Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal / Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art
1983
Montréal, Quebec, Canada- Architecture for culture, research, sport or leisure
- Building
- Museum
Planned in the late 1950s, this quadrilateral, of which Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier is the central element, was only two-thirds built. Where a third performance hall had been planned, the vacant land, left unused for years, was summarily transformed into a green space. The wise decision to locate the Musée d'art contemporain on this site suggested that the various promoters were open to a critical examination of the current development.
Currently, the Place des Arts site is used in two main ways: during the summer season, the "park", located in the southwest corner, is frequented by a large public, while the underground network, only access to the concert halls, connects in the winter and summer the Place-des-Arts station to Place Desjardins and Place Guy Favreau. The elevated slab on which Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier seems to be located remains deserted in all seasons, both on the east and west sides.
The solutions considered today to complete this unfinished block do not generally correspond to the spirit of the 1960s. In terms of urban planning, the competition for the Musée d'art contemporain offered architects the opportunity to solve not just one more piece of the quadrangle, but rather the entire site, whose location in the city has become very important in recent years. Indeed, this site represents one of the essential links of the new north-south axis linking the Palais des Congrès to the La Cité complex and is adjacent to the most animated east-west artery of Montreal, Sainte-Catherine Street.
(From jury comment)
(Unofficial automated translation)
Currently, the Place des Arts site is used in two main ways: during the summer season, the "park", located in the southwest corner, is frequented by a large public, while the underground network, only access to the concert halls, connects in the winter and summer the Place-des-Arts station to Place Desjardins and Place Guy Favreau. The elevated slab on which Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier seems to be located remains deserted in all seasons, both on the east and west sides.
The solutions considered today to complete this unfinished block do not generally correspond to the spirit of the 1960s. In terms of urban planning, the competition for the Musée d'art contemporain offered architects the opportunity to solve not just one more piece of the quadrangle, but rather the entire site, whose location in the city has become very important in recent years. Indeed, this site represents one of the essential links of the new north-south axis linking the Palais des Congrès to the La Cité complex and is adjacent to the most animated east-west artery of Montreal, Sainte-Catherine Street.
(From jury comment)
(Unofficial automated translation)