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Dame Flore
By : Agence Spatiale X Julien Delannoy
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 15th edition
Discipline : Landscape & Territories
Categories : Concept / concept in landscape and/or urban development : Silver Certification
In 2021, Design Montreal launched an urban design ideas competition to reimagine commercial streets. Our playground was Notre-Dame Street in Lachine. The Dame Flore concept finished as the laureate and was the project that won the most public votes following a presentation to citizens.
Old Lachine is a district intimately linked to the history of Quebec and Canada for its commercial effusion and its social diversity. Notre-Dame Street, which is part of it, seems to have been deserted despite its strong commercial presence. Like the end of a fallow period, the street is now ready to be once again at the heart of a transition towards an ecological, solidary and inclusive future: a renewed growth.
We believe that diversity is the key to the commercial strategy. The future of the resilient commercial street lies in its variety and flexibility. It is no longer just businesses that inhabit it, but a multitude of functions such as housing, offices, cultural spaces, community spaces, temporary spaces, pop-ups, adaptable seasonal spaces, places for services, entertainment and physical activities. These spaces are vectors of social (re)connection, cooperation, mutual aid and openness; themes already rooted in the commercial context and which we seek to reveal. It's about connecting and nurturing this growth to anchor Notre Dame Street in the daily lives of locals and visitors.
It is about giving the street back to the citizens. Sidewalks are no longer just places to pass through, but merge with roads to create safe pathways, opportunities to socialize and exchange. A ground where all generations and cultures meet, a vibrant place that demonstrates the cultural and artistic richness of the neighborhood, a place that changes with the seasons where everyone finds their place.
To achieve this, the project was based on three interconnected poles: the Lachine Market to connect artisans and citizens by focusing on urban agriculture; the cultural pole, conceived as a shared street that hosts a festive square, shared patios and contemplation sections; and the sports pole, with its active park and multifunctional furniture that becomes bike racks or sports equipment to encourage physical mobility.
The proposed concept suggests that Notre-Dame Street reconnect with its roots and develop its full potential. That it becomes an incubator, a nursery, a fertile model of ecological and social transition within the cultural district of Old Lachine and beyond… The street becomes a path of discovery, a corridor where human and plant biodiversity take over the streets like wild perennials. Like a deployment of seeds carried by a new breeze, the street's identity is found at every corner. Its visible and recognizable modules attract visitors from the waterfront and the park. Green and white roofs, pedestrians, cyclists and urban agriculture germinate throughout the street. Like fertile soil, it becomes a source of reconnection between people and nature, a fertilizer for social, economic and cultural growth. A way to make one's inner garden grow towards a field of all possibilities.
Collaboration
