Winter Stations
Artistic installations to revitalize vacant public spaces and stimulate local commerce
Creative Placemaking - Production Management
In 2020, the City of Montreal’s Bureau du design launched a request for proposals for the “Rethinking Public Space” qualification, with the ultimate goal of designing and building “winter stations” in 17 Montreal boroughs.
The challenge was to produce installations capable of withstanding the Montreal winter, which would be well adapted to the pandemic context, and that would improve the experience for residents.
The result: winter stations built on squares, parks, parking lots or vacant spaces, transforming them into warm urban halts.
MASSIVart collaborated with Aedifica, Körnelius and the Groupe Information Travail‘s woodworking workshop as a public art consultant to design the award-winning “Jardin des espoirs” winter station on the Place du Village-de-la-Pointe-aux-Trembles. Illuminated and decorated with multiform structures reminiscent of the colours of cargo ship containers sailing the Saint-Laurent River, this poetic installation has brighten up the daily lives of locals.
The winter station also aimed to promote local commerce. To this end, passers-by were invited to get ribbons from nearby stores so that they can be attached to the installations. The experience became a participative one. Two very important objectives to be reached in the pandemic context were then fulfilled thanks to this public art consulting project: to bring joy back to people and to encourage the local economy.
Being also a sustainable project with a positive social impact, the winter station was constructed by apprentice cabinet makers from a social and professional integration course, allowing the highly motivated participants to contribute to the well-being of their community. The project also made use of local recycled wood, specifically ash trees, and environmentally responsible finishing products.
MASSIVart’s Winter Station “Jardin des Espoirs” is an award-winning project that has earned two spots on the 2021 Grands Prix du Design podium in the Urban Design, Landscape Architecture & Landscaping discipline: in both the Art Integration in Landscape and Urban Development, and the Civic Design Project categories. The project also won the 2021 Applied Arts Award in the Environmental-Experiential/Event Design category and the 2021 International Design Award in the Architecture – Public Art & Public Art Installation category.
Due to the installation’s success, its life has been extended throughout the summer season, in Zotique-St-Jean Park. It is wonderful to see the creative placemaking project hold a special place in the hearts of Montrealers.
