New UdeM campus opens two buildings
The two massive glass boxes that constitute the new Université de Montréal campus are officially opening Friday. I tried to photograph them from the middle distance a couple of months ago and didn’t have much success, but you can see here in the Gazette photos, by a skilled photojournalist, that they’re not amenable to being photographed, as they’re so large and tend to half vanish into the sky no matter what you do.
Update: CBC shows us the new campus, and Le Devoir’s survey of the negative side of the whole thing, including an excerpt from an open letter from SMD which I mention in comments below.
Max 08:23 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
The place looks gruesome from the photos.
Chris 09:05 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I biked around there maybe a month ago exploring, it is pretty brutal, almost entirely paved (with stones at least, not asphalt). Very little greenspace, it’s nothing like McGill’s campus for example.
CE 09:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
The place is terrible but I’ve definitely been enjoying my new bike ride from Parc Ex through Outremont! No underpasses and and I get to avoid riding on Parc for quite a while.
DeWolf 12:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
I’m not a fan of the glass boxes, and I think the footbridge is ugly (though undeniably useful). But the surrounding area will be quite nice when it’s filled in with the residential developments that are currently under construction. There’s a triangular plaza with a fountain that will eventually be fronted by retail. I’ve already seen kids playing in it at dusk. And even if it’s all hard paving, there are enough trees that it will be quite shady in a decade or so.
Faiz Imam 16:21 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
Oh hey, the head planner is Pierre St-Cyr, I know that guy. He’s one of the most influential leaders of the Canadian sustainable planning movement. He’s great, one of my major intellectual influences.
That Q&A is worth a read. the entire campus has only 100 parking spots, and the entire residential development adds only another 300. He lays out some really good points about why and how they are adding new streets, and how they try to integrate with the local immigrant community.
The Gentrification concerns are still legitimate, but maximizing the use that site was a massive opportunity. Building ~1000 new residences is a pretty great, as are those public gardens.
I’m still not clear why the design had to be so spartan and lacking on trees though. Perhaps its something that will grow into, and they are just not done yet?
Kate 17:41 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
how they try to integrate with the local immigrant community.
Faiz Imam, what colour is that Kool-Aid? I’ve just read a letter by someone who comments here, who lives in Park Ex, and who says the university has rejected attempts to “integrate” with the existing community in the neighbourhood. So I have my doubts about your starry-eyed view.
CE 17:45 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
If they were actually interested in integrating the project with Parc Ex, they would have moved the tracks to the south rather than the north (which would have had the added effect of making metro access better). Any mention of Parc-Ex and its “immigrant communities” is pure lip service and nothing more.
Faiz Imam 18:55 on 2019-09-20 Permalink
OK, i’ll take that comment back, I was speaking from pure ignorance on that point, basing all my information from the article.
See? that wasn’t too hard.
Kate 09:18 on 2019-09-21 Permalink
I’m not sure what you’re implying with your tone, Faiz Imam. Nobody was giving you a hard time.
Tim 14:38 on 2019-09-21 Permalink
I wonder if the people opposed to the Outremont parking law changes are singing a different tune now. If anything the changes need to be more restrictive so that locals won’t have to compete for parking with university employees and students..