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Nov 20, 2018 5:05 PM |
The Skyscraper Dividing Quebec City
The Skyscraper Dividing Quebec City
By TRACEY LINDEMAN
Read More: https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/...te-foy/576214/
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Since its founding in 1608, Quebec City has gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful cities on the continent. Its gothic-style Château Frontenac stands on the edge of a cliff, looming over the chilly St. Lawrence river. The imposing building, together with the city’s cobblestone streets and a centuries-old hilltop fortress, are the closest North Americans can get to Europe without crossing an ocean.
- But soon, Quebec City might have a new calling card: A 65-story skyscraper in the nearby suburb of Sainte-Foy and not everybody’s happy about it. “I hate it. It’s an ugly design. It’s a way of seeing the city that is totally outdated,” says city councillor Jean Rousseau. — The $755-million (CDN) building project is named Le Phare, the French word for “lighthouse” or “beacon.” The name, and the project’s placement, are intentional: It’s meant to be the first thing people see as they approach Quebec City from the west and over the main bridge. By the time it’s built in 2030, it will be the tallest Canadian building east of Toronto.
- Current plans for Le Phare describe a “one-of-a-kind vertical neighborhood” featuring four towers of varying heights (17, 30, 51, and 65 stories) that will include condos, apartments, hotel rooms, seniors’ residences, offices, commercial space, restaurants, a daycare, and a performing arts center. Its tallest tower will be a glittering glass column inspired by the skyscrapers of Chicago and Dubai. “It’s presented as vertical life: Live, work, and play. That’s the old utopia of Le Corbusier that we’re rehashing here, in a part of town that is in dire need of being better organized,” says Rousseau.
- During the long winters it’s also also a very cold, windy city. The wind tunnels produced by Le Phare would make Ste-Foy even more inhospitable, says local resident and retired astrophysics professor Serge Pineault. ”I don’t envy the people who are going to live near it.” — The skyscraper would be an anomaly in Ste-Foy, where new buildings are currently limited to 17 stories. The Quebec City administration, led by longtime mayor Régis Labeaume, wants to change the zoning bylaws to accommodate Le Phare’s height. The move would be an about-face for Labeaume, who 10 years ago argued against raising building heights in Ste-Foy.
- Architect and Université Laval professor François Dufaux says Le Phare doesn’t make geographic or economic sense. Quebec City may be the provincial capital, but Montreal is by far the bigger economic center. The sibling rivalry between the two cities is a tender point for older generations, and Dufaux says that Dallaire “is playing to the emotions of the people of Quebec City and their pride, their ambition.” Even the size of the tower is a dig at Montreal, he says. “They want to be bigger and better than Montreal.” — He questions whether the demand for Le Phare’s living, office, and commercial spaces will meet projections. He suspects the government will gradually decommission buildings in other parts of the city.
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