Ice cream, public art + open air cinema = it’s Quartier Concordia!

A lively melody from the public piano in front of Concordia’s Guy-de Maisonneuve Building (GM) melds with the cacophony of car honks, roaring bus engines and clanking from nearby construction projects.

Chatter fills the air from backpack-toting students soaking up the sights, sounds and smells swirling around Quartier Concordia.  

Sit on a bench at the corner of De Maisonneuve Boulevard and Mackay Street and you can see all the major buildings of Concordia’s Sir George Williams Campus: the towering John Molson Building (MB), the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV) and the Henry F. Hall (H) and J.W. McConnell (LB) buildings.

You’re in Quartier Concordia’s beating heart — where the new and the old mix, where both rest and traffic are welcome, and where streets, people and ideas intersect and venture off in new directions.

As its name suggests, Quartier Concordia roughly starts and stops where the campus buildings are located. North to south, it begins above the Hall Building on Sherbrooke Street and ends at the Visual Arts Building (VA) on René Lévesque Boulevard. East to west, it extends from LB on Bishop Street to MB on Guy Street.

Concordia has developed its own downtown neighbourhood — a space that connects the university’s different buildings into a veritable urban campus. It’s a neighbourhood that stands alone but that’s also an integral part of Montreal. 
 

A marriage between history and innovation

Quartier Concordia was first proposed as a multi-year urban planning project beginning in 2000-01. The purpose? To better integrate civic and campus spaces.

Clarence Epstein, Concordia’s senior director of Urban and Cultural Affairs, says the expansion of the SGW Campus beyond the perimeter of the Hall and LB buildings was prompted by the need to accommodate a booming student population and improve the university’s visibility in the western downtown area.

Initially, the Quartier Concordia project didn’t seek to radically transform this part of the downtown landscape, but rather work itself into what was already there.

“We wanted to blur the lines between urban plan and campus plan in a way that was distinct from other universities in the city.”

Epstein says the Victorian row houses acquired from the late 60s onwards, all the way to the buildings that went up in the early 2000s, underline the eclectic scope of architecture that defines this neighbourhood.

The juxtaposition reflects a quartier rooted in its various historical chapters, but one that’s also a hub for constant innovation. 
 

A student home away from home

Students make up the bulk of the campus community, and much of what they need is available within Quartier Concordia.

Ben Compton, a fine arts undergraduate student majoring in intermedia, says the most successful quartier developments are the ones that have responded to students’ needs or focused on improving pre-existing space.

“For instance, they have installed more bike racks around campus to accommodate the growing number of people who cycle downtown,” he says.

“Another example is the increased programming in the FOFA Gallery courtyard. The area is now used for screenings, art installations and to host a weekly farmer's market.”

Compton has also noticed an increase in the presence of Concordia student–led events taking place in the space facing the GM Building, and around Mackay Street.

Andrea Cartile is pursuing an MA.Sc in quality systems engineering. She enjoys having access to so many services within walking distance, including banks, ice cream shops, grocery stores and even an eye clinic right across the street.

“I live here figuratively and literally,” she says as the sound of music fills the air in front of the GM Building.

“I like the people, and the diversity of food and activities and just the general atmosphere. And I always enjoy hearing the piano.”

Find out more about Quartier Concordia on its website.