07 12 07
Stefania Minotti_Thesis Abstract
renew[all]

My thesis investigates the remediation and revitalization of a former industrial site along the banks of the Lachine Canal. My objective is to focus on three distinct yet overlapping primary concerns: Montreal’s declining manufacturing sector; the conservation, restoration and interpretation of significant yet forgotten sites; and architecture’s role in environmental issues.

My site was once a hub of industry that was dominated by highly-polluting factories. In the remediation of this site, I intend to avoid the replication of yet another “take, make and waste” industry. Instead, I am proposing a new type of manufacturing facility, one that creatively reuses materials in order to recycle them into innovative components for landscape and architectural applications. This evolution in industrial philosophy and approach will be highlighted in a tangible demonstration of site planning, architectural design, and use of materials, hopefully promoting environmental awareness and education in the process.

In my project, I propose to incorporate the historic horse and carriage trade that has occupied part of the site for well over a decade; horse-based transport was once prominent and vital for the industry and infrastructure of this part of the city. I propose maintaining, renewing, and enlarging the horse and carriage trade, permitting it to operate in conjunction with a timely new industry. Furthermore, the stables will now be accessible in order to allow the public to enjoy interaction with the horses at various levels. As the era of fossil fuel deprivation approaches in the not-so-distant future, our modes of transportation, amongst other things, may once again depend upon waterways, rail lines, and horses. My project acknowledges this upcoming shift in the hope that it may call attention to the need for ecologically-responsible planning and development.

The overall complex places emphasis on creating a “working,” productive landscape, rather than a “pleasure-oriented” landscape. This emphasis entails the design of an area actively productive in various ways in order to remediate the soil, provide fresh food for the workers, and conserve energy, amongst many other ecological strategies. Furthermore, an effort will be made to preserve, reveal and celebrate historical traces found on the site, and in the process, to revitalize an almost forgotten industrial quarter. The neighborhood will particularly benefit from the economic and social outputs of the project.

Overall, the project is one of social, environmental, architectural, and urban cultural landscape considerations. The redevelopment of a national landmark, the Lachine Canal, layered with remains and fragments of an industrial past, should embrace and reveal history in a contemporary fashion. By reindustrializing the area through the addition of a new factory, green spaces, outdoor activities and educational facilities, recreational users of the Lachine Canal park, tourists, and locals will encounter the past, but they will also learn about contemporary environmental concerns and their possible impact on future conditions. Accessible to everyone by foot, bicycle, car, boat and public transportation, the site will offer an ideal location for innovation, interactive activities, light-industry, informal production (urban agriculture), and education.