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A project by Didier Beaudoin McGill School of Architecture Fall 2015 Under the supervision of Fabrizio Galanti
table of contents MONTREAL COLLECTIVE : A MANIFESTO | 4 TROJAN HORSES, HEADQUARTERS, AND BEACONS | 6 BEACONS IN THE CITY | 14 SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS | 18 5 FICTITIOUS BEACONS | 28
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MONTREAL COLLECTIVE: A MANIFESTO
In 2017, we grew tired of the rampant apathy, the greed, the inequalities, the negativism, the constant clouds over our common skies.
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We will be too many actors with too many ideas.
“What is our collective goal?”, we asked ourselves. Did we still have something to unite us?
We will spiritedly fight with a common goal in sight. We will fail, like all generations have, but we will do so while banking on a possible common future.
It was well time for a change of mood.
We will build:
A MANIFESTO OF PROUD HUMILITY
EXPO67: MONTREAL COLLECTIVE
We acknowledge that we are creatures of statistics and good faith, we accept our flaws and we give the benefit of the doubt.
We will gradually take over the available spaces in the city while the pavilions are slowly built built as odd beacons, all different, with no clear program. Some will offer views, other will offer rides, others, apparently nothing.
If hell is paved with good intentions, in heaven we do not want to live. However bad the world turns out to be, we want to do good. We are all well-intended, and we shall find solutions. Through our common humility, we will find our common pride. We will feast on our collective bread crumbs. 50 years ago, Montreal opened itself to the world with a bright pride that only dimly persists today. It is time to embark collectively on a new odyssey. Since we enjoy symbols and round numbers and revivals and good memories, we will work to revive that spark, 100 years later. We will build, in the next 50 years, the Montreal in which our great-grandchildren will be born, to the perfectible best of our passion and abilities.
They will all be an experience of fragmented public architecture, radically non-commercial. We will wander through them in a dérive, in a disorganized flow, from Outremont to Pointeaux-Trembles, from Montréal-Nord to Verdun. We will see the city differently. They will be enigmatic, ludic, fun. They will provide awkward situations. They will be a heterotopic alternative to a sanitary society. They will be timeless architecture. As they are built along with the intensity of our desire (and, let’s face it, of the funding) a virtuous cycle of building and belonging and identity and personal memories. Montreal will evolve around its beacons. They will be relics of a future past.
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A VIEW OF EXPO, 1967 photo credit: bild@acm.org
THE DIFFUSION OF EXPO laser print on watercolor paper
TROJAN HORSES, HEADQUARTERS, AND BEACONS
In 2067, the world will be invited to a celebration in Montreal. After years of preparation, EXPO2067 will be officially inaugurated and hordes of visitors will walk from pavilion to pavilion, and immerse themselves in the unique experience of a world’s fair. 6
TROJAN HORSE But EXPO2067 is a peculiar thing. It does not deal with technology, or cultural exchange, or national branding. It does not have a precise site. It is built on a time frame that defies any political logic. Its outlines are fuzzy. EXPO2067 is an attempt to undertake a project that is bigger than the planner, bigger than the architect, bigger than any of us. It is a project that embraces the uncertainty by making it an explicit parameter - not something that should be substantiated and avoided. It is a romantic leap of faith in the world of human creation, with a definite positive stance. EXPO2067 is an attempt to tie architecture with local communities in a fundamentally collective endeavour on a time frame synchronized with the steady evolution of a city. And it is gigantic. It is a on the scale of a utopia; it is Superstudio, it is Exodus, it is New Babylon.
However, there is a will to ground the ideas of grandeur into a very down-to-earth context. By building fine-grained architecture - beacons - that melts into the context and gives grip to everyday life, EXPO2067 strives for an intimate appropriation of the project with the hope of contributing in time to the emergence of a latent pride, an genuine underlying care for Montreal and its neighbourhoods. Montrealers will all be actors through their memories, their perception of the city, their sense of place and belonging. Their pride will push EXPO2067 forward, and in its wake, the whole city. Architects will be the curators of this project. They will build hundreds of beacons all over the island. The beacon is an act of normalizing, a statement towards an unified, yet rich, identity for the city. Montreal-North and St-Michel are finally included in the concept of “Montreality”. The beacon is an act of reversal - a transgression of city planning. It is where we can observe the city. It is the seed of evolution, and a permanent marker of time. It is a heterotopia - to be in the city while watching it from a distance. An out-of-body experience. It is a trojan horse in the generic city.
