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Viger Station and Hyatt Centric Hotel
By : BC2
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Landscape & Territories
Categories : Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture - Commercial & Office Project : Silver Certification
Gone are the days of large-scale, vibrant railway activity at the Viger Station site in the heart of Montreal. Having stood the test of time, these majestic buildings now remain to remind us of those times. Built in 1898, the Jacques Viger building was designed by architect Bruce Price, who also designed the Château Frontenac. This picturesque “Loire château”-inspired building served, among other things, as a hotel for travellers, and was joined to Berri Station in 1912 to form a single L-shaped building at the corner of Saint-Antoine and Berri streets. In the 2020s, a large new building, the Hyatt Centric Hotel designed by Provencher Roy architects, was built to reflect the past with a similar frontage at the corner of Notre-Dame and Saint-Hubert streets. The landscape between these buildings is where the old and the new merge.
This central space features a large esplanade, a terrace, a lounge with a swimming pool, a wooded area, lawns and paths that open onto the streets to serve the new building. This lush green space was built on an underground car park, which presented many challenges, including building a large swimming pool on a slab rather than in the ground. Given the site’s exceptional heritage value, the entire project was carefully reviewed from a regulatory point of view.
The aesthetics of the landscape created a link between the centuries-old buildings. Although less imposing in terms of its massing, the old station provided a backdrop for the design, offering various viewpoints and visual openings. As a tribute to its former use, inlays of Corten steel in the pavers recall the former railway tracks. Montreal greystone and orange brick from Scotland, which make up the historic monument, served as inspiration for the materials and the choice of antique-looking pavers set in a herringbone pattern.
On Notre-Dame Street, the surviving viaduct is a reminder of the scale of excavation work done in the last century as a result of the bustling railway activity. The entrance to the Hyatt Centris Hotel is on this side. The entrance forecourt leads to the restaurant’s terrace and the monumental path to the inner courtyard, which offers a panoramic view of the “castle.” The layout of this large porch imposed a range of constraints, starting with the cantilevered floor surrounded by safety barriers. The barriers were camouflaged with large planters to create a warmer, greener, more inviting space. Working with the designers at Studio Dikini, furniture integrated into these large planters was custom designed using the same distinctive materials as the rest of the project. The area is now safe, versatile and welcoming, thanks to atmospheric lighting and lush vegetation.
Old Montreal is undergoing rapid development, with the construction of many high-rise buildings that sometimes overshadow the remaining traces of the area’s historic heritage. The Viger Station project is an example of contemporary construction that pays homage to its host site.
Collaboration
