Tag Archives: Montréal public-space

Why Trams Work in the 5-1-4, No.2 – Historical Perspectives

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

At left is a neat picture I found recently depicting Place d’Armes before the Métro, back when it was a vital link to the city’s public transit infrastructure for trams and buses. Today there’s so little traffic in this sector … Continue reading →

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Commemorating the Blue Bird Café Fire

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

The Blue Bird Café and Wagon Wheel country bar were once located on Union Street, south of Ste-Cat’s on the west side, in what is now a parking lot. On Friday September 1st 1972 three young men, O’Brien among them, … Continue reading →

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Scenes from the City II

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

They sway and swing gently, as if they were being carried by gusts of wind. As they dance their eerie industrial ballet, a structure rises around them. Will they call it White Elephant? It reminds me of an anecdote once … Continue reading →

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Pretty Fucking Lame – A new Old Port beach for 2012

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

Andy Riga at Metropolitan News put it succinctly, how lame is an Old Port beach where you can’t swim?, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve brought up the issue of the lack of public beaches on-island before, and the Old … Continue reading →

Posted in A modest proposal, Montréal Architecture, Montréal Landmarks, Urban Redevelopment, What were they thinking?, Worth reconsidering | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Incredibly poor design – what did we win that UNESCO award for anyways?

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

Many thanks to Isabelle and Nelson for reminding me of this God forsaken travesty of urban design. So apparently BIXI and the City agree that Phillips’ Square is an ideal location for a high concentration of docks. Last year, I … Continue reading →

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The Montreal Children’s Hospital – how do we manage institutional space?

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Taylor C. Noakes

With construction of the new MUHC Superhospital already well underway, and the subsequent realization that the project will likely be over budget and incapable of fully replacing each of the hospitals it was ostensibly designed to replace, we as citizens … Continue reading →

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