So, aside from the endless parade of beautiful women, one of my fave things about Mtl is the architecture.
City planning here has been a long and calculated process, with the idea that the whole city has to have a certain continuity--both with the natural landscape (i.e. Mount Royal) and with the existing built landscape (i.e. all the other buildings).
In the pics here, there are a few examples of how old churches were taken into consideration and even incorporated into new buildings.
The skyscraper, built in 1988, reflects the old church in front of it both literally (in the glass) and in its design, in that both at street level and on the top, the windows use a caathedral style. Also, the skyscraper bought part of the church property, and so donated a large section of the third floor, in perpetuity, to be used as the church's "basement", since the Metro was built under the church. (And that's a whole other story that involved a year of the church being suspended over an open pit.)
In the other pic, you see an old church that had fallen on hard times but, rather than just tear it down as they do everywhere else, it was incorporated into the new UQAM (u. de quebec a montreal) buildings that were built around it. When you sit in the student centre at UQAM, the stained glass windows and cathedral cieiling are still there, and it creates a pretty stunning effect.
They take their history seriously here. The result is a pretty amazing mix of old and new.
2 comments:
In Winnipeg they like to tear down the building and leave the front standing so it's a new building with an old face. ie. red river college, west end cultural centre
I love the church witht he red doors. Living in paradise isn't always easy.
Those are great pictures dude, they really communicate what you're trying to say.
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