TULIP – Your Place at the Table! || ADHOC Architectes || Architect of the Year Awards 2020
ADHOC architectes: Winner of Architect of the Year Awards 2020.
A Temporary Festive Public Space
at Hydro-Québec Park
Reappropriating Downtown Montreal with the help of Design
Your Place at the Table! is one of the 3 TULIPs – les Terrasses Urbaines LIbres au Public – and three public spaces that have been designed in downtown Montreal thanks to the dedication of architectural firms and reputed designers. The initial mandate from the Partenariat du Quartier des Spectacles was to produce an artistic installation that would attract and stimulate traffic in the Quartier des Spectacles while maintaining social distancing measures. The TULIPs are public amenities that work in synergy with the supply of local commerces and cultural and touristic attractions. They allow people to profit from the pleasant summer and fall weather to rediscover their city.
Revitalizing a park known for its ecological qualities by adding a social component
The team from ADHOC architectes was given the mandate to revisit the Hydro-Quebec park designed by Claude Cormier et Associés (2008-2012), which received multiple prizes for its ecological qualities. ADHOC architectes added a social component to the 3260m2 site by transforming it into a new urban terrasse. A 100 meter (300 feet) long “urban table” was precisely implanted between the existing furniture and trees that perforate the elevated, angular metal grille in the center of the site. The table undulates under the canopy of the trees, leaving visitors to discover a succession of staged place settings and varied atmospheres.
An enhanced, friendly and safe experience
Vibrant, custom graphic signage and enchanting lighting brighten up this usually quite shady environment, creating a welcoming atmosphere day and night. Brightening up the surroundings, the colour yellow is celebrated in this tone on tone installation. This festive, joyous and luminous colour palette attracts stares from passers-by and introduces a marked contrast with the monochromatic shades of the existing park. A truly colorful and vivacious oasis in the heart of downtown Montreal, the installation invites curiosity and discovery.
The project was conceived to allow Montrealers to reappropriate this public space while respecting the sanitary regulations defined by public health officials. A large structure and graphic arrow placed at the entrance of the park signals the beginning of the project. The public is then invited to discover the full length of the table and the place settings that punctuate it with eclectic collections of recycled objects. These iconic, gastronomic objects were judiciously placed to subtly foster intuitive social distancing.
Firm || ADHOC architectes
Project Name || TULIP – Your place at the table!
Architect || Jean-François St-Onge
Architect of the Year Award Category || Temporary Structure Built
Project Location || Montreal
Team || Jean-François St-Onge, François Martineau, Marie-Andrée Groleau, Olivia Pavlenyi, Maude Lescarbeau, Camille Blais
Country || Canada
Area || 3260 m²
Year || Summer to fall 2020
Photography ©Credit || ©Raphael Thibodeau
Additional Credits:
Graphic Designers || Maude P. Lescarbeau& Camille Blais
Partenariat du Quartier des Spectacle (PQDS)
Carpentry and woodworking || Le Madrier
(MevenValy&TimothéeCombes) Printing || Umake (Marco Facciola)
Adhoc, is a Latin phrase meaning “for this“; Designed for a specific request, a situation, a problem to be solved, an opportunity to be seized.
ADHOC architectes is a studio founded in 2014 by two architects with different personalities and a common vision of creating meaningful architecture through good design. The studio’s mission is to provide innovative architectural solutions which challenge the established conformity. An ADHOC-project must be memorable, inspiring, distinctive, aesthetic and functional.
ADHOC architectes aims to highlight the intrinsic elements of places and enhances them through innovative, contextual and poetic architecture.
