Quebec, Quebec
Urban
International Competition, 3rd prize
The modernist dichotomy between "natural" and "man-made" is increasingly obsolete in understanding our relationship with the environment. Today’s Beauport landscape is one that is profoundly hybrid, where human interventions are deeply interwoven with natural processes, pushing us to move beyond a nostalgic, picturesque approach. While the 1976 highway embankment that erased the river’s original floodplains was undoubtedly an ecological disaster, attempting to restore an "original" state of the lost landscape would be to repeat the same mistake, but in reverse. Acknowledging that humans have irreversibly transformed the landscape in this Anthropocene era does not mean abandoning the pursuit of a more just balance between human and natural systems. Instead, can we envision, in the zones of tension between city and nature, a more generative hybridity — a deeper encounter — where the human artifacts of the past and those yet to come merge into a symbiotic relationship with the living world? Littoral Est explores how biodiversity can be enriched without resorting to the image of pristine, untouched nature. The project embraces all the historical layers of the landscape, including those that have contributed most to disconnection. This reintegration of modern artifacts with lush wilderness becomes the image of a new alliance of the living world.
In collaboration with l’Enclume and Nouveaux Voisins
Urban
International Competition, 3rd prize
The modernist dichotomy between "natural" and "man-made" is increasingly obsolete in understanding our relationship with the environment. Today’s Beauport landscape is one that is profoundly hybrid, where human interventions are deeply interwoven with natural processes, pushing us to move beyond a nostalgic, picturesque approach. While the 1976 highway embankment that erased the river’s original floodplains was undoubtedly an ecological disaster, attempting to restore an "original" state of the lost landscape would be to repeat the same mistake, but in reverse. Acknowledging that humans have irreversibly transformed the landscape in this Anthropocene era does not mean abandoning the pursuit of a more just balance between human and natural systems. Instead, can we envision, in the zones of tension between city and nature, a more generative hybridity — a deeper encounter — where the human artifacts of the past and those yet to come merge into a symbiotic relationship with the living world? Littoral Est explores how biodiversity can be enriched without resorting to the image of pristine, untouched nature. The project embraces all the historical layers of the landscape, including those that have contributed most to disconnection. This reintegration of modern artifacts with lush wilderness becomes the image of a new alliance of the living world.
In collaboration with l’Enclume and Nouveaux Voisins