Montreal, Quebec
Urban
Competition, Finalist
The Place des Canopées redefines the relationship between humans and non-humans, and between city and nature. The project fully embraces its duality: the public square acts as a civic heart, while the savanna and woodland serve as natural refuges dedicated to non-human life. These two extremes are connected by a gradient of transitional spaces, where groves and planted features serve a dual purpose: they offer living habitats for wildlife while creating places for play, exploration, and encounters for visitors. The rammed-earth monolith, a strong signal element, embodies this logic: it marks the entrance to the square while serving as a nesting structure for Chimney Swifts—an endangered species that now nests only in human-made structures. It stands as a powerful symbol of a cohabitation that must be reinvented, reminding us that each architectural gesture can support both human use and biodiversity.
Place des Canopées thus proposes a new balance: a space where city and nature respond to one another, where civic life and biodiversity coexist, and where humans reclaim their role as stewards of the living world at the heart of the contemporary urban landscape.
In collaboration with Nouveaux Voisins, LN Paysage, Enclume and WSP.
Urban
Competition, Finalist
The Place des Canopées redefines the relationship between humans and non-humans, and between city and nature. The project fully embraces its duality: the public square acts as a civic heart, while the savanna and woodland serve as natural refuges dedicated to non-human life. These two extremes are connected by a gradient of transitional spaces, where groves and planted features serve a dual purpose: they offer living habitats for wildlife while creating places for play, exploration, and encounters for visitors. The rammed-earth monolith, a strong signal element, embodies this logic: it marks the entrance to the square while serving as a nesting structure for Chimney Swifts—an endangered species that now nests only in human-made structures. It stands as a powerful symbol of a cohabitation that must be reinvented, reminding us that each architectural gesture can support both human use and biodiversity.
Place des Canopées thus proposes a new balance: a space where city and nature respond to one another, where civic life and biodiversity coexist, and where humans reclaim their role as stewards of the living world at the heart of the contemporary urban landscape.
In collaboration with Nouveaux Voisins, LN Paysage, Enclume and WSP.