Parc Frédéric-Back Square

Parc Frédéric-Back is located on the former Miron quarry site. The decommissioning of the quarry led the City to imagine a large-scale public green space with an environmental vocation.

The Square’s landscaping showed the importance of BC2 team close collaboration and multidisciplinarity. From the very first stages of the project, landscape architects, biologists and geographers joined forces to develop this sector, adjacent to Avenue Papineau. The Square’s design evokes the site’s scale and monumentality. Designed as a showcase for the City, the Square shines a spotlight on the best practices applied throughout the park, including a run-off management system consisting of permeable paving stones, a network of gabion trenches and retention basins, the use of seeding and maintenance principles for planted areas to maximize biodiversity, the recurrent use of recycled materials for demonstration purposes, and a soil-management system.
While anchored in the place’s history, the Square’s contemporary landscaping showcases the park’s future. The layers of the past are represented through the materials used. In particular, the use of grey perforated steel for the built elements and limestone in the gabions recall the quarry’s cliffs, while the steel and concrete illustrate the site’s industrial past.

The Square illustrates the future of green space development through a more sustainable approach, taking into consideration the needs of users, while implementing practices that minimize the impact of the development work and maximise the positive impacts of the presence of this new ecosystem in the City.

Data sheet

Client

Ville de Montréal

Location

Montréal

Year of execution

2015-2017