Einstein’s discoveries overthrew Newtonian ideas, and yet most of us still see space and time in absolute terms, while the passage of time depends on our state of motion. In ‘The Elegant Universe,’ Brian Greene seeks to resolve the incompatibles of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics through String Theory, requiring that we drastically change our understanding of space, matter, and time....
 A small house of 250m2 could act as an experimental probe into an architecture of more than four dimensions; the experiential phenomena of the house will be a crucial factor. The house should also be inhabitable. Materials, from molecular aspects to geometric properties will be important as will space and time. The house will act like a “thought experiment.”

 Steven Holl

Flathouse

The form of the Flathouse was generated from three perspectival points of view – “ideal” views where space appears to be flat.  

Two outside points are located at opposite ends of the house – at these points the house appears flattened; an indoor point also flattens the perception of the space.   From these points of view, the space of the house are developed in a perspectival method, in lieu of the more conventional orthographic method.

From these crucial points, the volumes – and third dimension of the house – are distributed, always respecting the privileged points of view.

By negating foreshortening in the construction of the house, the dimension of depth collapses, thus creating a tension which makes space momentarily oscillate between two and three dimensions.  This tension present in the “flat” moments of the house is akin to anamorphosis, a distortion where an image appears to “lift off” the surface and float in a virtual space. 

Anamorphosis allows to conceal in a single glance, one or more dimensions of spacetime reality.  In this way the totality can only be misread, as one must leave a certain position to perceive what seem to be otherwise hidden or non-existent dimensions.  As one advances, a threshold is crossed into a realm of dimensions going beyond the projected appearance.

In this manner, the hidden dimensions of the Flathouse can only be seized through one’s movement. 

At the two outside privileged points of view, the Flathouse’s facades appears as either orthogonal vertical strips, or at the opposite end, as a “stereotypical image” of a house, both facades being in fact oblique walls and ramping walkways.

The crucial interior point of view is located at the threshold (entrance corridor), revealing a reassuring orthogonal geometry of the house. The interior space of the house is generated from this point of view.  As one progresses through the house from this point, the idealized anamorphic view is distorted (the proposed perspective goes awry), as to reveal the true geometry of the house and its spaces.   For example, what appears to be the wall of an enclosed space, is in fact a ramp to a mezzanine, and what seems to be a vertical window at the end of the mezzanine, is in fact a skylight. 

The Flathouse proposes an open living space with dinning area and lounge, overlooked by a mezzanine, a counter surface for food preparation, a shelving/partition unit, and a sleeping quarter at a lower level. 

As an initial interpretation of the site, the mapping strategy focused on what is seen from the summit of Mount Royal rather than the mountain itself. Consequently, the documentation of the mountain intuitively became a recording of the city’s whole "summit"; recurring images of high structures were overlapped, enabling a discovery of the inherent similarities between the "natural" mountain and the surrounding towers. The desire to create a hybrid place with a surreal quality -one that blends the vertigo of the skyscraper with the natural setting of the elevated park- was the main motivation behind the project.

The Overground City uses the mountain as a tool to understand Montreal’s distinct skyline. Analogous to a walk on top of the city’s highest structures, the chosen path subverts the notion of orientation by highlighting significant heights instead of twodimensional points. 

The project's intention is to "reorient" the user by means of altitude datums. Each chosen "station" seeks to offer a perceptual experience that is an intertwining of physical ascension, vision, and memory. The first point offers a view of the Olympic stadium while standing at the same height; the following locations correspond to principal downtown towers culminating with a self-referent point, the height of the mountain itself. As a cultural landmark that functions primarily at night, the "summit" of Place-Ville Marie was chosen for further development. Its cruciform plan as well as its lighthouse effect was juxtaposed to its immediate counterpart, the adjacent cross. From the corresponding height of 224.4 metres, the view of the skyscraper from the mountain is deliberately made impossible, emphasising the surrounding forest that removes the impression of altitude. After the physical experience of ascension, a visual path begins around the box. This vertical marker is a window that frames views of Mount Royal’s distinctive features and symbols seen from this position. The box contains transparent found images, "spectacular views" taken from the top of Place Ville Marie, which collapse with the "real" view of the mountain at this corresponding height.

