Transport the French architect who believes in the East REM

The EST REM is an essential project that enrolled Montreal in a global problem, believes the French architect Jean-Paul Viguier. But it will have to be treated in an original way.

Jean-Paul Viguier has no solution to offer for the integration of the East REM. No proposal. No suggestion, even. And he is careful not to do it.

in Montreal to choose your own route-if it is a rail, river, pedestrian, cyclist.

but he believes in the project and offers avenues for reflection.

The French architect has built a long and prestigious career. The name that bears its name has carried out many prestigious projects, both in Europe and the United States and in Asia.

Jean-Paul Viguier is a member of the group of experts who advises CDPQ infra on the urban and architectural issues of its sprawling metropolitan express network (REM).

The interview was made at the invitation of this subsidiary of the Quebec Deposit and Placement Caisse, which has a lot of need to give a little chandelier to its controversial REM project of the East. The argument: the architect would resume for the press most of the public presentation, canceled, which he should have done at the end of October.

The 75 -year -old man is frequently invited to give master classes on "the issues of the contemporary city, which are currently extremely acute".

distinguish themselves

cities now seek to distinguish themselves, to show their difference, to display their identity. Because all places have their own genius, he recalls.

"They all claim a particular context, a way of being, a way of developing, a particular culture. This is particularly the case in Montreal. I felt it. That’s why I love this city. "

It is a city in which we feel a perfume, a spirit of place, a way of being, claimed with sometimes power and vigor, and which is not afraid of its differences. < /p>

the French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, about Montreal

All these major cities have a common point: the affirmation of their urban identity is reflected in a concern for the collective mobility.

"We have never seen as much as acts around the world on the creation of train lines, tram, metro, all kinds of means that make the city More fluid, more attainable, more circulated. "

The primary objective is no longer to link sectors that specialize in an activity - business, trade, industry, housing, leisure -, but to bring up places where all these functions are accessible In less than 15 minutes, using transport best suited to the need for the moment.

"Intermodality, in the new urban distribution, has become essential. And the East REM enters this category of transversal urban transport, "said the architect.

"There is something that is essential and is not local in this Montreal project. It puts the city of Montreal at a level of global problem. And that’s the good news for Montreal, I think. The means that this city implements to build this line are worldwide. I am very impressed by that. "

" A historical chance "

A suspicious spirit might believe that this profession of faith is all the more vibrant as members of the CDPQ communication team infra are attending the interview.

He is indignant.

"I say it because I heard:" But shouldn't we abandon this project, is it not too ambitious for the city? Shouldn't we replace it with something more modest? ” Especially not. Having this budget, this ambition and this route, I think it is really a historic chance for the city. "

whenever the cities and the metropolises of the world have undertaken a project of this type, they leap forward. Every time. In their prosperity, in their notoriety, in the way of working.

the French architect Jean-Paul Viguier

it remains to be seen how and in what form a line like the rem Eastern can materialize and register, for a very long time, in the Montreal landscape and in the life of its residents.

"There too, I think everyone has their own way of doing things, he replies. Each city did it in its own way. It’s not about copying the model that worked somewhere. You risk that it does not work at home. Everyone can find an original model. »

Montreal will have to find its own.

of reflection ways

With some examples, the architect Jean-Paul Viguier offers ways of reflection, question to sharpen the discussion on the East Rem. Each project carries its lesson.

bring down the barriers

The Confluence leisure center, in Lyon

in Lyon, the Pointe de Terre formed by the meeting of the Rhône and the Saône was cut off from the city center by the quadruple railroad which crossed it right.

For the past ten years, the redevelopment of the sector has notably brought up the astonishing pole of leisure and Confluence shops, designed by the Viguier architecture and urban planning firm.

or, the site intended for this pole was itself crossed by a raised railway.

"I pleaded so as not to touch it, explains Jean-Paul Viguier. It is not the transport that we must move, it is the building that we must draw so that transport can cross it and serve it. "

The complex was therefore deposited on the raised path, which he joined in his development.

"The train is just in the middle on a viaduct, like the REM project. He passes very close to people. And this transport has become an event. "

This pedestrian complex, which brings together shops, cinemas, restaurants, offices and a hotel, is covered by the umbrella of a large roof in translucent polyethylene. The double quilted membrane, rigidified by the internal air pressure, is carried by a light metallic structure which crosses its interlacing above the buildings.

