Université de Montréal’s massive project stirs hopes and fears as it aims to transform the face of the city GlobeArts
A conceptual image of the largest university building project in Canada shows the site of former rail lands filled in with buildings, tree-lined streets and green spaces.The pair of bulky glass buildings that make up the Université de Montréal’s new science centre look like lonely outposts of urbanity at the edge of a vast muddy field.
Breton says he is aiming for greater integration of schools and science faculties, as well as closer association with Montreal’s growing artificial-intelligence and digital-technology sector. U of M faculty are already involved with the Montreal Institute of Learning Algorithms , an AI research centre, and the Institute for Data Valorization , which aims to funnel research toward business applications. That will also be a goal of the planned centre for innovation on the new campus.
The division of the buildings by the landscaped plaza was psychologically important, Shooner says, because the science centre will be the only building on the site for some years. “We wanted people to feel that they were in an urban area,” she says. It could take five years or more to build the math and informatics pavilion, Breton says. At that rate, the first students in the new science centre could be celebrating their tenth anniversary reunion before the campus is finished. The land, however, won’t stand empty. One half to two-thirds of it will be devoted to “temporary projects,” says Breton, including urban vegetable gardens, tree-planting programs for children and science-related events such as open-air lectures about the night sky.
“There’s a natural transformation going on, and we’re trying to control it," says Louis-Henri Bourque, interim director of urbanism for Montreal. AI and technology companies have quartered themselves nearby, and gentrification is spreading from trendy areas such as Mile End and Mile Ex. “We’re very optimistic. We’re in negotiations with a couple of private owners [in Park Ex].
Giuliana Fumagalli, mayor of the borough of Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension, said recently that the advent of MIL is “putting pressure on available rentals and will force our most disadvantaged households to leave the area.” The science centre alone will bring in 2,000 students and 200 professors, according to the university.
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