Gavin affleck+Richard de la riva
Visiting design professors in architecture

The problem
This project calls for the design of a community services and health-care facility that will be integrated into a master plan for a new park.
Two organizations, a health care foundation and the city of Montreal, have jointed forces to create a building that will combine health and community services. the foundation, preferring to maintain its autonomy and identity by relocating one of its facilities to a distinct site. Additionally, the foundation wishes to underline the relationship between a health environment and healthy body and spirit through the site. The community facilities to be built by the city of Montreal. Ideally the marriage of rehabilitation and community center will assist out-patients by allowing them to mix with the users of the community center.

Design concept
The Lachine Canal was Canada’s first industrial heartland its combination of industrial buildings and the infrastructure of waster, rail and road transportation a built landscape of great complexity in a state of continuous evolution for more than 150 years. This process is the part of Montreal culture.
Today, people are thinking about finding new ways of transferring and reinterpreting the perimeter of the canal, once heavily polluted, into a well planned and functioned new zone where can be used for recreational, residential purposes. Therefore, this project provides us a good opportunity to delve above issues. To our specific site, We think six factors are dynamically intertwined together and should be considered: the industrial history of the canal, the future expectation of the canal, the site shape, the diagonal basin, the functional tension between rehabilitation and community center, and redesign of traffic movement. Since the diagonal basin is the physical center of our site. Two “L” shape-like buildings are located on the either side of the basin; a central courtyard is formed. On the north side is the rehabilitation center and on the south side is the community center. At the northwest corner is the main entrance which is facing main stream of Lachine Canal and connects two buildings. Hence, the inner courtyard becomes visual center for two architectures. People can easily access to the courtyard through wooden decks to enjoy fresh air, sunlight and fantastic views. At this project, the original wall traces of Caledonia Iron Factory, partially engaged certain functions of two facilities, are used to remind people the past history of the site.