This technical performance aroused fears and disbelief until then.

"Suddenly, we do not know why, but the effort you make takes the reluctance that you manage to do with things you have never managed to do before. You will see, the Rem will have this effect. It’s catchy. It unlocks the parameters. »

The irresistible change in workplaces

Orange world and Issy-Val de Seine station, RER line C, Issy-les-Moulineaux

"Today, we have never experienced such a powerful movement in reflection on the way we work, where we work, what our workplaces look like, what are our work rhythms", observes the architect Jean-Paul Viguier.

Access to workplaces is at the heart of these questioning.

Jean-Paul Viguier gives the example of a recent project of ... Viguier, ie the design of the new headquarters of Orange Monde, French telecoms giant, in the Paris region.

For the vast building of ten floors intended to accommodate some 5,000 workers, Viguier has retained land on the banks of the Seine, along by tram and regional transport lines in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

"On the right side, you have a metro on a viaduct which is completely equivalent to the East REM", describes our architect.

"The building wanted to stick against the station and it is just if the orange protagonists did not want, as you get out of the metro, you can enter the hall of the building. There is this desire for proximity to public transport. »

The projects that arise on the outskirts

New line 3 of the Toulouse metro

The Rem de l'Est will make a route that" will be exciting " , pronounces the architect. "We will reveal landscapes that today are disconnected in the public imagination. "

by scrolling in 30 minutes urban sets, port areas, a river panorama and parks, the East REM" will recreate a spatial link between things that were separated before ".

surprising and attractive projects can then arise in areas hitherto neglected.

This is the case in Toulouse, where a new aerial line will soon cross disparate districts, holes of poorly fitted or disuse areas.

A viaduct will notably follow a large Décati shopping center, which Viguier has chosen to revalue rather than shave. The rail viaduct will cross the vast parking lot in the center, to "make it coexist with what existed before".

around the shopping center revitalized by the station, a new urban agglomerate will be born, raising small Shops, leisure places, offices, green residential ensemble.

Young people, for many without a car, are attracted to these invigorated districts, well served by public transport.

in the same way, in the east of Montreal, the Rem will materialize "in the desire of young populations", prophesies the architect. "That's it! "

" And that is the added value of transport. When you see that in the city, $ 10 billion, it's not expensive. Ultimately, the added value you bring to the city is much higher than the investment. »

well answer the concrete problems

line A of the Toulouse metro

Always in Toulouse, an existing metro line crosses on Viaduc part of the center- city. "She faced a whole set of subjects that will concern the East REM," said Jean-Paul Viguier. For example, how can we prevent the noise from the metro passage to become a nuisance for people who live nearby? "

not entirely by chance, the architect offers as an example a project of his firm, in progress.

"The subject I had been given was to build a building of 200 dwellings, almost against the metro line. We had to face all these subjects. "

His firm used" artificial intelligence to configure noise issues and visibility questions, to get to optimize the answers ".

on the screen, a Acoustic impact scheme shows that by orienting the residential complex so that it sinks like a corner in the sound waves of the metro, the architects have considerably reduced the noise in the interior courtyard, yet open to its two ends .

"So after, you have to do architecture. "

He proudly shows how the complex will assemble, which seems to draw a wall of Cyclopéen blocks, adorned with the iconic reddish brick of the region.

"Toulouse is a southern city, close to Spain. We love red brick, we love violent forms, we love things in full sun, that is to say that we have a culture ... let's say, vigorous. We are people of the South, what, "said the architect, a native of the region.

"This building, we would not have done it elsewhere. "

An example of finesse

The last example cited by Jean-Paul Viguier was not created by his firm. During completion, line B of the Rennes metro is partly aerial. Its 2.4 km long concrete viaduct will be dotted with three stations.

its slightly curved thin spans are placed on Y -shaped batteries, most of the time asymmetrical.

"The snow is magnificent, launches Jean-Paul Viguier. I looked a bit in the world, it is one of the prettiest and most successful I have found. »

The segments, prefabricated nearby, are assembled similar to that of the Montreal Rem.

aesthetic effort

" It's a nice piece , not just a concrete thing on posts, he adds. There was an aesthetic effort. "

" Concrete has made a lot of progress, he recalls. 15 years ago, we worked with concrete which had between 20 and 40 megapascals of resistance. Today, we are working at 200, 250 megapascals. The more your concrete resists forces and pressures, the less you need it for a given force. In other words, it is played on the finesse of objects. Design is impacted by technological progress.