A "collage" of the real view and of the printed image occurs, creating a new reality specific to the location. Like "an aperture of unreality that opens magically unto us in a real world", the box/frame is "an imaginary island that floats surrounded by reality on all sides"1. A temporal experience that momentarily splits us from reality and moves us towards a fictional and ideal space/place is achieved by a simultaneous perception of real views, still images, transparencies, translucencies, and reflections. As a device that expresses the reciprocal relationship that exists between the tower and the mountain, the experience becomes one of "defamiliarization" by a deliberate superimposition and blurring of the city’s most visible symbols, thus triggering a new way of understanding the mountain as a true centre-ville.

1. José Ortega y Gasset, "Meditations on the Frame" in
 Perspecta 26 (New York: Rizzoli, 1990), 185-190.

Thesis project, Master in History and Theory of Architecture, McGill University, Montréal, 2003 

Le Centre Canadien d’Architecture (CCA) organise une charrette de design urbain sur le thème du ponceau.

Ce projet propose un pont qui combine toutes les qualités de ponts types et nous permet également d’expérimenter la ballade sur l’eau. Présenté en forme de planche remplie d’eau, une véritable coupe dans le canal, le projet montre comment un pont de géométrie variable peut nous introduire à l’expérience authentique du canal. 

 Le jury souligne la forme aboutie du projet et son expression plastique. L’impeccable construction de cet objet autonome, une espèce de «planche aquarium», son impact singulier au sein de l’exposition et sa capacité de bien communiquer l’idée du projet, était très apprécié de la part du jury.

Premier prix, Charrette du CCA 2000.

Projet exposé à la biennale de montréal 2000 et sur le site du Centre Canadien d'Architecture

équipe: Frederic Caplette, Pierre Gendron, Katherine Lapierre, Tam Nguyen

Dans le cadre du Printemps du Québec en France, 1999
Du 9 au 24 juin 1999
CCA, Montréal, Maison Shaughnessy
Institut français d’architecture, Paris

Présentée simultanément à la Maison Shaughnessy du Centre canadien d’architecture à Montréal, à l’espace Callot de l’Institut français d’architecture à Paris, et sur Internet.

Le Centre canadien d’architecture (Montréal) et l’Institut français d’architecture (Paris) présentent Opération [ Interface ], une exposition / œuvre en cours qui conjugue architecture, photographie et nouvelles technologies.

Opération [ Interface ] est la sixième d’une série d’expositions présentées dans la salle Sottsass de la Maison Shaughnessy, toutes consacrées aux enjeux et aux explorations les plus récents en architecture. Mettant en valeur des installations créées par des architectes, ces expositions ont été conçues pour dynamiser la culture architecturale contemporaine et y participer activement. Elles ont permis au CCA de présenter le travail d’architectes engagés dans l’exploration contemporaine, des créateurs dont la pratique témoigne d’un désir de résister aux nombreuses pressions commerciales, économiques et techniques qui s’exercent aujourd’hui dans le domaine de la conception architecturale.

Opération [ Interface ] propose une projection continue de photographies numériques réalisées par huit photographes du Québec et de France. Les œuvres sont transmises simultanément à la Maison Shaughnessy du CCA, à l’espace Callot de l’Institut français d’architecture (Ifa), ainsi que sur Internet. Il en résulte une image kaléidoscopique du travail actuel des architectes à Montréal et à Paris. Cette exploration singulière de la dialectique entre le virtuel et le réel interroge les liens qui unissent trois sites : la ville extérieure, avec son urbanisme et son architecture ; la ville intérieure, avec ses réseaux et ses citoyens en transit ; et la ville virtuelle, avec ses réseaux de coordination et ses modes de fonctionnement.

The open HOUSE began as a study of typology. The purpose was to design the framework of a house with all the necessary amenitites consolidated into one central core. The remainder of the house is left open to be planned and subdivised as required by the users. It is a skeleton with working organs but no defined head or tail.
 The affordability comes from the modular construction. The house width is set at 16’-0” to allow off-the-shelf floor joists to span from wall to wall. The ceiling heights are at 8’-0” for standard drywall panels and, as well, to allow four floors to fit within the same building envelope that traditionally held three 12’-0” floors.

