• Function | Repurposing, Revitalization 

• Type | Competition

• Duty | Research, Design, 3D

• Role | Modeling, and Presentation

• Year | 2020, Individual

• Software | Revit, Photoshop, Lumion, Photography

• Detail | Reform the existing elements of cities in case of emergency and creating an urban muesuem. 

30   /   08   /   2020

Challenges:

1. "The building was in an advanced state of deterioration and its integrity threatened; the primary issue is its restoration and consolidation in the short term.

2. The station has been unoccupied for 30 years and only have intermittently brought the building to life.

3. The presence of high-speed lanes on both sides of the station make for neither a convivial environment nor secure access to the structure. The lack of accessibility is the primary obstacle for showcasing the building and finding it a permanent occupation."

Design Description

The Craig Pumping Station is located at 2000 Viger Avenue E. The building was constructed by architects Maurice Perrault and Albert Mesnard in 1887. The two architects would also design the Riverside Pumping Station, erected during the same period (Ville de Montréal, 2011) and now occupied by the Les Forges de Montréal.

Since its construction, the Craig Pumping Station has belonged to the City of Montreal. It was built following the recommendations of the Commission des inondations. In 1887, a time at which Montreal was regularly hit with flooding, the city would equip itself with three municipal installations allowing to retain or release excess amounts of water: the Saint-Gabriel dyke, today demolished, the Craig Pumping Station and the Riverside Pumping Station (Ville de Montréal, 2011). It is in part thanks to these structures that Montreal would no longer be subject to spring floods. We find, in the basement of the Craig Station, an almost complete pumping station as well as a tunnel. While the station was in use, these coal-driven pumps allowed to suck excess water from the river via the sewer system (Renaud Paré, 2018; PPU des Faubourgs, 2018).

The Craig Pumping Station was used for one hundred years before being decommissioned towards the end of the 1980s (Ville de Montréal, 2011). It was declared unnecessary in 1987 (PPU des Faubourgs, 2018). Since then, several artistic installations have intermittently reanimated the building. This being said, its state of degradation hinders any type of occupation and the building is currently vacant. In 2018, emergency restoration work allowed to secure the facade. Though consultations concerning the PPU des Faubourgs, the city signaled "its intention to recreate the street grid so as to open up the sector" (Corriveau, 2020). In 2019, the Plante administration indicated a desire to give a new vocation to the disused pumping station. A sum of four million dollars was even dedicated to the three-year Capital Expenditures Program for the purpose of restoring the structure (ibid.). Yet, we learned earlier this year that the Craig Pumping Station was slated to be dismantled, in whole or in part, due to its advanced state of degradation (ibid.). If expert recommendations do not allow us to envision the building's conservation in its ensemble, the building's repurposing would allow us to save at least a part. The city still has the desire to showcase the site.

Heritage Value

From a heritage point of view, the Craig and Riverside pumping stations are the oldest existing structures of their kind within the city of Montreal's aqueduct and sewer network (Ville de Montréal, 2011). We attribute the Craig station with a documentary value that is out of the ordinary given the maintenance of its principal components, both architectural and mechanical. In addition to its high degree of authenticity, the Craig Pumping Station is a significant testament to the history of the city of Montreal's aqueduct and sewer network (ibid.). The building is identified as a building of exceptional heritage value within the urban heritage evaluation document (ibid.). It is also designated as a building of heritage interest according to urbanism regulations (PPU des Faubourgs, 2018). While the Craig Pumping Station's urban environment has been significantly altered, especially due to the construction of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge and plans for the extension of the Ville-Marie expressway, the station remains an industrial vestige of the built environment that once occupied this sector of the city.