Jul
12
BIG in Montreal?
A preliminary rendering of Cadillac Fairview’s Tour Avenue des Canadiens by IBI-DAA-CHBA or its final form?
UPDATE
Following this morning’s press conference, we now know with certainty that the design team of the Tour des Canadiens consists of Cardinal Hardy et Associés, Martin Marcotte / Beinhaker, and Huma Design. Given that the Deloitte Tower, designed by New York’s Kohn Pedersen Fox, and the Tour des Canadiens only represent the first stage of Cadillac Fairview’s redevelopment of the parcels of land they’ve assembled around the Bell Centre, perhaps they will hire a more audacious international architect like Bjarke Ingels for other buildings on this site.
On Monday, Cadillac Fairview will be unveiling its plans for a new “one-of-a-kind” residential tower next to the Bell Centre on Avenue des Canadiens. The media advisory makes no mention of architects or designers; only developers and investors are apparently going to be present. With typical PR bombast, it refers to the project as a “future landmark residential building.” I contacted National, which is handling the PR for the project, and their representatives declined to make any comment regarding the building’s designers or who from the design team will be present at the press conference on Monday.
The firm Cardinal Hardy, as a member of the IBI-DAA-CHBA architectural consortium, has previously been linked to the project, but only a few preliminary renderings have been released since the project’s initial announcement. I’ve heard a rumour from a credible source in Montreal’s architectural community that Bjarke Ingels, the innovative Danish starchitect, has recently visited Montreal because of a large commission in the city. An OpenFile article on Ingels’ curved Vancouver tower project mentions that his firm, BIG, “has plans for towers in Toronto and Montreal.” Could it be that IBI-DAA-CHBA are the local architects of record while BIG will be the design architect for the project? Wishful thinking? We’ll have to wait until Monday’s press release to find out.
without a doubt…. not the work of Bjarke Ingels Group
Of course not. The rendering is by the local consortium of IBI-DAA-CHBA. The question is whether it’s merely a preliminary rendering standing in as a placeholder until the real design is unveiled at Monday’s press conference.