Unsitely!/Quel Chantier! is a colloquium that addressed the potential of design to rethink urban construction sites, promote their cultural dimension, question their industrial design infrastructure and encourage community engagement opportunities.
Improving urban construction sites.
What if we were to make better and fuller use of the wide-ranging design and architecture expertise available in the planning, development and setup of construction sites, could we come up with creative solutions to an issue that is as important as it is universal? Could these solutions improve the overall experience of urban construction sites for individuals and communities as a whole? Or at the very least contribute to offsetting the adverse impacts on retail establishments, residents and tourists alike?
I curated and produced a colloquium specifically for the City of Montreal’s urban design department that featured 22 international case studies demonstrating innovative ways to address constructions sites as potential places of cultural engagement, storytelling, political discourses and industrial design challenges.
I also conceived a hands-on workshop that connected the City of Montreal’s in-house staff to international experts and guest speakers of the colloquium for a one-day brainstorm on the potential of design to “save” Rue Sainte-Catherine of its upcoming, lengthy road work.
Following up on the colloquium, the city announced the launch of a worksite design competition for the renovation of rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, starting in 2016. Its Request for Proposal specifications were directly inspired from our workshop outcomes.
Unsitely!
Quel chantier!
Design for urban regeneration.
“There is a vacant lot in the city. Then the machines and workers arrive, with the raw materials, the construction materials, along with all kinds of auditory and visual nuisances, but also a certain magical impression of a world being born.”
— Olivier Peyricot, director of research, Cité du design de Saint-Etienne
