TRIBUTE AWARD

LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

AURÈLE CARDINAL

Humanist, Visionary, Innovative & Commanding!

The visionary and humanist architect and urban planner Aurèle Cardinal is known for co-founding Cardinal-Hardy back in the 1980s and now partners with a son and daughter at the head of Humà Design + Architecture. He is this year’s GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN life achievement award nominee. Through his involvement and his passion, Aurèle has truly marked the urban landscape by rebuilding the bridges between the past, the present and the future of the city.

PICTURE-PERFECT Aurèle. A first name of Greek origin. It comes from “aurum”, and means “morning”… when and where it all begins… And, for Aurèle Cardinal, the eldest of five children, life begins on a farm in Saint-Laurent, with 25 beautiful cows and a three-day-a-week run to the Jean-Talon market to deliver fresh produce.

Already, as a youngster, he enjoyed patching up old farm buildings. Could it be at this moment that his search for authenticity was born and from there that comes his classical rationalism which aims to return to the essential form? Perhaps!

By Madeleine Champagne

A GRADUATE DESTINY Later in life, Aurèle Cardinal did his classical course at the College de Saint-Laurent under the Fathers of Sainte-Croix, who, with their sensitivity to arts and fondness of theater, created fertile ground to guide his future.

As a matter of fact, it was in a Latin class, when a friend spoke of architecture to him that the seed was sown - pun on his childhood farm days, intended!

Who could have claimed that this farmer’s son, who did not speak a word of English, would subsequently be accepted at McGill University where he would obtain his bachelor’s degree in architecture (1965–1970) and move on to a master’s degree in urban planning (Université de Montréal, 1975).

THE WORK OF A LIFETIME Both architect and urban planner, Aurèle Cardinal took on to change the face of Montreal through numerous interventions in complex urban environments.

His mission has always remained on target: to restore the city to human culture. This is how, deeply rooted in the sensitivity of the time, his vocabulary transcends the image.

Another way of putting in would be by borrowing Aurèle’s own words. “Each project is a piece of the city that restores the bridges between what has been and what will be our urban reality”.

THE OLD PORT OF MONTREAL, 1992 The dialogue that Aurèle has been able to re-establish with the city over the course of his career has allowed him to sign and design major projects at the center of his work. Namely, we are referring to major projects such as the lighting plan for Old Montreal, the lock repair of the Lachine Canal, the Place d’Armes, the Cité du multimedia, the entrance to the Bonaventure highway and the Notre-Dame bridge, and more!

In the redevelopment of the Old Port, the river motivated all of Aurèle Cardinal’s interventions. The existing buildings were kept in order to respect the essence of the port’s industrial architecture. The rue de la Commune’s redevelopment resulted in the creation of an esplanade designed primarily for walkers and more… It was a place of rebirth in an urban context… Montreal and its inhabitants could, alas, reconquer their river.

His ongoing concern for integration, preservation of environment and history led him to design recycling projects, at a time when demolishing buildings was a sign of modernity. In fact, back then, two options were laid on the table: demolish the quays or redevelop the Old Port area into an urban park on the scale of large ships, a unique morphology that would celebrate the excessiveness of the port complex.

The project had an international influence and made Montreal a heritage of the major port cities of the world. Twelve awards of excellence, including the Governor General of Canada award, were also earned.

A FIRST, THE REDPATH REFINERY Note the Redpath Sugar Refinery loft development project along the Lachine Canal offering a new co-living trend, unheard of in Montreal, but well known in cities like New York. Built within the former Redpath Sugar factory, this project is a marvel in itself, as it has revitalized a set of historic industrial buildings that are part of one of the oldest industrial areas in Canada.

Its ceilings of up to 13.5 feet in height blend in with the huge windows and the sleek design of the project. At the turn of the 21st century, the new owners were smiling from ear to ear.

AURÈLE CARDINAL, PHOTOGRAPHED ON ONE OF THE OLD PORT OF MONTREAL’S HANGAR ROOFTOPS. © MARC CRAMER

REDPATH SUGAR REFINERY, BY CARDINAL-HARDY ARCHITECTS, 2003–2006. © MARC CRAMER

THE NEW HAVRE BASINS Aurèle Cardinal was able to motivate his team to rebuild the city, while keeping the sense of place, the specificity of Montreal. After long discussions with the Canada Lands Company and Parks Canada, the Bassin du Havre master plan project took shape. The establishment of a residential project on a former industrial site of Canada Post and the conservation of the morphology of traces of the past has been possible from the development of the old port basins.

A pioneering project in sustainable development, the project won a LEED Neighborhood award. Here again, this man’s essential contribution to the development of a Montreal on a human scale had a major and positive impact on today’s and tomorrow’s cityscape.

