Share to
Franciscan Commemorative Park
By : civiliti
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Landscape & Territories
Categories : Landscape Architecture / Landscape Architecture - Public Space : Gold Certification
FRANCISCAN COMMEMORATIVE PARK, MONTREAL
Located in Montreal’s Grands Jardins District, the Franciscan Commemorative Park is part of a string of green spaces planned to keep alive the memory of the large estates that once defined the neighborhood. It stands on a site formerly occupied by a neo-Gothic chapel, which the Franciscan Order erected at the end of the 19th century, and which was destroyed by fire in 2010.
The park design goes beyond conventional commemorative landscape strategies. The absence of physical ruins paved the way for a more intangible evocation of the site’s history, one based on archival material. The concept derived from a mirror image of the ceiling’s rib vault and rosettes, generating a unique pattern made of diagonals and points. Transferred to paved surfaces, the geometry takes on an abstract dimension, subtly blurring the historical reference. Corten circles filled with small pebbles delicately recall the rosettes throughout the memorial surface. Rich planted beds were added to the unusual composition. A bronze bell, the only remnant recovered from the lost chapel, now guards the park’s entrance, a few meters away from a lone surviving tree.
The park, which is not connected to the municipal sewer infrastructure, is designed to absorb rainwater input corresponding to a 20-year rainfall event. This is made possible by the presence of bioswales introduced all along the site perimeter. While demonstrating responsible water management, this small urban landscape adds a touch of poetry to the neighborhood, celebrating history and contemporary design.
Collaboration
