“I wanted to touch the water.“

L’Homme cherche à s’oublier dans l’entre-deux de la matière. Ici, nous lui offrons un état indéfini, intemporel à la limite de l’eau et de l’air; une possibilite de se perdre, et se retrouver.

This project was completed in the fall of 2000 as part of the 2000 CCA Charrette competition. This annual weekend-long event is open to all design students and/or interns in Montreal. The requirement for the project was to build a new pedestrian footbridge to cross the Lachine canal, a waterway that runs along the base of the city and empties into the St. Lawrence River. The canal is currently in the process of being redeveloped as a recreational waterway with bike paths running alongside it and small footbridges connecting the two sides of the city.

Our idea was to create a new bridge experience, one in which the user was further engaged with the water. We wanted the pedestrian to feel as if she was walking on the water by bringing her down to the threshold of the canal. The design was simple, a series of floating panels, linked together, floating on top of the water. The panels would be large enough to sit on, making the bridge a sort of meeting place where people could sit and relax in the summer.