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200 Dorval
By : blanchette archi.design et MDTP atelier d'architecture
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Construction & Real Estate
Categories : Real Estate Development / Mixed-Use Development : Gold Certification
The site is located at the intersection of two major avenues in the urban fabric of Dorval. It is the hub of the city, in-between commercial and residential uses, and has the potential to revitalize the municipality and its dynamism. The built context is heterogeneous in terms of volume and materials, with a predominance of prefabricated concrete and brick in warm colors.
The project integrates harmoniously into the existing built environment by adopting a volumetric cut that addresses the residential scale of the neighborhood while meeting the density needs. The building absorbs and adapts to the existing and future neighboring morphologies, becoming a peacemaker for urban changes. The project opens views, proposes crossings, modulates densities, aligns volumes, creates rhythms and welcomes citizens.
The E-shaped layout makes it possible to meet all these volumetric requirements while maintaining efficient natural energy inputs. It also creates an interior courtyard, facing Dorval Avenue, providing an intimate space while ensuring a generous relationship with the vegetation and the integration of the project into the urban morphology. This privileged relationship is reinforced by the numerous openings on the first floor providing an ideal porosity to the project at ground level and generating thresholds for the residential entryways.
The landscapers have designed the layout of the spaces in the heart of the lot in coherence with the architecture, while the interior spaces exert a subtle continuity with the landscaping. The resulting project thus demonstrates great coherence at each scale of its uses. The first floor spaces – commercial and shared – erase the physical barriers between interior and exterior. These spaces play delicately with the duality between vegetal and mineral to create chic and uncluttered spaces in direct correlation with the landscaping and its seasonal changes.
Four materials allow the reading of the project’s volumes. The brick reveals three eight-storey volumes that punctuate the built front on Dorval Avenue. The white aluminum extrusions cut out the four-storey volume on Dawson Street as well as the 12-storey building, offering a gradual relationship to the sky and a more peaceful presence within the environment. The black aluminum allows the cutting of faultlines in the most imposing volume, affirming its verticality. It also accompanies the glass on the entire first floor and marks the entry points, providing lightness and softness to the built mass. Finally, it segments the sequence of stairs on Dawson Street, reinforcing the legibility of the six-storey volume.
This project offers an adequate response to the existing elements and proposes a contemporary and integrated design with it’s volumes and materials, creating a clear reading. The interior courtyard and the use of a porte cochère reinforce the porosity of the base and invite the discovery of the space. The project thus testifies to a bold and respectful vision for urban revitalization and the creation of quality habitats anchored in their time.
Collaboration
Architect : blanchette archi.design
Architect : MDTP atelier d'architecture
Real Estate Developer : Oktodev
