The First Nations
Garden is a permanent
pavilion for the commemoration of the Great Peace of Montreal of 1701. It is
a crossroads of cultures, designed to help visitors discover the customs of the
first inhabitants of North America. It also offers an opportunity for the First
Nations to share their traditions, wisdom and knowledge.
The
project is a museum within the garden. Occupying less than 2% of the garden
grounds, the pavilion is mostly outdoor space. Built along the garden's main pathway, the
pavilion metaphorically raises the path to reveal the cultural memory of the
place. The undulating roof recalls a
wisp of smoke through the trees. Outdoor
displays sheltered by the roof are framed by two indoor spaces at opposite ends
of the building – exhibition and orientation spaces at one end, public
washrooms and a meeting space at the other. The pavilion also houses a boutique and
offices.
Critical
to the design were the relationship between building and site, and the environmental
sensitivity needed to maintain the spirit of the garden.
The new
building acts as both a filter and a link between two garden environments: a
spruce area and a maple forest. Wherever
possible, the pavilion's exhibition was planned outdoors. These exterior spaces orient the visitor and
help reduce the apparent size of the building by integrating the exhibition
with the wider environment. Vertical
surfaces are minimized so as to limit the visual impact of the building on the
environment, and half of the built spaces are located underground to further
reduce the influence of the new building on the existing setting. The new building was sited to retain all
existing trees and maintain a relatively open terrain in an attempt to
integrate the building and the site.
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