Over three years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, the Îlot Voyageur still sits unfinished.
Photo du jour : Îlot Voyageur
By Devin Alfaro
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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered
Canadian Urbanism Uncovered
Read more articles by Devin Alfaro
Over three years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, the Îlot Voyageur still sits unfinished.
11 comments
Whenever I see this building, I always think of this: http://ryugyonghotel.com/photos/ryugyong-hotel-tower-2.jpg
And even it’s getting finished now!
Construction on the Delta hotel on Sherbrooke at City Councillors was halted for years, and the tower stood empty and unused for a long time before someone else took it up and finished it. I remember seeing rats running out of the empty building at night. So it does happen here, occasionally. I don’t know how much damage recurring winters can do to the unclad concrete.
@ Chris: That’s amazing! I had never made a connection, but that totally works. I really hope they don’t just encase it in reflective windows like some crappy 1980s office building.
L’îlot voyageur, c’est un peu notre Sagrada Familia…. sans Gaudi.
Which is exactly what is being done in Pyongyang right now:
http://www.nkeconwatch.com/nk-uploads/ryugyong-hotel.jpg
It makes me think of houses in rural Greece. When you travel a bit outside the tourist spots you see tons of houses that look partly finished, but also partly inhabited. It was explained to me that it’s difficult to get a loan to build a new house, so people build what they can with the money they have and then add more floors or rooms when they save up enough to continue. The result of which is a lot of raw concrete buildings with steel bars sticking out the sides and rust running down the walls.
The other thing it makes me think of is the episode of Ab Fab, where Edina can’t decide how to redecorate the kitchen after it’s burned down and they’ve just got bare concrete and a workbench inside it. Patsy says to her, “Sweetie… maybe THIS is fabulous!”
It’s better than was there before!
If you want to publicize another disgrace/eyesore in Montreal, the chain link fence around the parking lot for the regional health authority on St-denis between Roy and Cherrier. Suburban megamalls have better landscaping than this hideous chain link fence, which could be replaced with a nice hedge. The fence doesn’t do anything for security, as there are big openings for cars on two sides. it’s my “favorite” plateau eyesore. Please help change this monstrosity for a better world.
I think the mediocrity of the Ilot’s architecture is made worse by the fact that the city fast-tracked this, bypassed the Conseil de patrimoine, and demolished 150 yr old housing in order to …what? Line the pockets of friends in the construction industry?
Stupid question I know – but what exactly is this supposed to be?
Is this part of the UQAM expansion? Or is it in some way associated with the bus terminal?
Totally confused – can any one pass me some deets here?
Cheers
taylor.
thsi is yet another failure in the littany of provincial urban-design attempts to displace the primarily anglophone pole of Montreal’s downtown (think ste catherine from guy to university) to a franco-centric east end location.
Taylor, according to this Le Devoir article:
http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/173935/ilot-voyageur-la-nouvelle-gare-d-autobus-pourrait-demeurer-vide
The building was supposed to house a new intercity bus terminal, UQAM student housing as well as retail and office space.
Once the bus terminal was moved, the developer (and current owner of the Station Centrale) would have demolished the old bus terminal to build a new office tower/UQAM faculty.
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