The buildability results from the need for skilled trades to be utilized only on the core. The core could be prefabricated or constructed on site as millwork. Volunteers would construct the rest of the house. Lastly, the contextuality comes not from the language, but from the history of the neighbourhood. Traditionally, it was an expressive, fresh demonstration of the architecture of the time. The open HOUSE respects the proportions and setbacks of the street, however, the image is decidedly progressive. 

Selected project, group exhibition at the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, 6 - 24 january 1999.

Project team: Pierre Gendron, Derek Hardy, Susan Monk

Related link: Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture

La maison vice-versa

La maison est née d’un désir, celui de vivre l’immensité du territoire québécois comme une extension de l’habité. La topographie module un paysage projetant le regard vers l’horizon. Un épais mur, réminiscent des maisons traditionnelles, contient les espaces de service et fixe l’habitation profondément dans le sol. Un volume en bois s’accroche à ce mur et permet le déploiement des espaces de vie. 

La maison est conçue pour s’implanter sur une surface correspondant aux dimensions d’un terrain typique de banlieue. À l’égard des critères inhérents au concept du Nouveau Confort, trois principes généraux sont proposés:

1.L’utilisation du sol comme masse thermique permet de régulariser naturellement la température ambiante de la maison, selon les saisons. En réduisant la surface de la maison exposée aux intempéries, cette stratégie maximise l’étanchéité aux pressions d’air, tout en minimisant les coûts et l’entretien exigé par un revêtement extérieur.

2. L’orientation de la maison par rapport à l’articulation des espaces intérieurs permet de réduire la superficie des ouvertures du côté nord, alors que l’élévation sud profite d’une exposition maximale au soleil. De plus, le plancher du séjour agit comme une masse thermique permettant des gains énergétiques lorsque les rayons solaires chauffent cette surface en hiver.

3. La spatialité de la maison favorise la circulation naturelle de l’air, tout en permettant une évacuation de la chaleur et une ventilation latérale adéquate durant l’été, alors que le système de récupération de chaleur dans la toiture assure la redistribution de l’air chaud en hiver.

En hiver, l’espace extérieur adjacent à l’élévation sud permet de réduire les écarts de température en permettant un réchauffement solaire maximal, ainsi qu’en réduisant le refroidissement causé par le vent. Puisque la neige réfléchit la lumière, cette surface illumine l’intérieur de la maison, même par jour nuageux.

En été, l’évaporation de l’humidité contenue dans le sol de cette surface résulte en un rafraîchissement de l’air ambiant. Cet espace étant protégé du vent, l’air froid, plus lourd que l’air chaud, y demeure captif et climatise naturellement le séjour adjacent.

Cette maison propose une approche au Nouveau Confort qui, par la mise en place d’un environnement domestique permettant la résolution spatiale de désirs intimes, s’avère capable de rendre significative l’expérience des activités qui composent le quotidien, en rapprochant ses occupants des éléments dont elle les protège. En fait, la qualité essentielle, de cette proposotion réside, à notre avis, dans la possibilité qu’elle offre à ses occupants d’être habités intérieurement par les espaces, c’est à dire ou la maison devient un paysage et, réciproquement, le paysage, une maison.

troisième prix, ex-aequo

collectif: Thierry Beaudoin, Philippe Beauregard, Pierre Gendron, Philippe Paré.

Vue sur le ciel

L’idée du projet s’articule autour du recadrage d’une vue romantique sur le fleuve rendue impossible par la présence du silo no.5. La solution, à la fois logique et ironique, est de ramener le site à une réalité plus urbaine; construire la rue de la Commune face au silo et par le fait même, obstruer volontairement la vue sur celui-ci pour rediriger le regard ailleurs.  

L’ intervention majeure du projet est  une barre qui  marque la fin de la typologie “front de mer” propre au port et introduit une nouvelle dynamique programmatique de même qu’un nouvel espace public sur le quai du canal Lachine.

