesis ultimately proposes is to create a complex dedicated to contemplative leisure, where many different activities are intertwined, providing individuals a dynamic and stimulating environment with the full potential for achieving lasting and effective recreation.

THE SITE

At the exception of the time when it was used as a strategic spot for defense, Ste-Helene Island has always been a place dedicated to public leisure. Since its official conversion into a municipal park, in the late 1800's, the island remains a place where citizens go to escape the stress of the city. Host of the Universal World Fair in 1967, the island has seen its surface enlarged tremendously with the infill coming from the construction of the metro system. These major infrastructure works also gave birth to an entirely artificial island; Notre-Dame Island, which has been directly annexed to Ste-Helene Island to host the Fair. Together, these two islands form what is known today as the Jean-Drapeau Park.

Interestingly enough, the two islands are very different not only in their nature, but in the type of activities they host. While the Notre-Dame Island reflects more the society of consumption, with notably the presence of the casino and the Canadian Grand-Prix event, Ste-Helene Island acts as a complement with its contemplative and family oriented activities. They kind of counter-balance one another, offering the citizens the best of two worlds in one unique park.

The proposed project is to be located on Ste-Helens Island, near the Jacque-Cartier bridge. It is intended that it will be faithful to the overall island's environment, reinforcing its leisure oriented function, by notably using the activities that already take place on there as a complement to the project.

THE EXISTING BUILDING

The existing building found on the site is what is called the Ste-Helene Island Pavilion. Built as an integral part of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge structure, its construction dates back to the early 1920's. Originally conceived as a ball room and a civic center, its primary function is to support the middle portion of the bridge. It is literally a hollow bridge pilaster. Its overall condition remains quite good, even after the passage of many decades. Its interior spaces are voluminous, well lit, and offer exceptional potential for an adaptive re-use. The reasons why it has been left vacant for so long are still obscures. Technical problems like the lack of fire safety measures, the absence of mechanical services and the noise vibrations produced by the passage of cars are probably among the principal reasons of its desertion.

The rest of the site has seen its morphology changing continuously throughout the evolution of the Island over time. It is because all of the buildings that have been built on the Island, prior to the construction of the pavilion, were erected thanks to the stone extracted directly from the site. The site lies therefore directly on bedrock, reducing the possibility for building underground.

The whole site, comprising the pavilion, has an approximate area of 50 000 sq. ft.. The pavilion, in itself, has a footprint of 35 000 sq.ft. and offers a total usable area of 75 000 sq. ft., separated on 4 different levels.