JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West

Beaconsfield has taken another key step forward in its long-awaited revitalization project for Centennial Park.

The IMAGINE Centennial project named the architecture group that will design the new multi-purpose cultural centre – the Montreal-based firm Lemay-Bouthillette Parizeau-Elema in July. And in doing so unveiled the look of a unique building that has never been seen before in the West Island.

The group’s concept, titled “A Landscape Reinvented,” blends “harmoniously into the picturesque landscape of Centennial Park,” according to a statement issued by Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle after council endorsed the design selection. He added that the estimated $18-million project, “will provide citizens with a unique experience in a bucolic setting.”

Among one of the most unique features of the design is a sod-covered slanted rooftop that will gradually rise from the ground, almost camouflaging the building into the landscape, and a waterfront boardwalk. Visitors will be able to walk along the graded roof, where at its edge, they will be able to take in a view of Lake St. Louis.

This serves “to blur that boundary between architecture and landscape,” said Eric Pelletier, a design principal and senior partner with the group, referring to the roof design.

Gavin Affleck, an architect and co-chair of the project’s selecting jury, praised the group’s ingenuity in an interview with The 1510 West. 

He pointed out that the park and the neighbouring Lord Reading Yacht Club currently occupy two separate spaces.

“A lot of the objective (was to) find a way to kind of join them together in a more comprehensive way, making a unified new Centennial Park,” Affleck said.

Affleck said he was also impressed by the fact that all four groups of finalists chose the same location in Centennial Park for the building within the park setting.

“It’s almost a scientific study by controlled experiment,” he explained. “That only could have happened in an architecture competition, because normally there are way more exchanges.”

Representatives of the winning group had pitched their vision for the park at a public consultation in July at Beaconsfield city hall.

“What we really want to preserve is the landscape, to retain its uniqueness,” Pelletier said.

He explained that their design sought to intertwine the cultural centre with the surrounding nature of the park.

The new single-storey centre will include a library, a bistro and meeting rooms, as well as several areas to accommodate groups.

The exterior will include footpaths connecting between the centre, a boardwalk that will run along the waterfront and the yacht club. An “events promenade” will also be featured for hosting larger events and outdoor activities.

The centre is modelled in the modern Scandinavian minimalist style – a design commonly used for structures that are intended to blend into forested settings and offer lots of natural light.

Pelletier also pointed out that the structure will be made almost entirely of wood.

“We are in an exceptional forest,” he explained. “We couldn’t imagine doing this project with steel or concrete.”

He added that the group is looking to achieve “nothing less” than a carbon-neutral project.

The next step is for the city to award the winning group with contracts to develop detailed plans and specifications. These will allow the project to go to tender hopefully by 2025, said Andrew Duffield, Beaconsfield’s director of Sustainable Development, who has been responsible for the project since 2019. The idea of re-imagining municipal facilities at Centennial Park was first made public in 2018.

When it comes to a specific timeline on when the project will be completed, Duffield said that it is too soon to tell. Factors he cited include a municipal election next year. “It remains to be seen what council will decide in terms of when to award the series of contracts that will come up, the biggest of which is the construction of the building,” he explained.

Once the contracts have been awarded and the start of work is confirmed, Duffield said it would take about two years until the project is finally completed.

Cutline:
A sod-covered slanted rooftop that gradually rises from the ground, which features walking paths, is one of the most unique features of the design for the planned Centennial Park centre.

Credit:
Courtesy City of Beaconsfield