An urban gateway to East Montreal
To celebrate the arrival point from the Jacques-Cartier bridge onto the island of Montreal, we proposed a landscape that engages the symbolic identity of the city. Nicknamed La ville aux cent clochers (City of the Hundred Steeples), Montreal has a rich religious heritage, and its importance is evidenced by the cross at the summit of Mount Royal, a visual presence throughout the city. We proposed a second, green cross: a forest at the city’s gateway planted in a cross-shaped plan. The monumental Jacques-Cartier bridge is likened to a giant rosary collecting a chain of peripheral highways; the 375 m x 175 m park in which it culminates works at on similarly grand scale. Leading axially to an existing church by Ernest Cormier, a dialogue is created between the green cross, the infrastructure that it houses, the religious institution that it makes reference to, and the iconic identity of Montreal that it upholds.
