Retrospective Research

PRESENTED BY THE COMMONS INC STRATEGIC DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT TO CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

Alcan House, Chapter 1. The Past.

Retrospective Research

Mandate

0 Review of existing material

1 Mining the potential

2 Turning potenitals into proposals

3 Finalizing the Masterplan

“To develop a strategic masterplan for the public domain of the maison alcan development project. this domain is defined as the internal and external open/circulation spaces, and the cultural and retail spaces of the complex accessible to the public. the purpose of this work is to identify and validate alternative uses for the project. focus is on both delivering creative and financially viable solutions.�

Chapter 1. The Past. Mining the Potentials Continued research and analysis of the building complex, urban context and contemporary trends towards the identification of key opportunities and potentials.

Downtown East

Financial Core

Downtown West

‘‘

It is strategically located within Montreal Central Area adjacent to the northwest boundary of the Financial core.

Site Area 7 328 m2 / 78 884 sq ft / 1,81 ac Architects Arcop Associates Client Alcan Aluminium Ltd. Completed 1983 Address 1188 Sherbrooke St. W Metro Peel

1.1 Historic Legacy

Maison Alcan, Our House, Our Home.

David Culver, CEO & Chairman 1979-1989

Ordre National du Québec A leader in the worlds of culture and business in Montréal and Québec, Mr. Culver promotes the harmonious integration of business to art and architecture; he played a major role in the construction of a new head office for Alcan in Montréal. The Maison Alcan has had an influence on architectural thought and is an example for the city, skillfully combining the old and the new. Mr. Culver’s tireless support for the cultural community has expressed itself in a number of ways; through Alcan seminars, he has been responsible for attracting internationally acclaimed architects every year to express their views and help educate the public about architecture and its history.

OLD

NEW

OLD

‘‘

It was the president of Alcan, for example, who envisaged integrating an old building into the new headquarters of the company.

I find the complexity of this combination very interesting.

- Ray Affleck, Architect, ARCOP.

«OLD»

ATHOLSTAN HOUSE

1172 Sherbrooke Street West

Original Year Built 1895 Number of floors 3 + Basement Gross building area 1 166,7 m2 / 12 558 sq f Average Floor Plate 265,3 m2/ 2 855 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

ÂŤOLDÂť

BEIQUE HOUSE

1176 Sherbrooke Street West

Original Year Built 1894 Number of floors 4 + Basement Gross building area 685m2 / 7 372 sq f Average Floor Plate 144 m2 / 1 555 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

«OLD»

BERKELEY HOTEL

1188 Sherbrooke Street West

Original Year Built 1929 Number of floors 11 + Basement Gross building area 2 794 m2 / 30 080 sq f Average Floor Plate 206 m2 / 2 219 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

«OLD»

HOLLAND HOUSE

1196 Sherbrooke Street West

Original Year Built 1872 Number of floors 5 Gross building area 584 m2 / 6 295 sq f Average Floor Plate 111 m2 / 1 203 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

ÂŤOLDÂť

THE CITADEL

2085 Drummond Street

Original Year Built 1907 Number of floors Main + Basement + Mezzanine + 2 apts.

Gross building area 1 408 m2 / 15 158 m2 Average Floor Plate 685 m2 / 7 381 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Religious institution, Communities Activities, Day Care, Library

«NEW»

DAVIS BUILDING

at 2100 and 2200 Stanley Street, 2121 and 2233 Drummond Street

Original Year Built 1981-1983 Number of floors 7 + Ground Gross building area 15 444 m2 / 166 sq f Average Floor Plate 1 795 m2 / 19 318 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

«NEW»

SALVATION ARMY TOWER 2050 Stanley Street

Original Year Built 1981-1983 Number of floors 7 + Basement Gross building area 3 634 m2 / 39 119 sq f Average Floor Plate 421 m2 / 4 553 sq f Uses permitted (zoning) Residential, Office, Hotel, Retail and many other uses

‘‘

Built in 1981-83 as the headquarters of Alcan Aluminium Ltd., the Maison is considered an architectural icon for sensitively integrating historic structures into a modern complex.

1962

1973

1983

2015

POST-WAR MODERNISM

VAN HORNE DEMOLITION HERITAGE : SAVE MONTREAL

POST MODERNISM

POST ALCANISM

?

‘‘

The 1983 construction of Maison Alcan marked a shift in attitude, a shift towards a respect of the city and a connection to it that was for the most part absent in the 1970s. A greater public consciousness of Montreal as a whole emerged in the 1980s.

MODERNISM

POST MODERNISM

‘‘

A radical departure from gestures in the 1960s and 1970s, when the skyscraper was a symbol of success, the gesture is a reflection of the new decade in which environmental and social aspects became important.

- Jean-Claude Dufresne, tiré de http://monde.ccdmd.qc.ca/resource/

1.2 Architectural Principles

Sherbrooke Elevation

Stanley Elevation

Porosity - Urban level

Porosity - Architectural Level

?

Old/New Connectivity

‘‘

Maison Alcan blends to old and the new, the indoors and the outside.

- amy booth

OLD

NEW

OLD

Bold Modesty - «House»

‘‘

Toward a more human philosophy of building, an architecture designed for people, for life and for living.

- Bee Macguire

1.3 Cultural Linkage

The Exhibitions

ALEX COLVILLE RIOPELLE CHRISTOPHER PRATT DAVID BLACKWOOD STELIO SOLE RONALD THIBERT

JACK BUSH ROY LICHTENSTEIN ELIZABETH MURRAY ERIC FISCHL GEORGE SEGAL

FRANCISCO ZUNIGA KAPO

BENJAMIN LIRE

STEPHAN NUBER ANTONIUS SOCKELMANN JURGEN GEORTZ

IVOR ABRAHAMS ALFRED GILBERT MARK FIRTH

MAGDALENA ABAKANOWICZ

JOHN WEBB CHRISTO JEROME KIRK

ALAIN KIRILI PIETRO FINELLI

CLAES OLDENBURG R.RAUSCHENBERG YOSHITOSHI MORI

IAACOV AGAM

KUNESADA

The Lectures

DAVID CRO WILLIAM TURNBULL

PETER EISE JOHN HEJD

JAMES M.FI

ROBERT VEN

ALCAN LECTURE SERIES DISPLAYED LECTURERS

1974

1976

OMBIE

ENMAN DUK

ITCH

JAMES STERLING RICHARD MEIER RICHARD ROGERS COLLIN ROWE VINCENT SCULLY ROBERT STERN

ANNA BOFILL

GIORGIO CIUCCI

CHARLES MOORE

NTURI

1992

The Collection

Comissioning artists to represent Alcan - Rolf Harder The collection consisted of 1000 items in 1999. From architecture, arms and armour, containers, costumes and accessories, dinner ware, dolls and puppets, drawings, flora and fauna, furniture, minerals and fossils, multi-media, paintings, photography, prints, recreational objects, sculpture to textiles.

ALCAN ART MAP DISPLAYED LECTURERS

1974

1976

1992