St. Catherine street in downtown Montreal is undergoing a four-year infrastructure improvement plan along several blocks, including underground infrastructure upgrades, incorporation of new public transit systems and increasing pedestrian sidewalk area and access. Despite the urgency of the work and long-term benefits, the project raises issues security, cleanliness and user appropriation that will have a continued impact on adjacent retail. IMAGO was the winner of the Vivre le chantier Sainte-Cath ! international competition, which aims to reduce nuisances as well as develop a new way of approaching the evolution of our city. It is a matter of transforming, through design, these major infrastructure works into a key moment. The Jury of the World Architecture Festival commented that the series of inflatable, mobile biomorphic structures “offers the chance for behavioural change and embodies innovation at its core. It can also be as a paradigm elsewhere.”

Witnessing the constant evolution of this place, our collective interpreted the metropolis as a living component, in transformation, in movement, formed by generations. This reflection led the team to draw a parallel with biological metamorphosis. More particularly, the process resulting from a theme of natural sciences guiding an organism from its embryonic stage to its final stage, called IMAGO. These phases of development led to the emergence of a vocabulary, an aesthetic and a technical approach inspired by biomimicry. These processes, similar to the development of the living being, are thus reflected in the evolution of our city. The formal concept is then presented in the form of a series of biomorphic structures deployed across the site to house, protect, animate and articulate the site and its users. In parallel to the construction site along St. Catherine Street, the modules that make up IMAGO propose to inhabit various public spaces across Montreal’s 19 boroughs (neighbourhoods). From animating a highly trafficked market in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, to creating a fun winter playground on the Mont-Royal’s skating rink, IMAGO promises to continue to be a community marker and gathering point for the residents of each neighbourhood.

An information kiosk and signage complete the inflatable module.