montreal architecture
ARTH298_Final Exam_S20 ARTH 298 / 1 ARTH 298M - MONTREAL: EVOLUTION THROUGH ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM FINAL EXAM DEADLINE: Submitted online no later than 23:59 on TUESDAY JUNE 23 FINAL EXAM: 40% assessment weighting _________________________________________________________________________________________ The Final Exam involves a written essay that applies the skills and knowledge developed during this course. You have 6 days to respond to the question below. Please read this document carefully, including the submission guidelines. To do well on this exam, we suggest you plan your time to: • Make a writing outline that responds directly to the Final Exam question • Research your outline using your notes and the course materials, adding additional research where necessary • Compose a draft, then revise and edit it for clarity and content and ensure your submission meets the guidelines (word count, citations, document formatting, WORD file, image captions, etc.) IMPORTANT: • You must submit a WORD (‘.doc’ or ‘.docx’) file only • DO NOT submit PDFs, or other file formats; they cannot be accepted by the upload system, nor can they be marked • Files cannot exceed 20MB ___________________________________________________________________________________________ EXAM QUESTION: Artists, poets, writers and historians draw upon a rich practice of wandering in the city to observe, explore and understand how urban spaces such as neighbourhoods are created, function and change. Neighbourhoods are made up of numerous and varied elements, or urban ‘objects’, which include architecture, but not exclusively. Through the site visits conducted by Prof. Bélisle, we have seen how observing, exploring and experiencing buildings and other urban ‘objects’ in situ is a valuable way of understanding them better. Urban ‘objects’ are interesting individually, but when considered together within the context of the neighbourhood where they are located, they tell a larger and more complex story about that neighbourhood and its inhabitants across history. (1) IDENTIFY A SITE. Pick a neighbourhood on, or in proximity to the Island of Montreal and explore it. This neighbourhood can be one of those presented in Prof. Bélisle’s lectures, or one of your choosing, but it must have a relationship to the course topic of Montreal. It can be the neighbourhood you live in currently, or have lived in in the past. Conduct a site visit of the neighbourhood, and document and take notes on what you see, hear, smell and feel, in order to focus your observations of the site. Be open to things that you may not have anticipated encountering. Try to understand how various elements, or urban ‘objects’ in the neighbourhood relate to each other in various ways including historically, socially, economically, culturally, materially, functionally, etc. ARTH 298 / 2 IMPORTANT NOTE: In view of the current health situation, please be mindful of which site you chose to research. Be realistic and practical with your choice considering how feasible it is to access safely. Undertaking fieldwork by physically visiting sites can be done with appropriate planning while respecting health & safety guidelines. It is understood that while doing fieldwork you must always adhere to government safety guidelines, notifications and directives as you do in your everyday activities. Stay a safe distance from others and use protective gear. If, however, you feel uncomfortable about physically visiting a site or location due to the current health situation, you may conduct a ‘virtual’ site visit as an alternative. Rather than physically visiting and experiencing a location, you may explore these sites by using a combination of various tools and resources such as Google Street View, Instagram, civic websites, local websites (governmental, business, cultural, administrative), personal archives/websites, etc. You can also source video/film documentation of those sites. Although a ‘virtual’ site visit is not ideal, it may be a necessity for some of you, including those who are studying outside of the Montreal area. Please remember that if you use any documentation materials that are not your own, ensure to cite the sources. Be particularly mindful to carefully examine photo/filmic documentation that is not your own as it may potentially contain important peripheral or unexpected information and details that may be relevant for your research. (2) SELECT URBAN ‘OBJECTS’. After spending time on your site visit exploring the area, review your documentation and notes and select three urban ‘objects’, that you encountered in the neighbourhood. Be mindful to select urban ‘objects’ that will allow you to tell a specific story about that neighbourhood. Urban ‘objects’ in this case can be interpreted widely and may include architecture, buildings, parks, public infrastructure, designed landscapes, monuments, public art, planters, signage, etc., but can also include more ephemeral things such as graffiti, posters, murals, and even pop-up events, etc. Be imaginative in your choices, and try to identify a story about the neighbourhood that uses the urban ‘objects’ as a type of evidence for that story. By arranging, describing, and analysing these three ‘objects’, the relationship