THE MULTIMEDIA CITY WITHIN A CITY Located between Old Montreal and downtown, sits Griffintown with its abandoned 19th-century industrial buildings that were redeveloped into a business hub for information technology companies. With the insertion of new buildings, the architecture created matches the morphology of the sector, la cité du multimédia was born! Today, there are about 8,000 employees in the Multimedia City, but the neighborhood continues to grow. And Aurèle Cardinal, still contemporary, rooted in the sensitivity of the time, put his stamp on the project of course.

AN ECHO TO A DEAF-MUTE INSTITUTION For the redevelopment project of the former Catholic Institution for the Deaf and Mute, located on Saint-Laurent, Aurèle Cardinal and his team became masters in the art of making something new out of something old. The former deaf-mute institution was converted into condos. What a beautiful new life for this heritage building. The facade kept its staircase and columns. Also, it was agreed that no construction would take place on the land in front of the building which contained concrete spaces, fortunately, greened by Cardinal’s team’s intervention. Say it proud, say it loud!A stone’s throw from Jarry Park, it’s an island of freshness in the hubbub of the city.

ONE TOWER, THE CANADIANS TOWER Straddling the river and the mountains, the Tour des Canadiens is a true visual landmark, with its slender profile and theatrical architecture. It is a 167-meter skyscraper that spreads its high-end character over 52 floors on avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal, in the heart of the action of the tricolor hockey team. Aurèle’s fundamental concern here was to align the tower North-South to protect the perspectives and clear all views towards both the mountain and the river … one of the very main principles of implementation of the urban plan that Aurèle defended throughout his life.

THE MIL CAMPUS, BACK TO BASICS Aurèle has produced several master plans for institutional complexes, such as the EcoCampus Hubert Reeves in 2011, the Concordia

TOUR DES CANADIENS 1, BY CARDINAL-HARDY ARCHITECTES, 2011-2014

district in 2006 and the Outremont Campus for the Université de Montréal in 2008.

By redeveloping the former Outremont rail yard according to sustainable development principles, the MIL campus has not only revitalized a disused industrial area by giving it a new vocation, but is opening its doors wide to the entire community. The reconfiguration of the land amazes. A nod to an innovative aspect… Urban agriculture occupies an important place on the site and several cultural and scientific activities intended for the general public are frequently held. A return to basics as in the time of the farm that is this campus development plan designed by the Cardinal Hardy Group and Provencher_Roy.

CAMPUS OUTREMONT, BY CARDINAL-HARDY ARCHITECTES, 2006-2007

A PROFESSION + A PASSION = A TEACHER Let us remember that in 1986, Aurèle founded Cardinal-Hardy architectes with his partner and accomplice Michel Hardy. The dynamic duo grew to welcome four partners, Roch Cayouette, architect, Josée Bérubé, architect, Claude Jean, architect, and Michel Dufresne, urban planner who eventually parted ways in 2011.

Through all of this, Aurèle Cardinal, passionate about his profession, trained a whole generation of urban designers during his thirty years of teaching at the Faculty of Planning at the Université de Montréal, and as a visiting professor at universities at Harvard and Columbia in the United States, as well as at the School of Architecture and the Institut d’urbanisme in Paris.

IN HIS BACKPACK You will find… Tadao Andō, a Japanese architect, known for his extensive work with concrete and light… his architectural approach strives to address modern architecture’s indifference to place or place of construction, using local cultural elements to enrich the meanings of architecture. Sounds familiar?

Andrée Putman for she is atypical and free. We know and we applaud her for it: she never stopped, throughout her career, to imagine bridges, gaps, connections between the arts, fashion and design. And the Beatles for the heart and soul of it all!

ONE WHOLE, ON A HUMAN SCALE I have in front of me a robust man with sparkling eyes ready to now leave his urban footprint in the suburban Saint-Lambert of tomorrow… what can I say!

Except that, of Aurèle Cardinal, we can only highlight his career in architecture and urban planning and urban design and applaud the essential contribution of a man devoted to the development of a Montreal on a human scale. A road well traveled!

At 70, Aurèle takes up the torch within the young cohort of 30 employees, architects, urban designers and interior designers that make up the talented Humà Design + Architecture team in order to pass on his knowledge. He thus adapts to a new generation to whom he instills his knowledge, his reflections on the city, on urban ecology and on circular economies.

N.B.: Should I add that for every comment or two, Aurèle’s chips in with a sincere nod to his team’s input and work? As he should! His team shines! His copilot? The brilliant, bubbly, creative and passionate Stéphanie Cardinal, co-head of Humà and daughter to Aurèle. Per tutto il tempo!

FATHER, DAUGHTER AND SON, ARCHITECTS, URBAN PLANNERS AND FINANCIERS, AURÈLE, STÉPHANIE AND LUDOVIC CARDINAL, ASSOCIATES OF HUMÀ DESIGN + ARCHITECTURE.

Preserved moss