ART, SPACE, AND THE ALLEY In the context of the dense urban neighborhood of Montreal’s Mile End, buildings reinforce the street and mold the space of the yards and alleys to their backs with irregular, projecting shapes. The site for this museum proposal is opportune because it is one of the few areas in the surrounding context that does not reinforce the street. Unfortunately, the space is designated as a parking lot and little public activity is allowed to take place. In the redesign of the site there was a conscious choice to leave the street side of the site empty, activating it as a space for the public, and allowing the alleyway to serve as the spine for the new building. In this way, the museum reverses the focus of vernacular Mile End architecture by reinforcing the alley. The museum is also a theoretical exploration of a great incongruence in museum design; the requirement for receding, practical spaces against the creation of a place of importance which distinguishes itself from other institutions through its architecture. The earliest concept sketches of the building envisioned it as a network of projecting spaces tied around a centralized circulation core situated at the back of the site. As the design began to materialize as a three-dimensional model, it became clear that there would have to be some kind of reconciliation between the form in the original sketches and the requirement for a functioning museum program. Many of the airborne projections were dragged down to rest upon a base volume along the building spine, but one remains, stretching away from the constraints of the site, context and practical architecture. The main volume was simplified into two geometries constituting the gallery and public space respectively, both spanning from one end of the site to rest on top of its constituent at the other end in an ‘X’ shape. The geometry of the gallery space is considered as opaque, heavy architecture, providing the separation and insulation required for complete immersion. The materiality of the functional public space is considered as a translucent, lighter architecture, providing the natural light and openness required for productive work environments and a view of the city to orient visitors. The remaining projection is then considered as a dual space in itself, with both a gallery and public space, where insulated gallery ‘pockets’ and open public areas with views to the exterior exist in unison. As the building footprint only occupies about half of the site, a lot of focus was given to the landscaping and entryway. Depressions are carved into the terrain from either street corner as a way of extending the alley into the visitor experience and dramatizing the entrance threshold; as people reach the reception space on the basement floor the 3-storey circulation atrium is revealed only after a descent. The museum is ultimately a celebration of space, art, and their collaboration in the human experience; the culminating, cantilevered projection serving as the transitory architectural element which binds these elements of the architecture together.
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Title / Rendered EW Section, 1:200 Centre / Design Progression Sketches Opposite / Site Plan Progression Sketches