Bourgeois / Lechasseur architectes

The Place des Gens de Mer

Bourgeois / Lechasseur architectes
7. November 2016

PROJECT DETAILS

Location
Cap-aux-Meules, Magdalen Islands

Architect
Bourgeois / Lechasseur architectes

General Contractor
Constructions des Îles

Year of Construction
2014

Photos
Adrien Williams

Photo: Adrien Williams (All photographs courtesy of v2com)

The purpose of this project is to grant a second life to this strategic site and create a gathering place for passersby. The Place des gens de mer is an initiative of the Municipality of Magdalen Islands aiming to pay tribute to workers at sea.

Photo: Adrien Williams

The Place's various features were set up on the former plant's foundations. The layout of the features is reminiscent of the plant's processing chains and long sorting tables. Despite its strategic location, at the centre of the port zone, the Place's immediate surroundings are not very welcoming. The idea was for the Place to be closed in on itself. An openwork wooden stockade surrounds the site to ensure some intimacy and guide passersby along a discovery path. The undulation represents a stormy sea. The Place features a service wing, a belvedere, a public market zone, a stage, and an agora. Protruding and oscillating wooden counters and benches represent the docks.

Photo: Adrien Williams

The Place des gens de mer is part of a larger project: Le parcours insulaire. This public place is the first in a series of 12 panoramic sites chosen for their photogenic character and their importance to the heritage of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. The other sites along the Parcours insulaire consist of signs, interpretation aids, and interactive terminals telling the site's history. At this Place, a poem by a local artist takes you on the journey, while the other sites have a storyteller telling the stories of the site. Eastern cedar and marine plywood are used for their resistance in saline environments.

Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Photo: Adrien Williams
Image: Bourgeois / Lechasseur architectes

PROJECT DETAILS

Location
Cap-aux-Meules, Magdalen Islands

Architect
Bourgeois / Lechasseur architectes

General Contractor
Constructions des Îles

Year of Construction
2014

Photos
Adrien Williams

Other articles in this category

The Vibes Co-Space
3 weeks ago
Beijing City Library
1 month ago
Metropolitan Station
1 month ago
Aviva Studios
on 10/18/23
Unnamed House
on 7/27/23