between them emerges to tell a specific story about the neighbourhood. Themes for this story could be about heritage, gentrification, transportation, infrastructure, etc., but can also be about personal histories, communities, etc. This assignment allows for creative approaches to what ‘objects’ you chose, and how you relate them together. (3) ANALYSE. Finally, using the knowledge and research skills developed in the course, write a short essay that discusses the urbanism of your chosen neighbourhood using your chosen ‘objects’ as evidence to structure your writing. How do these ‘objects’ tell us something about the neighbourhood? What story do the three ‘objects’ tell? Focus not only on the formal and material aspects of the ‘objects’, but also on how they give insight into the area’s characteristics and lived experience. How are the ‘objects’ evidence for the story you are telling about your neighbourhood? ARTH 298 / 3 Your essay should follow the basic structure: • An introduction that clearly identifies and describes the area and route you explored. Include a map of the route and neighbourhood. Identify the three urban ‘objects’ that you chose, and briefly summarize what story they tell about the urban environment and community you observed on your site visit. Be clear in explaining what your overall observation and story/theme about the neighbourhood is. • One paragraph that situates the history of your chosen area using course materials where appropriate. • One paragraph for each ‘object’, that: specifically explains its formal characteristics (such as materials, aesthetics, purpose), and how you are interpreting it in relation to the theme of your story. You should balance description and interpretation/analysis, and support your claims with research (citations). • At least one photograph or a drawing for each ‘object’, with captions. Include a minimum of three images, in addition to the route map. • A substantial conclusion that analyses the three ‘objects’ and the story they tell about the neighbourhood. What was your experience of the neighbourhood, and how did you come to choose the ‘objects’? EXAMPLE: If Pointe-St-Charles was the chosen neighbourhood, possible collected ‘objects’ to illustrate the story of revitalisation of post-industrial neighbourhood might include: • Victoria Bridge - long history of infrastructure to area • Parc d’entreprises de la Pointe-Saint-Charles - repeated development of real estate for commercial operations after factory closures • Canal Lachine Park across from Canada Malting Silos – public green space and tourism Arranged in this way, the bridge, the industrial park and civic park are a chronological story of infrastructure and revitalisation of a working-class neighbourhood. NOTE: One of your chosen urban ‘objects’ can be the building from your Midterm Exam. This gives you the opportunity to further develop that work, possibly taking into consideration some of the feedback you’ll have received. You cannot copy and paste from that previous work however, nor can you recycle your research paper work. NOTE: If you are working on a different neighbourhood than the Midterm, you can use one building/feature covered by Prof. Bélisle’s lectures. The other two ‘objects’ should be items you choose yourself. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ EXAM FORMAT: Submission requirements: • Title page with your: full name, student number, course number, title of the essay, date • Composed in WORD and saved as a ‘.doc’ or ‘.dox’ file with your last name and course number as the file name (eg. Smith_ARTH298). DO NOT SEND ‘PDF’ files • Word count of 750 - 800 words. If you are writing in French: 800-850. Word count applies to the main text only, not the citations or bibliography. There is a 10% leeway, but this is not an invitation to write extra. We will stop reading at 880 words. ARTH 298 / 4 • Typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font, with standard one-inch margins • Minimum of three (3) images, and one (1) map that are numbered and captioned (this means describing the image and its source), and included at the end of the essay (before the bibliography) • Appropriate citations (as instructed below) and bibliography at end of the paper • Five (5) resources consulted; two of these can be your course text or lectures Writing Style: Take care with the presentation of your ideas. Arrange your discussion points in a logical sequence using full paragraphs that are clearly written using correct grammar and spelling. Imagine that you are writing for a general, interested audience that is not following this course. This means being clear when explaining important concepts and terms. Your work should have an introduction, body and conclusion. Citations: Your writing must be partially based on the required course content including both the readings from the text, Montreal in Evolution, and the video/audio lectures. Citing resources is professional practice and should be done carefully. Paraphrased and summarized references must be cited so your reader knows where you researched your information. NOTE: for such a short text, quotes in the Final Exam should be minimal. Write in your own words. You must provide citations for your essay using whichever citation system you prefer: but