Villeray is a neighborhood deeply rooted in the community fabric. A family-oriented area where alleyways become true social ecosystems: networks of neighbors who greet each other, help one another. It’s a borough of alleyways. A population that is getting younger, dynamic, vibrant: Maison de la culture, Jean-Talon Market, Plaza St-Hubert, Jarry Park, murals, music, theater…
To connect these alleyways, the park becomes a shared backyard – open, familiar, collective. Stories and books sow ideas there, just like planting seeds. In the park, seeds become vegetables, wildflowers, layered ecosystems. Ecosystems within ecosystems, all ready to bloom.
It’s in this spirit that we imagined the library: a barn with a rusted roof, built with heavy timber, tucked at the back of the yard. Where, when you leave the Patro, you immediately find yourself near a garden. Where, in the park, you feel sheltered, safe. Where, in the library, you find the space and momentum to imagine the future – alone or together – without judgment.
Building a library means CHOOSING knowledge over ignorance, solidarity over division, hope over fear. It’s about creating a place where you rise when an idea emerges – because the tools are within reach and because fellow citizens are there to help. We see this library as a social infrastructure that fosters exchange, collective courage, and shared action.
«The first time we went there as a family, I wasn’t expecting to reel with amazement…I will remain convinced for the rest of my days that these places have to be beautiful to let us know they matter.»
– Caroline Dawson, As the Andes Disappeared.
Habitations Carillon is a new-build affordable housing project in Gatineau for Habitations de l’Outaouais Métropolitan (HOM), an independent non-profit organization. With this project, in the heart of Gatineau, close to the highway and an urban boulevard, HOM set out to change the vision of social housing. The 10-storey brick building will have 150 affordable housing units, all of which are designed to be adaptable for accessibility needs. Currently out for tender, the project has applied for the Novoclimat certification – a provincial incentive program that encourages the construction of energy-efficient housing using best practice construction methods and materials. The project has also applied for a grant request for ‘’Projet Novateur’’ (Innovative Project) funding from the SHQ (Société d’Habitation du Québec), for integrating innovative energy and comfort measures.
As pioneers in Integrated Design Process (IDP) more than 30 years ago, L’OEUF carefully considers the specific context of a project from all angles. For Habitations Carillon, we carried out an IDP with multiple local stakeholders, including members of the Gatineau’s urban services and neighborhood community groups, to bring about a project that exceeds expectations – a project capable of catalyzing an entire neighborhood and its community.
Following this collaborative work, the group established the following value proposition which summarized our client’s vision: “ To offer high-quality, comfortable, and secure affordable housing that can support user-friendly modes of transit in a green and catalytic shared environment, and inspiring human activity throughout the year.”
The project proposes a large landscaped public space on the ground floor to offer a green, community-friendly, and secure respite for all in a highly impermeable neighborhood otherwise dominated by vast outdoor parking lots. The ground floor will also include a multi-purpose community space, with the possibility of renting a portion to a local business that meets the community needs of the neighbourhood. The daily lives of users received special attention and care, particularly in the common and circulation spaces, both indoors and outdoors, to promote mutual aid, sharing, and equity.
Les Habitations Carillon is a project rooted in a rapidly changing neighborhood, and helps create the social connections and happy citizens that make a resilient community.
“Lapointe Magne & Associés + L’OEUF Architectes in collaboration with VINCI Consultants / L2C Experts / Dupras Ledoux
The winning project successfully met all seven judging criteria assessed by the jury. In its report, the jury noted that the team had demonstrated a clear understanding of the vision and values of the project, which was aimed at improving the quality of life for the citizens of Pointe-Saint-Charles. The proposal presents a unifying project and a sensitive approach to both the neighborhood context and the people who live there.
This proposal is fully in line with the Montreal Agenda 2030 for quality and exemplarity in design and architecture, through its sustainability, creativity and innovation at the service of ecological and social transition.” Text by Kollectif 11 mars 2024
https://kollectif.net/actualites/lapointe-magne-associes-loeuf-architectes-laureats-du-concours-darchitecture-de-la-bibliotheque-saint-charles/
The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territory spans the northern part of Ontario, a vast geographic area that is home to 49 First Nations communities. Known as the Community Led Designs for Specialized Housing in the North (CLDSHN) housing project, the objective is to respond to the 2014 Chiefs-in-Assembly declaration of a NAN-wide Housing State of Emergency by creating prototype designs for the populations in greatest need. It has assembled NAN housing representatives, architects, community participants, community housing managers, technical advisors, and suppliers adopting a collaborative/ co-creation approach to develop appropriate housing designs.
L’OEUF was tasked with creating construction documents for a prototype comprising transitional housing (‘Living’) units with a communal/support facility (‘Gathering’) center and for a second prototype for a (1 Bedroom) home adapted for independent living, the emphasis lies in designing spaces that are flexible and adaptable, catering to various uses.
Amongst other design issues, as a result of the remote location of their sites and the difficulty in accessing building materials/suppliers, the teams must address the issues of procurement and delivery to enable communities to easily source appropriate building materials, accessible/available through their suppliers.. While some communities have all-season roads, many communities have limited access, relying on fly-in to small airstrips, with road access only on the fragile/weather dependent annual winter roads.
This social housing project comprises 54 units built around a landscaped central courtyard in Griffintown. The project has been selected by the SHQ as a Demonstration Project for the implementation of new approaches to the construction of healthy, resilient housing adapted to climate change. A monitoring programme will also begin to measure levels of energy consumption and comfort after occupation, and the homes are always walk-through, thus benefiting from double exposure and natural ventilation. A resilient building envelope ensures energy efficiency through thick and continuous insulation, air tightness, elimination of thermal bridges and high performance windows and doors. The thermal mass in the floor system also contributes to passive heating in winter and temperature modulation in summer. These passive systems are complemented by an efficient centralised HVAC system.
“Racial equity and climate justice are two sides of the same coin. But hope is a powerful currency. To be hopeful is to be human. At a deeply personal level, I owe my presence at this table today to the tireless demands for a more just, more inclusive and more equitable fought for by generations before me. The vision of a modern, diverse, and inclusive society is seductive and persuasive, but as long as it remains an image, it is a mirage. Something more than representation is needed, and architects historically are key players in translating images into reality. ”
Statement BY Lesley Lokko, currator of the Architecture Biennale 2023.
Images © AAHA
in progress
Embodying and deploying PHI’s legacy, PHI Contemporain will be a new permanent space to consolidate, expand and bring together PHI’s cultural offering, PHI’s communities and the city’s public life.
Located in Old Montreal and built on a site steeped in history – comprising an assemblage of four historic buildings and an adjacent lot – PHI Contemporain will consolidate the public cultural offering of the PHI Foundation and the PHI Centre. The 6,900 m² / 74,000 ft² project will house exhibition spaces, a network of new media galleries, mediation, research and studio spaces, as well as an extended public realm. The Berlin architectural firm Kuehn Malvezzi and the Montreal firm Pelletier de Fontenay will work in consortium to produce the design for PHI Contemporain.