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2021 CONVENTION AT EXPO2067 HEADQUARTERS digital collage printed on paper MODULES LEAVING THE FACTORY digital collage printed on paper
EARLY CORE SKETCH
pen and watercolor on watercolor paper
HEADQUARTERS EXPO2067 starts on the historic site of Expo 67, where it all began. The first action is to renovate and repurpose the former United States pavilion by Buckminster Fuller. It is the Primeval Beacon. It is at the epicentre of EXPO. It becomes the headquarters, where the beacons are prefabricated and where the visitors start their journey into the world of expo. It is the metaphorical and physical link between the past and the future, between who we were and who we will be. While the visitor ascends to the lookout platform, mirroring the experience of the beacons, he witnesses their fabrication, is introduced to the EXPO history and its contemporary significance. Once at the top, he gazes towards Montreal, and sees the beacons in the distance. BEACONS The beacons will be built over the next 50 years, and cover the Montreal island in a uniform manner. They will be built as individual prototypes, their concrete core printed in 3 dimensions as
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pre-fabricated modules, a process on which Montreal will acquire an expertise. The core acts as the physical and metaphorical spine of each beacon. Like a primitive menhir, it is hauled and erected on site, as a defiant and reverent gesture. It marks the spot as a special place for the next 100 years. Once on site, the core becomes the structure for the rest of the intervention (it also houses elevators and technical systems). Progressively, the rest of the beacon is built around it. It is understood that the purpose of the beacon may evolve in the long time frame of EXPO, so it is designed to be modified: contingency is central and more elements can be added to the core if needed.
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3D-PRINTING FACTORY FLOOR laser print on watercolor paper
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CONCRETE TEST SAMPLES concrete, glass fibre and pigments
CORE MODULE TECHNICAL SECTION laser print on white paper
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BEACONS IN THE CITY
They are everywhere. They become part of the very fabric from which the city is made. They merge at the backdrop of our lives. They normalize an architecture that is, for a change, not entirely centered on programmatic ultraspecificity. 14
They become the nodes of an unchoreographed dĂŠrive that drive locals and visitors in every corner of the island, and in every corner of our collective involvement; slowly but methodically, the island and its people become a whole, whatever the language, whatever the origin, in all their glory and insignificance.
240 BEACON CORES
digital model and composition printed on paper
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THE NAKED CITY Guy Debord, 1957
NEW BABYLON - DEN HAAG Constant, 1964 CITY SCENES Digital composition printed on photo paper
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SOME PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION 1: ORGANIZATION, POLITICS, FINANCING
EXPO2067 ACTORS MAP Diagram printed on white paper
EXPO2067 is lead by a central organization that has the primary role of acting as a curator and facilitator. This signifies that, although the complex process necessitates a form of 18 central leadership, the aim is to have the beacons emerge under the impulse of small local groups. Concretely, the central group has established a procedure for local beacon implementation based on a global strategy for financing and logistics, for the well-being of the EXPO on the long term. As such, after an initial financing from the different governments and a successful crowdfunding campaign, the pace of the implementation of the individual beacon projects has been set according to the means, ramping up slowly over the years with perennity in mind. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION 2: ACTORS FROM THE COLLECTIVE CITY As part of this process, community-based groups play the most important role. They are the impulse (the “clients” of the architectural project) that spur the beacons upwards. Any group of citizens can submit a proposal for a beacon that would beacon a public representation of their collective action. The proposals are collected and judged by the EXPO organization and a few are then chosen every
expo ACTORS MAP
MONTREALERS INSTITUTIONS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
POLITICIANS
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
BUILDING + PROJECT MANAGEMENT
USER INTERACTION
VISITORS
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
expo LOCAL BEACON PROCESS ACTORS
MECHANISMS
MILESTONES THEME AND LOCATION
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PROCUREMENT
LEGAL
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
GOVERNMENTS
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
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MONTREAL-WIDE LOT PROCUREMENT
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FINANCES
PROJECT MATCHED TO SITE
INTERNAL DECISION PROCESS
CURATORIAL
YEARLY GLOBAL BUDGET
MONTREALERS
LOCAL LOT ACQUIRED
PROJECT PROPOSAL RECEIVED
LOCAL BUDGET APPROVED
YEARLY PROJECT QUOTAS
BEACON INITIAL DESIGN
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PROJECT MGMT.
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PROJECT MGMT.
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
MONTREALERS
PROPOSAL DIFFUSION
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
IDEA WORKSHOP
NORMALISED EXPO2067 ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION
GENERAL POLL
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
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LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
CURATORIAL
MONTREALERS
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
ARCHITECTURE PHASE 1 WINNER ANNOUNCED
INTERNAL DECISION PROCESS
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FABRICATION
INTERACTION & FEEDBACK
ARCHITECTURE PHASE 1 DESIGN SUBMITTED
MONOLITH PRE-FABRICATION STARTED
ARCHITECTURE PHASE 2 DESIGN SUBMITTED
INITIAL CONSTRUCTION LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
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PROJECT MGMT.
