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Stenosis
Type
Stenosis – dwelling the narrow
Sténose – habiter l’étroit
[ stenosis ]
: term borrowed from medical domain ; coming from the Greek stenos, which means narrow, narrowing. (GAUSA, Manuel, 2003)
The term stenosis
is used rather here to attempt to define succinctly the effect linked to the
strong pressures of a site, which, after successive divisions and multiple
constructions, became narrow spatially, reduced in one or several points.
Intimately linked to the concept of space infiltration, stenosis comes as a local narrowing, a direct reaction to the physical
constraints of the built context. It assumes a tension therefore created by a
pressure applied to a void, but also a reaction aiming to fill up the inter
space: an infiltration. The infiltration, in its literal sense, refers to a
liquid which "slips" across the space by a reduced opening; as a
constructed space could slip into a site by a slit, a narrow opening, thin, but
possible. The "fluid object" then takes the available three-dimensional
space, fits to it, bonds to its limits. Strong external pressures allow an
unforeseen development from the inside.
The project takes place in Saint-Sauveur, a sector of
Quebec city, which used to be the working class suburb in the naval development
years (19th century). Saint-Sauveur went trough a "dis-urbanization"
over a period of about 50 years, from 1950 till 2000. The area lost its
population years after years to the advantage of the suburbs of Quebec city,
registering in the logic of "shrinking cities". For now five years,
the area sees a certain renewal, showing a light growth of population.
Nowadays, this area is particularly well located in the lower city, near from a
lot of facilities and close to the "center" of the upper city. The
redevelopment of the lower urban areas of Quebec city started a couple years
ago with St-Roch area, and should logically continue through Saint-Sauveur, its
western neighbor.
The project proposes a "soft" densification
of the area by these inter spaces to consolidate the existing context and
revitalize the area. Instead of demolishing entire blocks of housing to erect
big multi-dwelling units, the project tries to understand the existing urban
fabric and plays with it. The idea is to propose new types of dwelling,
narrowed, fitted into the interspaces available; to create denser plots by
adding fully livable houses to improve the built environment.
A slice of land has been selected, from the cliff to
Saint-Vallier Street, to allow a more precise analysis of inter places found in
the area. This slice passes trough the middle of the residential centre of
Saint-Sauveur, on the former lands of nuns of Hôtel-Dieu. It was chosen for its
central position in the district, its almost entirely residential vocation, its
variety of built types and its characteristics peculiar to the plots of this
area. A catalogue of possible sites emerged from it, after some consideration
(like sunshine, existing windows, passageways, trees, potential courtyards) cut
out the void volumetry. A plot from the slice sample has been selected to
experiment in detail the possibilities of the project proposition. Eleven units
were designed to "fit" into narrow voids, creating a second layer of
housing and courtyard through the existing urban fabric. A particular attention
was put on natural light (for rooms, courtyards and existing houses),
thicknesses (windows and walls), dimensions (narrow configurations, heights),
structure (easy to assemble, thin) and integration to the context (building
materials, proportions, heights, needed voids).
Sténose – habiter l’étroit
[ stenosis ]
: term borrowed from medical domain ; coming from the Greek stenos, which means narrow, narrowing. (GAUSA, Manuel, 2003)
The term stenosis
is used rather here to attempt to define succinctly the effect linked to the
strong pressures of a site, which, after successive divisions and multiple
constructions, became narrow spatially, reduced in one or several points.
Intimately linked to the concept of space infiltration, stenosis comes as a local narrowing, a direct reaction to the physical
constraints of the built context. It assumes a tension therefore created by a
pressure applied to a void, but also a reaction aiming to fill up the inter
space: an infiltration. The infiltration, in its literal sense, refers to a
liquid which "slips" across the space by a reduced opening; as a
constructed space could slip into a site by a slit, a narrow opening, thin, but
possible. The "fluid object" then takes the available three-dimensional
space, fits to it, bonds to its limits. Strong external pressures allow an
unforeseen development from the inside.
The project takes place in Saint-Sauveur, a sector of
Quebec city, which used to be the working class suburb in the naval development
years (19th century). Saint-Sauveur went trough a "dis-urbanization"
over a period of about 50 years, from 1950 till 2000. The area lost its
population years after years to the advantage of the suburbs of Quebec city,
registering in the logic of "shrinking cities". For now five years,
the area sees a certain renewal, showing a light growth of population.
Nowadays, this area is particularly well located in the lower city, near from a
lot of facilities and close to the "center" of the upper city. The
redevelopment of the lower urban areas of Quebec city started a couple years
ago with St-Roch area, and should logically continue through Saint-Sauveur, its
western neighbor.
The project proposes a "soft" densification
of the area by these inter spaces to consolidate the existing context and
revitalize the area. Instead of demolishing entire blocks of housing to erect
big multi-dwelling units, the project tries to understand the existing urban
fabric and plays with it. The idea is to propose new types of dwelling,
narrowed, fitted into the interspaces available; to create denser plots by
adding fully livable houses to improve the built environment.
A slice of land has been selected, from the cliff to
Saint-Vallier Street, to allow a more precise analysis of inter places found in
the area. This slice passes trough the middle of the residential centre of
Saint-Sauveur, on the former lands of nuns of Hôtel-Dieu. It was chosen for its
central position in the district, its almost entirely residential vocation, its
variety of built types and its characteristics peculiar to the plots of this
area. A catalogue of possible sites emerged from it, after some consideration
(like sunshine, existing windows, passageways, trees, potential courtyards) cut
out the void volumetry. A plot from the slice sample has been selected to
experiment in detail the possibilities of the project proposition. Eleven units
were designed to "fit" into narrow voids, creating a second layer of
housing and courtyard through the existing urban fabric. A particular attention
was put on natural light (for rooms, courtyards and existing houses),
thicknesses (windows and walls), dimensions (narrow configurations, heights),
structure (easy to assemble, thin) and integration to the context (building
materials, proportions, heights, needed voids).
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