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Outdoor Design of Bâtiment 7 in Montreal, Quebec

Design a public space and provide recycled materials

At Montréal in Canada
In 2019
By Architecture Sans Frontières Québec - Canada
Local partners: Bâtiment 7

Designed the “Place du marché” – a public space located across from the Bâtiment 7 Community Centre in Montreal. This project was supported by ASFQ via the Urban Solidarity program and was designed by volunteer architect Julio Cardenas. B7 is a heritage industrial building that, following 10 years of neighbourhood mobilization, became the emblematic gathering place for an engaged community striving to disenclave the Pointe Saint-Charles district, known as one of Montreal’s most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The space is self-managed by the Collectif 7 and now hosts several services and activities including a grocery store, brewery, artistic creation workshops, and vehicle- and bike-repair workshops. The ground in front of the building had to be decontaminated from industrial waste prior to being handed over to B7 to be permanently restored. The temporary project experimented with the future installation of removable, re-installable components produced from recycled materials provided through the organization’s circular-economy program. Several areas were set up to eat, watch shows, relax and let the kids play. The first activity organized in the building was the Summer Festival on June 21st.

Category: Community Participation Medium / Technology / Material: Workshop & Recycled Materials Typology: Temporary outdoor installation
Outdoor Design of Bâtiment 7
Outdoor Design of Bâtiment 7

Ambatofotsy Medical Centre, Madagascar

Designed and built a medical infrastructure

At Madagascar
In 2017
By Architecture Sans Frontières Québec - Canada
Local partners: Soeurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée Conception
Donors: l’Immaculée Conception

Designed and built a medical infrastructure in a remote area with 4,000 inhabitants on the high plateaus of the Red Island Ambatofotsy is a remote location whose 4,000 inhabitants live dispersed across a sprawling, arid landscape with no medical infrastructure. In early 2017, Architecture Without Borders Québec, Engineers Without Borders Québec and the PRECI decided to support the mission of the Soeurs Missionnaires de l’Immaculée Conception, a missionary that has been in Ambatofotsy for years, to finance, design and build a medical centre in a culturally appropriate and sustainable manner. A volunteer architect’s mission in May 2017 allowed us to meet local partners, understand the site and prepare materials orders. Needs were surveyed on site through participatory workshops. The building embodies the vernacular principles of Malagasy construction, while also incorporating modern concepts. Since early February 2018, a doctor has been doing consultations 3 days per week, and a nurse and midwife have been on site full-time to offer first aid and maternity services. With the support of the Roncalli International Foundation, a second phase of construction is now set to begin to complete the centre by adding accommodations for the medical team.

Ambatofotsy Medical Centre
Ambatofotsy Medical Centre
Ambatofotsy Medical Centre
Ambatofotsy Medical Centre

1to1's Core Socio-Technical Tool Set

Informal Settlement Upgrading

At South Africa
From 2010 to 2019
By 1to1 Agency of Engagement - South Africa
Local partners: University of Johannesburg, Slovo Park Development Forum, Socio-Economic Rights Institute and Skotheni Network
Donors: Leverhulme Grant and University of Manchester: Global Development Institute

„1to1 has developed a set of core tools that support their work in spatial development projects in South Africa. These tools have been developed to assist with the complexities of socio-technical urban development and have been developed as a means of addressing issues of language, spatial literacy and various positional issues.
Codes of Engagement are the underlying principles that guide the work practice of 1to1. This was co-developed with a diverse set of practitioners, grass-roots leaders and students as means of balancing the iterative nature of spatial development practice in a humanised and accessible way. This set of codes is seen a means of guiding other practitioners in the field, while allowing 1to1 to adapt and update the codes in their practice.
The Kickstarter Pack has been designed as dialogue tool to support the early stages of developing a project brief with residents and grass roots leaders of community-based/grassroots organisations. The first pilot project was developed in Slovo Park and serves as a crucial tool for grass-roots groups to use when determining their project brief, budget requirements and develop funding proposals to establish their projects.  
Time-line Tool is an artefact that has emerged over the 8-year period of 1to1’s work. The tool is seen as a means of physically building a language for development processes that require nuanced facilitation by grass-roots practitioners. The tool was designed as a means of managing expectations and allowing often marginalised voices a physical space to contribute and share in informal settlement development projects.
UISP Roadmap was developed as a visual support tool in support of local government practitioners and informal settlement resident leadership groups in navigating the Upgrading Informal Settlement Policy (UISP). The tool was conceptualised around the idea of a road map, and offers suggestions, warnings, and routes towards actioning the policy in the field as a means of demystifying policy and building a common understanding of governmental developmental mechanisms.”

UISP process
UISP process 2
The first pilot project developed in Slovo Park
project and timeline managing tool
Time-line Tool
presentation page
the workshop
the service offering tool
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