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
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PROJECT MGMT.
VISITORS
GOVERNMENTS MONTREALERS
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
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EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
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FABRICATION
GOVERNMENTS MONTREALERS
MONTREALERS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
RITUAL DRINKS & DANCE
GROUNDBREAKING PARTY!
ASSEMBLY OF PREFAB ELEMENTS
MONOLITH BUILT
VARIOUS CONST. TECHNIQUES
LIGHTKEEPER STUDIO APT. BUILT
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
RITUAL DRINKS & DANCE
MONOLITH PARTY! (BEACON CONSECRATION)
PARTIAL PUBLIC OPENING
BEACON LIFECYCLE
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PROJECT MGMT.
EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
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VISITORS
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EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS
GOVERNMENTS
MONTREALERS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
VARIOUS CONST. TECHNIQUES
BEACON COMPLETED
RITUAL DRINKS & DANCE
ANOTHER PARTY! (RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY)
MONTREALERS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
OFFICIAL PUBLIC OPENING
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
LOCAL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
BEACON RE-ASSESSED ?
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EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
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EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
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EXTERNAL ARCHITECTS
FRIENDS OF THE BEACON
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
TECHNICAL SUBCONTRACTORS
BEACON RENOVATED ?
EXTENSIONS BUILT ?
LOCAL BEACON PROCESS explicative diagram
printed on white paper
EXTENSIONS DEMOLISHED ?
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BEACON DEMOLISHED
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expo ORGANIZATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
INTERNAL AUDIT
PLANNING & CONTROL
ADMINISTRATION FINANCE & CONTROL
PROCUREMENT
HR & ORGANIZATION
LEGAL AFFAIRS
COMMUNICATION & EXTERNAL RELATIONS
TECHNOLOGY & FABRICATION
PLANNING
DESIGN & CURATION
BEACON PLANNING CHART excel graph printed on white paper
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS diagram printed on white paper
year to be the subject of a public idea forum and a normalized architectural competition, based on the beacon system of EXPO2067. The sites come in every shape or form. Every opportunity is used and explored to find sites to build the beacons: residual spaces bought at a cheap price, open public spaces given by the city, alleys, airspaces over buildings given by the owners… No stone is left unturned. PRACTICAL CONSIDERATION 3: VISITORS Although more low-key than usual world exhibitions, EXPO2067 when at maturity, will form the backbone of a different way of visiting the city. It will guide visitors to different parts of Montreal. Montreal the touristic, Montreal the pretty, Montreal the rugged. Montrealers will welcome the attention the world gives to the previously unvisited neighbourhoods, they will grow confident in their value and in what they
have to offer. To help finance the day-to-day operation of the beacons, and to give them a human presence, EXPO2067 is reviving the original expo 67 “Logexpo” and adapting it to the new millennium. This program that saw thousands of visitors being hosted in families in 1967 becomes a series of guest rooms, integrated to the beacons, being rented out. These guest rooms can also be reserved by the community organizations temporarily when they need to host a guest. These unusual guest rooms have an intrinsic charm and help connect visitors to all parts of the city.
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RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY digital composition printed on white paper BEACON CROWDFUNDING digital composition printed on white paper
Montreal Ornithology Club OPEN HOUSE! Come visit our new installations at the beacon! • Logexpo guestroom is ready! • New nest boxes and feeders installed! • New specialized plantations!
The Beacon is Ready! Montréal Single People Association
Ribbon-cutting ceremony invitation notice
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April 2-3, 2025 9AM-6PM
Rue Drolet, Villeray
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COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION FLYERS digital compositions printed on colored paper
SUBJECT: URGENT MEETING ON SEPT
DEAR FRIENDS OF MONTREAL YOUT
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AS YOU MAY KNOW, ON SEPTEMBER ANNUAL INSPECTION OF THE UNDER IN CÔTE-ST-LUC.
WE WOULD LIKE TO CALL YOU FOR A OPTIONS FOR THE FUTURE, ON SEPTE
WE ARE TAKING THE SITUATION VER FURTHER NOTICE, BUT WE ARE COM SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
MONTREAL YOUTH SINCE 1957
REGARDS, MANAGEMENT TEAM
YOU ARE INVITED TO AN EXTRAORDINARY MEETING TO DISCUSS THE MONTREAL ARCHERY CLUB’S
BEACON FOR EXPO2067 Will be present: - Members of the expo2067 official organization - Architects that will be participating in the competition
Bring your good mood and your good ideas! Friday decembre 2, 2022 7.30pm - 9.30pm Community Centre For more info, email rachel.arrows78@yahoo.ca
T MEETING ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2069
F MONTREAL YOUTH,
OW, ON SEPTEMBER 8, A MAJOR DEFECT WAS DISCOVERED DURING THE TION OF THE UNDERGROUND POOL AT THE EXPO2067 BEACON LOCATION
TO CALL YOU FOR AN URGENT MEETING IN ORDER TO DISCUSS OUR E FUTURE, ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2069, IN OUR OFFICES.
