My proposal for this selected site is a Montreal Convention and Exhibition Center.

Montreal is the second largest metropolitan center in Canada and the largest French-speaking city outside France. Even though French is the official language of the Province of Quebec, more than half the population of Montreal speaks English as a first or second language. Since Montreal has 80 different cultural communities, a number of other languages are spoken as well.

Being the very heart of Montreal cultural life, the Place des Arts district offers access to all services in the surrounding buildings including boutiques, restaurants, theaters, and public meeting spaces. Several international festivals such as the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal and the World Film Festival also take place here.

The cultural diversity, a variety of catering services, and international festivals will offer this Cenvention and Exhibition Center a opportunity to become one of the most flexible and attractive convention and exhibition facility in North America!

Design Considerations

As pointed out by the City of Montreal, vacant lots have disfigured this area. Revitalization of this district is a priority.

Specific strategies are as following:

 

1. Construction of a complex adjoinging underground to the Museum of Contemporary art to extend the existing underground pedestrian system. This approach not only maintains the continuity of underground pedestrian movement, a necessary winter access route in Montreal, but also becomes a linkage for all activities taken place in both Place des arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
2. This complex does not provide a pleasant underground linkage exclusively; it encourages people to use above-gound space as well. As more than necessary open spaces that have been left undeveloped and used as parking lots, a prestigious Convention and Exhibition Center for hosting a variety of international events will regain a more positive image for this disfigured district. Unlike the humongous outdoor meeting place for the public presently provided by Place des Arts, a Sculpture Garden will be integrated as an essential component of the complex to stimulate spectators 'looking' and 'seeing' experiences. It will be accessible by the public; meanwhile, acting as a promenade to the central meeing place - Convention and Exhibition Center.

3. This complex is not to compete with existing facilities provided by Place des Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Sculpture Garden will be the extension of the old one in the Museum of Contemporary Art. The complex will mainly be used as an international convention center with a hotel accomodating conventioneers. The exhibition space will be exhibiting international travelling art work with the integration of a promenade deck that provide people interior space for viewing the Sculpture Garden and surrounding urban context.