 
D’autres éléments viennent compléter la mise en scène du silo et structurent l’espace autour de celui-ci. La rue Mcgill est prolongée par-dessus l’embouchure du canal et redirigée vers la rue Mill; de l’autre côté du silo, le quai Bickerdike est transformé en île-parc, sa topographie étant remodelée pour offrir d’un côté une vue sur la masse solide et immobile du silo et de l’autre, une vue sur le ciel.

2ième prix, Charrette du CCA 1996

Exposition SILO NO.5 ,
Centre d’histoire de Montréal, 
29 juin au 3 décembre 2000.

collaboration: Thierry Beaudoin, Pierre Gendron, Katherine Lapierre, Philippe Paré, Alexander Taylor.

In 1996 an international competition was organized to design a shelter for Alvar Aalto's boat, the Nemo Propheta in Patria. In the 1950s the boat was the only way of reaching the island of Muuratsalo where Alvar Aalto's Experimental House is situated. 

The idea of the project is to present the boat in a dynamic equilibrium, resulting from the movement of a wave and the stability of a breakwall.

A wood path links the ground to the waterfront, continuing along the wall, and through a structural wave. The breakwall is perforated to reveal different elements on the deck (engine, cabin, seats, liferaft). The end of the wall frames a view upon Lake Päijänne, the boat’s original patria. A larger opening gives access to the stairs impregnated in the ground, a transitional space. A few trees filter the view of the bow, an intermediary between the opaque wall and the apparent structure. 

On the other side of the wall, the boat is hung by a net of cables. The boat is hoisted above the observer on the lower platform. The visitor can thus "plunge" under the structural wave and discover the hull as a continuous, smooth element. To insure the preservation of the cabin a retractable canvas adheres to the hull and leaves apparent the self-protecting underside. The end of the wood path leads to the existing quay, the point of redemption of the Nemo Propheta in Patria.

Project team: Thierry Beaudoin, Pierre Gendron, Sandra Lévesque.
 

Related link: Alvar Aalto Foundation

With the theme of, “Reciprocity: Emerging Territories in Canadian Architecture,” this National Ideas Competition would permit to select sixteen winning projects with the mandate to represent young Canadian architecture during the 1995 Venice Biennale International Exhibition of Architecture. It consisted of designing a conceptual project for a Canadian pavilion of architecture in Venice (at least 800m3) that would house an architectural exhibition. Participants were to collaborate with a representative from an exterior discipline (visual arts, dance, philosophy, history, biology, computer science, literature, environmental science, etc.). The projects elaborated should therefore suggest, in images and in writing, a particular vision of the notion of reciprocity between architecture and other disciplines.The sixteen winning projects were presented during the Biennale of 1996 in conjunction with an exhibition dedicated to the work of Patkau Architects.

TRACK 1

The starting point for our proposal is to imagine an invisible line that crosses Venice. Three points along the line break the city into fragments. Each point is unique because of the way in which Venice exposes it. Each of the three fragments of the city is unique because of the particular way in which the pavilion located there influences and describes it. Thus, Track 1 is the result of the superimposition of two distinct systems and their reciprocal relations.

Mega scale
The bridge as an element of speed; it is extended over the organic fabric of Venice. The extension (axis) over the Grand Canal (fluid): a creation of intersections.

Metro scale
The intersections become places of transgression. Each stage, each platform provides an opportunity to transgress boundaries (water). The particularities of the intersections generate each stage.

To know Venice is to dream that fragment of space and place fit together in a free overlay of memories. In this dream, the reality of Venice, like all other cities, is at last perceived as incomplete.

Selected project, group exhibition at the Canadian Pavilion, VIth international architecture exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 15 september - 17 november 1996.

Group exhibition at the Design Exchange, Toronto, Canada, 20 february - 12 march 1995.

Project team: Thierry Beaudoin, Roberto DeMarco, Pierre Gendron, Philippe Paré, Francis Novak.

Press reviews:

La Presse 25 march 1995 
The Globe & Mail 5 november 1994 (p. A-11) 
Le Devoir 5 november 1994 (p.D-12) 

Related links: Canadian Competition Catalogue