Quartier renaissance: with two new buildings and two new public squares, Montreal has been busy correcting the mistakes of the 1960s.

Ten years ago, Montreal was down at heel, after several decades of political and economic uncertainty. Following the 1992 referendum, which by the slimmest of margins kept Quebec in Canada, Montreal has actively sought to change its economic fortunes. The centrepiece of this transformation is Quartier International, an ensemble of infrastructure and public space, new architecture and historic preservation, landscape and public art. Combining private and public investment by city, province and federal government, the project repairs 1960s damage, when the Ville-Marie Expressway and the Metro sliced through the centre, severing the historic core along the river from the business district to the north.

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Quartier International, which covers 27 hectares and spans seven blocks of highway and Metro, succeeds in reconnecting severed zones of the city centre. The quarter is organized around two significant public spaces that reflect Canada's fusion of French and English cultures. Victoria Square at the west end is one of the city's oldest public spaces. Compromised by the expressway, it is now restored to its original two block form bisected by Rue Saint-Antoine. The restored Art Nouveau subway entrance by Hector Guimard, and statue of Queen Victoria by the British sculptor Marshall Wood, have been incorporated into a contemporary landscape designed by Claude Cormier. The square is laid out in a formal series of north-south bands, with a line of 28 fountains on the granite-paved east side of the space, a strip of trees in the middle, and roses along the west edge. Two new glazed cubes along Rue Saint-Antoine provide a flower kiosk and a second entrance to the Metro.

Several blocks to the east, the second square is a new public space named after Jean-Paul Riopelle, a well-known Quebec artist. In contrast with Victoria Square, the grain runs east-west, with alternating informal bands of grass and granite paving dotted with random trees of mixed local species. At the north end of the square, a fountain by Riopelle called 'La Toute' animates the space with its waterworks and, at night, with a ring of fire in the water. Hours around the clock are marked by fine mist from concealed nozzles at the perimeter of the fountain and in slots in paving throughout the square.

The squares and streets in Quartier International have integrated signage, street lighting, traffic lights, bus shelters and benches by designer Michel Dallaire. Two major new buildings have also been completed: the Palais des Congres on the east side of Place Jean-Paul Riopelle, which stretches three blocks east to Saint-Urbain, and Centre CDP Capital (Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec), which extends from Place Jean-Paul Riopelle west to Victoria Square. The two buildings are an intriguing study in contrasts. While the Palais des Congres is a flamboyant loose-fit big box built on a modest budget. CDP Capital is a restrained corporate headquarters, constructed with a generous budget that has been deployed to achieve fine detailing and high performance. Each of these buildings admirably suits its function and fulfils an important role in the city.

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The Palais des Congres, designed by the consortium Tetreault, Dubuc, Saia et Associes, opened in 2002. Although it preceded Quartier International and was financed separately, it feeds from and gives life to this significant new piece of the city. The Palais doubles the area of the 1980s Brutalist concrete convention centre, which has been enveloped by a new steel-framed glazed shed. The primary entrance faces Place Jean-Paul Riopelle and is marked by a marquis of white glass set in a chequerboard facade of glass laminated with brightly coloured film. Without signage, the entire facade becomes an enormous billboard identifying the convention centre on the street. Along St Antoine to the south, where there is a modest entrance to the complex, the facades of older buildings, including a former post office and fire station, have been absorbed into the taut, planar envelope. The skin in turn is detailed as a mosaic of a finer scale, comprising 600mm long by 100mm high bands of randomly tiled stone cladding in shades of grey. On Viger Street, where ground level entrances are combined with a bridge link to the parking structure across the street to the north, the former concrete convention centre can be seen inside the glass. The original Saint-Urbain entrance and access to the Metro, now at the rear of the building, are articulated as a deeply recessed cut into the volume of the box.

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The change in architectural preoccupations during the past twenty years is clear. Instead of a solemn civic institutional presence rendered in concrete, the Palais des Congres has a distinct commercial buzz with glass, chrome, stainless steel, granite and neon abundantly deployed. Echoing the exterior, pixillated grey stone with mixed mat and polished finishes is activated by light and the movement of people. Reflective finishes wrap floors, wall and ceilings indiscriminately, working to create ambiguity and illusion in what is in fact a simple linear space. In the context of this grey palette, brightly coloured light creates a carnival atmosphere. 'Lipstick Forest', an installation of shiny hot pink concrete trees by Claude Cormier, further emphasizes the importance of colour in creating a festive ambience in the circulation and lobby spaces of the building.

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In contrast, the new CDP Capital headquarters is more sedate. As one of Canada's major financial institutions, its performance is critical to the provincial government and the move to bring 1500 staff to Quartier International is as much a political as a business statement. Mediating between corporate towers in the financial district and the historic core of the city, the 70 000[m.sup.2] complex is articulated as three linked volumes that sit on top of the highway cutting--a 12-storey building facing Place Jean-Paul Riopelle, and two nine-storey buildings along Viger Street, which in turn span over Rue Saint-Alexandre and Hermione Street. On the south side of the site, 1500 underground parking spaces are provided in a five-level basement.

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The complex is held together by a spectacular public concourse that stretches from the principal entrance on Place Jean-Paul Riopelle to a secondary entrance from Victoria Square. Street level is activated by a grocery and delicatessen on one corner of the Place and one of Montreal's best restaurants on the other. Between these, the CDP Capital entrance provides public access to the Metro and up to the first level concourse called the 'parquet'. Here, a nine-storey atrium, which tapers from east to west and is flanked by office floors to the north, has a 42m high south-facing glazed wall.

The concourse glazing--fritted with words deemed important to employees, such as 'integrity' and 'creativity'--is secured by point fixings tied back to tapering trussed steel columns. Two restaurants are located at parquet level. Banks of lifts rise in small atria along the concourse, and on-floor circulation linking the three buildings on every level wraps the north side of the atrium. The important trading room is symbolically displayed as a two-storey cube seemingly suspended at the east end of the atrium. In addition to providing a focus for amenities and circulation, the concourse is used for receptions, banquets and other special events.

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CDP Capital is the first double glass skin building in Canada and, unlike some of its western European counterparts, it must perform in a more severe climate. The outer leaf, a typical double-glazed curtain wall, is backed up by a 100mm air space that is mechanically ventilated, and an inner single-glazed leaf that can be opened for cleaning. Just above the floor, an operable window and hot water radiator are incorporated in the skin. Heat gain and glare are minimized by blinds in the cavity that are controlled by sensors, which can be overridden by the occupants. In summer, warm air in the cavity rises and is extracted at high level on each floor, collected in ducts and exhausted into one of the atria. In winter, heat can be supplied to the cavity. The envelope reduces mechanical loads and gives occupants a large measure of control over their environment. Adopting the European model of efficient displacement ventilation--which supplies air at low level via a raised floor plenum and extracts it at high level--the building breaks away from a North American construction culture that remains wedded to ceiling level services distribution.

CDP Capital shows that environmental sustainability is an important item on the agenda. In addition, Quartier International, with the Palais des Congres, makes a statement about understanding sustainability, not only in energy terms, but as a many-faceted challenge--to correct past mistakes, to knit together retained historic buildings and distinguished new architecture, and to provide both landscaped open squares and generous interior spaces that significantly enhance the city public realm. Importantly, Quartier International is acting as a catalyst for further development, including urban housing and the restoration and re-use of formerly neglected buildings in the city centre.

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