sidlee architecture

The C40 Reinventing Cities competition is a call for urban projects to drive carbon-neutral and resilient urban regeneration across the globe and implement the most innovative ideas to transform underutilized sites into beacons of sustainability and resiliency. The focus of this first edition was the De La Commune Service Yard, a 100,400 sq. ft. site by the Lachine Canal.

The project embraces the industrial heritage of the area while endorsing its future rebirth as an incubator for a circular economy steeped in values of inclusion, sharing, and knowledge. Through its form and uses, the project opposes the neighbouring mono-programmatic towers ubiquitous in cities, designed and used in silos. Its primary mission is to create a space dedicated to human interactions through a mindset of radical social diversity: YWCA, ± 250,000 sq. ft.; social housing, ± 60,000 sq. ft.; ÉTS campus, 100,000 sq. ft.; student residences, ± 150,000 sq. ft.; condos, ± 100,000 sq. ft.; offices, ± 175,000 sq. ft.

Lastly, the proposal was thought out according to the urgency to act creatively in the face of the challenges of sustainable development, the environment, and society. The project would be gracefully integrated into a natural ecosystem bordering the canal and the city. The Grand Collider is also a zero-carbon building, producing 100 times less carbon emissions per year compared to a standard building over a lifecycle of 100 years.