The geographical context
The City of Montreal is blessed with a unique geographic situation, its centre being located between the shores of the St. Lawrence River and the flanks of Mount Royal, a mountain and park which still dominates the city as it has done for centuries. Now a major heritage site, Mount Royal has been the object of several major projects during the last 150 years. Most of these projects aimed at preserving the mountain from development and making it accessible to the greatest number of citizens, for both health reasons and enjoyment.
The historical context
The first significant intervention was that of Frederick Law Olmsted who, in the 1870s, was mandated to draft a plan that would protect the site while turning it into a unique park. When looking at Olmsted’s long and varied practice, his masterplan for Montreal is still viewed today as a landmark achievement.
In the 1950s, another major firm, New York-based Clarke & Rapuano, was commissioned to facilitate car access to the mountain. Imagined as a landscaped parkway, two imposing interchanges were built following the plan: the first at the intersection of Park and Pine avenues, and the second located at the crossroad of Remembrance and Côte-des-Neiges roads. Featuring separated roadways, planted medians, and elevated lanes, the infrastructure prioritized cars and created serious barriers for pedestrians or cyclists.
Changing times
By the 21st Century, new emphasis was placed on the preservation and the enjoyment of this unique park setting. The City of Montreal and Quebec’s Ministry of Culture and Communications embarked on a major effort to improve accessibility not only to Mount Royal Park itself, but also to a far wider territory, now designated as the Mount Royal Heritage Site. Apart from the park, this much-praised cultural heritage site encompasses three peaks, two university campuses, and three distinct cemeteries.
Redesigned accesses
The Park – Pine interchange was demolished in 2005 and replaced in 2008 with a much more amenable project which involved several firms, including our own. We were entrusted with a Design Options Analysis and the Preliminary Design Concept (2003). In 2018, our landscape, urban design, and engineering teams were once again called upon to redesign the Remembrance – Côte-des-Neiges access, making it safer and more accessible for all transportation modes.
While our contemporary proposal is very distinct from the original Clarke & Rapuano design, it did draw some inspiration from it. As in the 1958 scheme, the plan includes a wooded median, in the middle of Côte-des-Neiges Road. We also preserved the former interchange’s embankments and kept or transplanted many of the existing and mature trees.
The elevated interchange however has been reshaped by a simple and level T-shape intersection, and the East bound roadway of the parkway has been replaced by a section of the pedestrian and cycling mountain ring path.
Olmsted’s Spirit
Following one of Olmsted’s key principles for Mount Royal Park, the new layout emphasizes a gradual, immersive and scenic ascent, which starts in the surrounding neighbourhood and gently progresses towards the mountain’s heights. The gravel path is punctuated by granite cobblestones and seating areas, again in Olmsted’s spirit.
The meandering path adapts to the site’s topography, going through a newly forested environment before reaching the iconic Beaver Lake. New plantings and a naturalized watercourse echo the mountain’s varied landscapes, primarily a red oak and sugar maple forest community and the mountain’s wetland and glade ecosystems. The project involved the planting of hundreds of indigenous trees, shrubs and herbaceous strata.
A poetic evocation
The project also celebrates the Mount Royal Heritage Site’s distinct geography and its three distinct peaks. A triad of mounds forms an evocative, conceptual and interpretive landscape. Stone steps allow visitors to ascend each mound, where bronze arrows point to each individual summit in the distance. The mounds spatially enclose the new intersection, mark the new gateway and shape a threshold to the unique experience awaiting visitors ahead.
Landscape Architecture : Civiliti and Vlan paysages
Forest Engineering : Nadeau Foresterie Urbaine
Engineering : Artelia Canada
Wayfinding Designer : Julie Margot
Client : Ville de Montréal, Gouvernement du Québec (Entente de développement culturel)
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