Montréal, Quebec, Canada

The political project for the redevelopment of Montréal's historical Old Port began in 1974, following the acknowledgement that the facilities of this potentially rich urban fringe had become obsolete. In 1985, the public vocation and important heritage value of this site were confirmed during a major public consultation. In 1988 a budget of one-hundred million dollars was allocated for the revitalization of the Old Port. The Société du Vieux-Port then initiated a consultation involving five foreign architectural firms. This highly unorthodox consultation was kept discreet by the port authority.
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Scrutiny and disapproval of these actions from the media and professional milieu thus moved the Société du Vieux-Port to enlarge the participation within the consultation, by extending an invitation to local architects. Finally, in 1989, a Call for Candidates was launched to architects, urban designers, planners and landscape designers in order to recruit professionals to design and produce a master plan for the Old Port. In total, eight projects were submitted, and a team, composed of three of these eight competitors, was formed following recommendations by the Planning Committee and Old Port Society. Architects Bernard Tschumi (Paris) and Ricardo Bofill (Barcelona), were among the eight participants, although they were not selected as members of the design team. This project design team included; the firm of Cardinal Hardy (Aurèle Cardinal was named team captain), Le groupe Lestage and JLP, as well as the office of Peter Rose.

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