Murray and Shannon Streets

Following the development of Griffintown’s public realm development guidelines, the City of Montreal mandated civiliti and Axor Experts-Conseils to carry out the detailed design, plans and specifications, and provide site supervision for Murray and Shannon streets, the neighborhood’s first two populated streets. Located at the heart of the ÉTS campus, Murray Street is distinguished by the installation of a large number of street furniture items to support its liveliness and pedestrianization. As for Shannon Street, this section between Ottawa and William is part of the urban archipelago, forming a new shared space that supports a variety of street uses.

Paved with cobblestones from facade to facade, these inhabited streets include islands combining planting and street furniture. They take an unconventional form, with 60 mm-high curbs and drainage channels and a reduced number of offset parking spaces. This furniture, designed specifically for the neighborhood, marks out the public domain with microplaces for socializing. The materiality of all the proposals subtly anchors the project in the history and industrial heritage of the area.

With the aim of encouraging active travel, the design principles of the Griffintown guidelines promote the creation of meeting spaces, the establishment of links between neighborhoods, and the overall improvement of the safety and user-friendliness of public space. The inhabited street is one of the new street typologies in the district – the inhabited street, the hybrid street, the calmed street, and the standard street. These streets are designed to meet the needs of the contemporary city, where pedestrians must take precedence over cars, and plants over minerals, while at the same time accommodating the activities required for a lively neighborhood, such as shops. In addition to the present two streets, the multidisciplinary team is designing plans and specifications for a number of streets slated for revitlization in the neighborhood, including Séminaire, Ottawa, Olier, Rioux, Murray and Young streets.