THE SITUATION VERY SERIOUSLY. THE POOL REMAINS CLOSED UNTIL , BUT WE ARE COMMITED TO DOING EVERYTHING IN OUR POWER TO LEM.
EAM
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expo ALOGY CL NER UB MI
OF
M O U N T- R OYA
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MEMBERS MEETING BEACON EXHIBITION PLANNING WE NEED YOUR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE NEXT EXHIBITION OF MINERALS INSIDE THE BEACON.
YOUR OPINION COUNTS. BRING FRIENDS. FRIDAY JANUARY 7, 2046 MINERALOGY CLUB OFFICES TOWN OF MOUNT-ROYAL
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GUIDE BOOK MENTION digital composition printed on white paper
LOGEXPO RESERVATION digital composition printed on white paper
LOGEXPO TYPICAL GUEST ROOM, MINIMAL CONDITION cardboard and steel wire GUEST ROOM PLAN, SECTION AND STRUCTURE laser print on white paper
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5 FICTITIOUS BEACONS
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A series of fictitious scenarios were constructed in order to illustrate the original manifesto. They take place in 5 archetypal neighbourhoods (Industrial Montreal, Central Montreal, Downtown Montreal, Suburban Montreal, Park Montreal) that represent a recognizable glimpse of the city to which any Montrealer can attach his interpretations based on his own experiences. A series of 20 images show the evolution of the beacons, and more importantly, of the city around them in 4 scenes taking place within 75 years. The authors don’t try to imagine the future like in a sci-fi novel. They attempt to represent the effect of time in a purer way, out of history, with our current references. Spatial models and composed images are used to zoom in on experiential qualities of the beacons and on their surprising relations with the city.
The scenarios are built in an odd imaginary world; close enough to ours to evoke images, with an unexpected twist that relates to the realm of dreams and fantasy. And yet such fictitious scenarios are not totally unbuildable and could see the light of day given a real desire. EXPO2067 is a peculiar thing: it transforms architecture into a human-like character, with a will of its own. Architecture as a poetic generator for the city and its people. Architecture that marvels at the small things. Architecture that questions, that generates debates. Architecture that hopes. Architecture that mirrors our insignificance and our fragile beauty. Architecture that jokes around and that reflects the absurdity of it all. A positive architecture which acknowledges the glory and the misery of life as part of the powerful whole.
CENTRAL MONTREAL expanded insulation foam
SUBURBAN MONTREAL expanded insulation foam
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PARK MONTREAL expanded insulation foam
DOWNTOWN MONTREAL expanded insulation foam
INDUSTRIAL MONTREAL expanded insulation foam
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2067
2031
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2082
BEACON MODEL cardboard and steel wire
BIRDS AND STAIRS
digital composition printed on white paper
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Beacon for the Montreal Ornithology Club in Central Montreal
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2017
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2067
2031
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2082
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Beacon for the Montreal Youth in Suburban Montreal
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SLIDE AND HORIZON digital composition printed on white paper BEACON MODEL cardboard and steel wire
2017
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2067
2031
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Beacon for the Mineralogy Club of Mount-Royal in Park Montreal
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FAKE ROCKS AND REAL ROCKS digital composition printed on white paper BEACON MODEL cardboard and steel wire
2017
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2067
2031
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2082
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Beacon for the Montreal Single People Association in Downtown Montreal
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SINGLE? digital composition printed on white paper BEACON MODEL cardboard and steel wire
2017
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2067
2031
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2082
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Beacon for the Montreal Archery Club in Industrial Montreal
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WILLIAM TELL AND THE HIGHWAY digital composition printed on white paper BEACON MODEL cardboard and steel wire
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References: Bernd and Hila Becher Louis Kahn Constant Cedric Price Kenzo Tange Bernard Tschumi Eric Owen-Moss
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References: Kenzo Tange - Komazawa Olympic Tower, Tokyo Broken Column, Desert de Retz Haus des Meeres, Vienna Victor Jean Nicolle - La Colone Trajane Neptune Island Lighthouse Menhir de Champ-Dolent
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References: Yona Friedman Rem Koolhaas - Exodus Gizeh pyramid, Egypt High Line, New York Kiyonori Kikutake - Marine City Aldo Van Eyck - Playground in Amsterdam
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