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Central Rosemont
By : 2Architectures
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Residential Building / Apartment & Condo of 5 to 9 storeys : Bronze Certification
The project site, facing Des Carrières Street, and framed by Chambord Street and De Normanville Street, is located in a heterogeneous urban context of multiple land uses in the heart of the quarter Rosemont/La-Petite-Patrie. Of particular importance is Des Carrières street, running roughly parallel to Boulevard Rosemont, one of the main commercial streets of the district. Des Carrières Street is unique in this context, however, following an old historic and sinuous path used by the men who worked in the quarries near the current Parc Laurier. As such it follows a route very much at odds with the surrounding urban grid. At the same time, Des Carrières Street also serves as the boundary and transition zone between an industrial zone of the last century, in close proximity to a railway corridor, and the residential districts of Rosemont. It is a street, consequently, that shifts back and forth between the two land uses, combining the multiple scales of residential and industrial buildings.
Des Carrières street was the starting point for our project, a multi-story mixed-use complex of buildings, drawing inspiration from this unique street and the heterogeneous mix of land uses adjacent to it. Our goal was to give this neighborhood a new sense of order and to offer a prototype for subsequent development. Five principles informed the urban design agenda:
- Integration with the urban context;
- Urban densification;
- Proximity to public transit and services, as well as access to
multiple forms of transportation (cars, bikes, bus, metro);
- Maximization of green space and its integration with public
space; and
- Fragmentation / modulation of the building’s massing
The building was organized in two parts – a multi-story, terraced, mixed use building on Des Carrières street, with a volumetry from 4 to 6 floors, separated from the adjacent building by a “ruelle verte (green alley)”, a landscaped pedestrian alley. The alley is a part of Rosemont’s urban structure, but is increasing being reconsidered as more of a public space than a service space. Our project reinforces this trend, offering an alley space for pedestrian access and permeation of the urban block. The main entry on des Carrières, located at the termination of rue Normanville, extends this logic, allowing another passage through the site from street to alley along the edge of the courtyard.
The project also draws on the diverse articulations of the neighborhood, residential and industrial, in the choice of materials (brick, wood siding, and corrugated metal siding), the use of large, more industrial window units, the stacking of balconies facing the street, exposed exterior stairs, entrances on the street, as well as the balconies, on the Des Carrières street façade. This creates a hybrid architectural language, particularly evident in the large terraced building on the street.
The project integrates a number of sustainable design strategies, foremost among them being the extensive integration of landscape elements and permeable surfaces throughout the project. The location of the parking on the site below ground helps to reduce the negative impacts of surface parking, which are further mitigated with the introduction of green roofs over the parking plinth, including the central courtyard and the “ruelle verte”. This logic is extended to the roof as well, with the incorporation of numerous collective roof terraces with extensive planting to help control water run-off and create favorable micro-climates.
