Written by Gromer Jeffers for CNN
If you knew that a building on your commute to work looked like it was crumbling, under-construction or, even worse, it had been destroyed by a zombie apocalypse, would you be willing to take the risk to make a new structure out of the rubble?
That’s exactly what Seignioré Architects, a firm based in Paris, Montreal and Lyon, are betting on with their latest project. The architects are partnering with Impact Partners, an Amsterdam-based architectural and engineering firm, to resurrect Massey Hall , a glistening Art Deco landmark destroyed by a 1980 fire in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On September 28, the revival project will officially begin. The 46-acre site, just north of downtown Halifax, has been dormant since the fire. The combined forces of the two firms will install a number of innovative designs, including a new 8,000-seat arena, a hospital, a restaurant, a hotel and other buildings.
Curated survival set up…
“The piece that excited us most was the idea of using the site as a sort of super-curation facility to set up structures that were inspired by the intricate details of the original structure,” explained Rev Paris Thompson, a principal at Seignioré.
The goal is to create an entirely new habitat for its inhabitants.
“We saw a site for a new building, and on the site there’s no infrastructure,” explained London-based project lead Jason Van Maanen. “There’s no access roads. There’s nothing.”
By creating an entire city from scratch, the designers hope to restore the community’s architectural heritage. But they do so within a steel cage.
In the reconstruction process, participants will be relocated outside of the state-of-the-art “fab center,” where an infrastructure process that has been described as “industrial archaeology” will kick off.
“It’s a fascinating tool for getting the community to understand what it means to have an alternative way of living,” said Van Maanen.
The structure will be a shipping container the size of a luxury yacht, which will be refitted with core and non-core parts — including the living space — to create a complete city.
The architects will construct the shipping container city at the site of the old Massey Hall, on shore (where it’s best suited to survive hurricanes, floods and earthquakes). The shipping container units will be placed on hinges to create a platform for its inhabitants.
“(We’re) not building a straight-out replica. We have to dismantle the old building and rebuild it,” said Van Maanen. “But it’s different — from different angles you can see the change in space.”
A ‘labor of love’
After the shell has been fabricated, participants will be given a week-long retreat in the cavernous structures. They’ll be able to live and work inside — both the dockend and the suites — for a year.
“We spent a lot of time to create the social infrastructure to allow people to be closer to each other,” explained Thompson.
At the end of their stay, participants will return to the site, which is being turned into a new city by the plan. To ensure that the community can adapt to the new construct, local artisans and sculptors, archaeologists and other participants will be brought in to assist.
Having a living laboratory, called Seignioré, will also give participants insight into the rebuilding process.
“I think the one thing that makes you feel confident about this is that we have in mind the building as an international laboratory for sustainability — being part of the project, we can test and investigate new methods,” said van Maanen.
Massey Hall is currently listed on the Canada Heritage Memorial to be re-built in the next 15 years, and its new purpose as a permanent experimental city will undoubtedly make it eligible.