Another illustration of Montreal flair. Though completed in 2008, I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it.
Designed by Affleck + de la Riva architects, Robert Desjardins, landscape architect, and Raphaëlle de Groot, artist, and completed in 2008, Square des Frères-Charon is located at the crossroads of two historic streets in one of the oldest sectors of Montreal. The project was the recipient of three design awards in 2009 …
Square des Frères-Charon is part of a network of public spaces organized along the axis of McGill Street, an historic thoroughfare that links the Old Port to the contemporary city center.
The square offers the experience of a contemporary urban landscape inspired by the original vocation of the site, a prairie wetland where the Charon brothers built a windmill in the seventeenth century. The square is an experience in contrast and connection where the prairie wetland, surrounded by the city, takes on new dimensions and raises public awareness of the history and geography of the site.
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More here from My Design Stories.
The Square des Frères-Charron used to be the forecourt or parvis for the terminus of the Montreal and South Shore Counties railway, a sort of interurban that connected numerous small towns to Montreal until the early 20th century. The lines in the glass on the building in the second photo are the tracks branching out at the terminus, which sat where that building is now. It’s a great space in a rapidly changing neighbourhood, and it’s good to see more awareness in the ROC of just how awesome some of the recent urban design is in Montreal.
There’s hardly any people in any of those pics (maybe to highlight the design?)
That’s “flair,” not “flare,” unless it’s Montreal bell-bottoms. (Just nit-picking–I love the blog!, and the square!)
We visited this square in the summer and it is much more active. If I remember correctly there is a metro station beneath it too, or at the adjacent block. The grassed areas are lovely.