"On power supply, too, it has made a lot of progress. But here, the power supply comes up against the rigors of the climate. "

The work is designed by the firm Lavigne Cheron Architects, which also designed the new Pont de l'Île d'Orléans.

Original dissymmetrical batteries

"It was a beautiful project and a formidable project in the heart of the city of Rennes," the architect Christophe Cheron said by email.

"Among the many challenges he has given us, I will cite the very curved layout of the bridge which led us to draw these original dissymmetrical batteries, and also the wish to obscure the views on the Riveraine dwellings. "

To avoid the plunging and inquisitoring view of the passengers on the apartments, the banks of the work were provided with" a visual screen in fiber concrete with ultra-high performance (BFUP) ", A -Als described.

The elegant spans are also punctuated by ribs which, in addition to the fact that they energize the work, play "a mechanical role and make it possible to reduce the total quantity of concrete while keeping great rigidity in the apron , necessary to wear a metro route, "said the architect again.

" It must be accepted that public space changes "

Jean-Paul Viguier is a famous French architect. He is a member of the group of experts who advises CDPQ infrared on the urban and architectural challenges of his sprawling metropolitan express network. We have tried to find out more about what he thinks about our project.

q. The visual impact is one of the fears and reproaches with regard to the East REM. How can viaducts be better integrated?

r. The arrival of a light metro on viaduct in a city cannot be done only by saying: the city is such that it is, I put a viaduct in the middle and then I look at what is going on. It must be accepted that there is an environmental transformation in parallel, that public space changes.

There is also the question of crossing under the viaduct. How to make this viaduct not be a break in reading the two sides of the avenue? There are all kinds of solutions to do that, but I think it challenges the creativity of designers.

q. CDPQ INFRA cited as an example the metros of The Hague and Copenhagen and the Grand Paris Express. For you, are these successful projects?

r. You have to be careful because these countries that you cite have a great culture of intermodality, of balance between different modes of transport. They have ahead of us. When you go to Copenhagen, what you see especially in the streets are bikes.

In other words, for them, transport by light metro is simply one more way to circulate. And they have the same problems as those we have just mentioned.

q. Do they respond with solutions that we could be inspired by?

r. As always in the Nordic countries, they first have consultation with the population which is very effective. We discuss a lot. They have consultation structures that are more developed than those in southern countries.

it allows you to adjust projects. This does not question the fundamentals, because the fundamentals require skills that the population does not often have. But on the use, on the relationship to everyday life, on the report to the service that is rendered, the population wishes to be involved.

q. The major public transport projects are largely funded by the State. Can we do a quality project by worrying, like the CDPQ, of profitability?

r. Yes, because there is a real issue for the whole city. It is not only a more rail link that is built. The city is engaged deeply. Everyone is going to look at the East Rem.

anyway, all subjects are treated from above. And investments are necessarily public investments. No private investment will be put in a project whose profitability is on 15, 20 or 30 years. Only public investments make it possible to hold such long profitability in time.

what I have observed in the examples we have seen is that each time, they are public funds that are invested, and each time, the effort that is made is considerable. The effort of design, investment, construction is very powerful.

I also think that for the East Rem, what is interesting is the unit of time. It will be built in a reduced time. Above all, the project should not be cut into pieces.

q. Is a concrete air route anachronistic, while in Montreal, we are still haunted by the old concrete structures like the metropolitan highway?

r. No, I think it would be anachronistic if the concrete was the one used 50 years ago. And this concrete has evolved considerably, in its appearance, its plastic quality, its resistance. We can make much finer, architectural elements, with molded shapes. Concrete has very interesting plasticity.

Finally, until proven otherwise, it is concrete that best allows, by its mass, to absorb the vibrations of the rolling stock.

q. It is not possible, in Montreal, to have tracks without catenary?

r. No, because, with ice, snow and winter, it is not possible. A meter of snow at 25 below zero, it limits the field of technical solutions.

q. Are you hopeful that the EST REM project may be a good architectural project as a whole?

r. Yes, I think this is a project to which, in any case, all attentions are granted. The talents will be gathered in the construction of stations, viaducts, structures, infrastructure, in the modification of the landscape. All creative forces are mobilized.

q. You can have the best intentions and miss your blow ...

r. But there are means, all the same. Billions of dollars are not nothing. It's a budget, anyway!