Montréal
The city
occupies a special soft spot because of Gino Vannelli and the ELP concert at the Olympic Stadium. In the underground
shopping arcades and buildings, chunks of 60-70’s Brutalist architectural works are
still there as if going back in time.
If one
concludes that it is an indication of this city once an avant-garde stronghold
and not any more, the people here are trying to inject new life and dispel this general impression.
A progressive
interior at Eaton Centre? It is remarkable
to find that the management would embrace the idea of using
recycled materials to decorate their shopping mall.
Besides disused cardboards re-invigorated as trees, there are plastic
bottles and coat hangers that have been converted to represent the sea world. Could this approach be a trendsetter against
wasteful seasonal decorations common in most cities?
My
attempt to visit Habitat 67 from the old town by no other means but walking - it proved to be a miserable failure after 60
minutes of criss-cross wading along dirt-filled service roads. A simple lesson: These buildings are much
farther than it appears. To be there, one must get a car or
taxi.
En route,
the gigantic cement plant with compelling mega-structures makes up as consolation. The interplays of scale, functionality,
volumetric relationship and even weathering are some of the engaging factors
available for architectural appreciation.
(photo from Architectural Record)
This is
how close one would like to visit the legendary clustering of buildings
designed by the home grown architect Moshe Safdie (1938- ). It is one of the few
realizations heavily influenced by the Metabolist Movement and Plug-in-City of
the late 1960s.
(image
from www.cbc.ca)
Place des
Arts with art museum, opera house and theatre.
The latest addition would be the pending completion of the new concert
hall that houses the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
I made the
choice to see ‘La Triennale Québécoise 2011’ by leaving other
options. The ‘no photo’
restriction was a bit disappointing upon entrance. Let alone this minor setback, most exhibits there
were pedantic and it was obvious that many visitors were left baffled. There were plenty of stone faces and some disgruntled
remarks. Personally I find the
exhibition self-indulgent and the curatorial direction too contrived for its
own good.
Well,
there are interesting impromptu works around the street corner to maintain good
spirit.
The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, free to
enter due to the inauguration of a new wing, was another compensation.
Québec City
Looking
out from the train towards Québec where maple leaves began to change
colours. A few shots later, the photo still
could not be quite near Gerhard Richter’s blurring landscape imagery.
A place
to recommend for staying: Le Château du Faubourg on Rue Saint-Jean. It is a self-declared B&B joint, at least
the price suggests so. The building is
decorated throughout in tasteful classical language. For breakfast, fine bone china and napkin
tucked in silver ring on Vienna ivory tablecloth were provided. Not to mention, the food itself was a comparable delight.
Not trying to portray a city of melancholy in my 3 day visit, but Québec City in October with few visitors and harsh weather has already gotten wintry outlooks.
Not trying to portray a city of melancholy in my 3 day visit, but Québec City in October with few visitors and harsh weather has already gotten wintry outlooks.
Gale
force wind along St. Lawrence River with choppy waters and swaying tree
branches.
Hammershøi styled Danish roofscape
revisited at Vieux-Québec.
Courtyard
at the Laval University School of Architecture.
Urban sculptures
rather than street furniture near the railway station.
On a
rainy day, there are more people on the mural than those in the street.
Quiet
shopping at Quartier Petit Champlain
(3 images
from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture)
Looking
forward to the next visit after OMA’s extension to Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec which is scheduled to be
completed in Fall 2013.
