QUARRY OF OPPORTUNITY

QUARRY OF OPPORTUNITY

HISTORY
In the years following WWII the Francon quarry yielded limestone for the construction of Montréal’s buildings and infrastructure. Since 1984, a part of the quarry was converted to deposit the city’s waste snow. Today the quarry, which remains inactive, is up to 75 meters deep and about 1800m x 400m; a gaping wound in the neighbourhood of Saint Michel in Montreal.

PROBLEM
The residential sector located adjacent to the quarry suffers from this physical barrier. There is almost no developable land available and serious housing problems exist, with poor housing conditions and a high population density relative to Montreal. Although the quarry is a potential site for new development, it has inherited significant damage to its environment in the form of 2 black water lakes, courtesy of Montreal’s waste snow.

SOLUTION
In this self-directed studio, I propose that the site may be developed and tailored to the future population of Saint Michel. A new cooperative housing development, owned by businesses that create jobs and directly benefit families with children, will set up in the quarry to form a new neighbourhood that offers an alternate lifestyle. Leaving the bottom of the site undeveloped, the lakes are remediated and one is converted for leisure use in a new public park, to serve the city of Montreal at large, while the other is converted into a solar pond.

Individual Work | M2 Studio | Fall 2015