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Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville in Quebec City
By : Stantec / Ville de Québec / Lemay
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Landscape & Territories
Categories : Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture - Public Space : Gold Certification
Categories : Urban Design / Civic Design Project : Gold Certification
Context
Old Quebec is a world heritage jewel for Quebec City and the region. The Hôtel de Ville area is a historical, tourist and commercial nerve center for the citizens and tourists of Quebec City. It’s a hub where major transit routes for all modes of transport – cars, public transit and pedestrians – converge, but also because of its historic and heritage character, bringing together our major institutions symbolizing political power (City Hall), religious power (Notre Dame Cathedral), military power and knowledge with the University and Seminary. It’s also one of the areas with the highest rate of commerce in Quebec City, and last but not least, it’s the city’s most popular urban entertainment area. More than a third of the year is taken up by events that take place 4 seasons.
Many activities take place here, and over four seasons. Here are just a few examples:
- Summer ephemeral spaces since (2016-2019) and winter 2019
- German Market since 2012, takes place there for almost a month (6 to 15 kiosks in 6 years)
- Public entertainers in summer (popular, safe and attractive place)
- The 20th anniversary of its partnership with the City of Namur by animating the square under the theme of Place des menteries
- Numerous ecclesiastical and ceremonial events
- Great cycling prizes and marathon
In addition, many events taking place on rue Saint-Jean end up around this traffic circle.
In recent years, over 16 million has been invested in the Hôtel de Ville area, to redevelop the site of the Hôtel de Ville gardens. A water mirror, an urban garden, the Jura clock and recently the Place du Jura and the Codex Populi artwork are among the many projects that have enhanced the square. All that remains is the central island in front of the town hall, which has not been touched up.
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History
The Place de l’Hôtel de Ville has been a gathering place since its creation in 1647, when the great religious institutions of Notre Dame Church and the Jesuit College first appeared. The site then consisted of a grassy plain bordered by the dirt roads found throughout the Old Quebec area. Then, in 1807, the European-style Circular Hall was built, the first covered market on the square. The two main axes of composition, north/south and east/west, were already visible, structuring the space. The circular hall was demolished shortly afterwards to make way for the butchers’ hall in 1818, where the original stone paving materials can already be seen. It’s a lively destination where people stop and meet. Pedestrians and carriages share the space. The halle au boucher (butcher’s hall) has changed place over time, becoming the halle au foin (hay market). Here we can see the winter photograph with the wooden floors where the carriages used to stop. Finally, in 1896, the Hôtel de Ville was built, and two years later, the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, which is just as it is today, built as a central island, bordered by a roadway conducive to automobile traffic and following the slope of the area. Its asymmetry is not a design error, but is due to the tramway route that once lined the square. The relationship between adjacent buildings is lost, to the detriment of diagonal lines that make it a place of passage rather than a destination. More than 25 years later, in 1923, the monument to Alexandre Taschereau, the first cardinal to be born and appointed in Canada, was added to the project, which explains its displaced position in the space, since it had not originally been included in the square’s design. It is precisely thanks to this historical iconography that the City was able to develop a conceptual approach that retraces the major axes of the square’s composition, while proposing a design that meets contemporary needs today. The last major renovations to this square dated back to 1984.
In 2020, the City was awarded an $11.5M grant from the provincial government to revitalize the Place. For its part, the City added a further $7 million to ensure that the project would live up to its expectations. A true crossroads at the heart of the area, the Place serves as a refuge island, a performance area for street entertainers and a place of entertainment on more than a hundred days a year. It is also home to the Taschereau monument. A place of commemoration and animation.
Vision
The vision that has been developed for the project is to enhance Place de l’Hotel de Ville as Quebec City’s most important institutional focal point, in addition to meeting contemporary needs for commercial vitality and active travel to ensure appropriate mode-sharing for all.
In addition to reconciling issues and needs, the City of Quebec has integrated the principles of sustainable development to make this redevelopment a complete living environment. To achieve this, the project ties in with 7 major planning visions, including the vision of active mobility, the vision of the tree and, of course, the vision of Quebec City’s heritage, in addition to ensuring that the project is in line with 10 of the UN’s 17 SDGs, including the goal of health and wellbeing, sustainable city and community and measures relating to the fight against climate change.
The redevelopment of Place de l’Hôtel de Ville sets the first milestones in an approach based on the conviviality of the place and relaxes these principles from the square to the fortifications to make Old Quebec a shared neighborhood, all while advocating an approach that is sensitive to the history and heritage landscape of the place.
A project broken down into 7 main principles and 5 design compositions. First of all
- Respecting the history of the site
- Ensuring the enhancement of the Monument Taschereau
- Ensure the commemorative character of the site since it is a place of gathering, representation and a place carrying over 375 years of history, religious, political and popular events.
- Work to reconfigure the streets adjacent to the project into convivial streets
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- Include existing trees in the concept
- To propose appropriate street furniture
- And finally to work on lighting the built environment
As for the 5 design compositions here’s a reminder:
- Create a public square from facade to facade
- Strengthen the dialogue between Notre Dame Basilica and Hôtel de Ville
- Develop an extension of L’église’s parvis into the square to maintain public events
- To ensure a convivial and welcoming place for all with the presence of trees and quality street furniture
- And to rework a more discreet street geometry for a wall-to-wall friendly square
A versatile layout
Completely reconfigured and modernized, drawing inspiration from the historic legacy of the site, the enlarged public square offers enhanced user comfort, with its surface area increased from 1,245 m2 to almost 4,400 m2. In addition, the width of the sidewalks on the surrounding streets has been increased from 2 to 4 meters, to the benefit of pedestrians free to circulate and enjoy the area in complete peace of mind.
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With the expansion of the central area’s boundaries and its modular layout to suit the seasons and types of activity, the place has gained in versatility, conviviality, safety and comfort to vibrate to the rhythm of events all year round.
In addition to the many gains made in terms of universal accessibility, pedestrian safety and sustainable development, the meticulous design approach has made it possible to maintain and enhance the arboreal and built heritage, despite numerous technical challenges. Today, the site and its surroundings boast a notable surface area of vegetation and 17 trees, five more than before the redevelopment.
The rehabilitation of underground infrastructures, the illumination of City Hall, the deployment of wifi and the restoration of the Taschereau monument are also part of the work carried out.
Universal accessibility
Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville is accessible to people with reduced mobility from two entrances, one on rue Sainte-Famille in front of the Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral Basilica, and the other on rue des Jardins in front of City Hall.
Protection of tree canopy
Protecting mature trees was a key part of the redevelopment of this new square. As a result, 5 mature trees were integrated into the new Hôtel-de-Ville square. To achieve this, a large part of the square was raised on a system of stilts and duckboards, so as not to disturb the natural soil and prevent the trees from dying. All the pavement joints are percolating to allow rainwater to infiltrate and feed the tree roots.
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We developed techniques to ensure the preservation of the trees, but in the end it’s more 25% canopy in the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville area, we also increased the square’s surface area by more than 55%
Illumination of the square
Lighting the buildings (Hôtel-de-Ville and Basilique-cathédrale Notre-de-Dame de Québec) and the Place completes the redevelopment of Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville. The lighting is intended to awaken and reveal the nocturnal setting, focusing primarily on heritage elements such as the Taschereau monument and the trees. The « light » staging confirms, at night, the island’s function as a refuge and its contribution to the collective memory. In synergy with the surrounding architectural gems, the illumination of the Place helps to reveal this high point of convergence.
Collaboration
Landscape Architecture : Stantec
