The original idea for
this service station located on the linear park of Canal Lachine bordering
Ville-Émard was a Self-Propulsion Centre / Centre d’auto-propulsion.
The inspiration was based upon serving people who move by bicycle, roller-blades,
foot, cross-country skis, ice skates, canoes, and kayaks. The programme
correspondingly contains a café, community exhibition space, sporting
and rental store.
From these intentions,
the project has shifted to that of a carrefoure where members of the local
community living next to the site meet the linear users of the Canal Lachine
park. Here the programme has been expanded to reflect the urban context
of Ville-Émard by including commercial space along St-Patrick street
centred around the new bridge at Monk street. The goal is to integrate
an urban community and street scape with the public spaces of a local
and trans-community park.
The theoretical basis
of the project is the pursuit of the definition of weak or fragile architecture.
Juhani Pallasmaa defines the architecture of the weak image as ‘contextual
and responsive. It is concerned with real sensory interaction instead
of idealised and conceptual manifestations.’ This is a human architecture
of tactility, culture, empathy, and time. Fragility is a celebration
of the sense of being in contact with our body, mind, and soul.
Along these theoretical
lines, the project attempts to integrate ecological
design concepts. Both fragility and ecology express themselves
through the simple expression of a natural materiality that weathers and
ages gracefully over time. The project also takes into account the
sun and the opportunities for daylighting, shading,
and passive
solar gain. In my opinion, this approach creates a tactile, warm,
and human place that reaffirms our connection to ourselves and our surroundings;
thus, the initial ideas of the self-propulsion centre remain in the metaphorical
background of the design.
The division between
public and private is also explored as commercial use is introduced along
St-Patrick street while the ground of the park extends over top in the
form of a planted roof. This has the effect of two tectonic plates
merging into one another as the park moves to join the community and the
urban commercial context of the neigbhourhood infiltrates into the site.
The division between public and private still remains clear as the park
is definitely a public space whereas the commercial activity along the
street is in the realm of the private.
On a more practical
level there is the question of circulation. The plan addresses both
the opportunities to travel through the park using different routes that
result in different experiences and the fact that there must be some separation
between people on foot and those on bicycles or roller-blades. The
quay and paths leading from it give canoeists and kayakers the chance to
access the park and its pavilions. The quay itself functions as a
boardwalk that offers an additional path for walkers to experience the
canal.
The buildings emerge
between the circulation routes and established formal tree line of the
site. Their placement and orientation is meant to provide both a
transition from the urban neighbourhood to the park and the transition
from commercial buildings to park pavilions. They are anchored in
the site. Pallasmaa describes fragile architecture to be an ‘experiential
interaction and sensual accommodation. This architecture grows gradually,
scene by scene, rather than quickly manifesting a simple, domineering concept.’
The axial and transversal paths reinforce the idea of discovery ‘scene
by scene’ as you are given the choice of travel through the site.
The buildings are meant to emerge from the site and contain a logic of
placement that reaffirms their location and function. They compliment
the experience of the site rather than dominate it, such is the goal of
fragile architecture.
Fragility
Ecology
Public/Private
Circulation
Anchored
