The Lanehouse

A Community Boathouse & Social Condenser

Rowing

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Recreation

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Canal

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Community

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Water

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Pathways

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Barrel Vault

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Rowing 〰️ Recreation 〰️ Canal 〰️ Community 〰️ Water 〰️ Pathways 〰️ Barrel Vault 〰️

THE LANEHOUSE

Rowing Facility & Recreation Center
Final Graduate Design Project
Advisor: Martin Bressani
Fall 2016

The following design of a boathouse & recreation center explores the potential of a building as a social condenser. It reconciles the currently under-used waterway of the Lachine Canal while enhancing the recreational strip using deep linear spaces and layered lateral views to act as a destination, thruway, or a focal point as the user sees fit.

With the recent attention on residential buildings and developments, Griffintown is set to receive a new wave of incoming residents. The area will have to accommodate this incursion with a series of strategic, socially-minded projects and initiatives if a sense of community and social capital is to take root in this post-industrial neighborhood. The Lachine Canal is the most important piece of recreational infrastructure in the area; therefore imaginative proposals for uses of the recreational strip should be a top priority.

The Lanehouse is a boathouse and recreation center dedicated to the active use of the Lachine Canal. It will serve as a primary launch point during city-hosted regattas and other events.

Context: An Underused Waterway

Griffintown, the birthplace of industrial trade in Montreal has been the focus of recent development, in an effort to provide housing in this time of dwindling accessibility to affordable living.

A New Pathway - Community rowing along the Lachine Canal

COURSE CURATION PLAN: Over the 3km stretch of canal bounded by the ekfbek Lock(East) & ebfhebf Lock (West), Supportive programs for seating/viewing, eating, boat launching, and bike repair/ pop-ups take place intermittently in follies along the … — COURSE CURATION PLAN: Over the **3km** stretch of canal bounded by the Côte-Saint-Paul Lock(West) & Saint Gabriel Lock (East), Supportive programs for seating/viewing, eating, boat launching, and bike repair/ pop-ups take place intermittently in follies along the water’s edge. Recreational pathways are to be connected so as to provide uninterrupted travel for pedestrians and cyclists along the Canal.

This project aims to fulfill an important role for it’s community by providing a mix of community programs that are currently missing amid the intensive residential construction. A commercial eatery, café and other businesses promoting health & leisure provide local residents and visitors with an enticing community hub.

- THE MIND OF A ROWER -

Question: What is the most important part of designing a boathouse?

“There are a bunch of important specific needs but I think the most critical thing is to understand the sport; not just the nuts and bolts of how boathouses work on typical practice days or race days, but also the mindset of the rower-the kind of maniacal, masochistic focus that most people cannot relate to.”

— Interview with boathouse architect Jeff Peterson following completion of the Princeton University Rowing Center

- INTERVENTION: A SOCIAL CONDENSER -

A BUILDING TO CATALYZE COMMUNITY & CANAL

The Lachine Canal is now primarily used as a promenade frequented by cyclists, runners and pedestrians. While the waterway itself has recently been reopened by the city of Montreal and Parks Canada, it still only sees light, sporadic usage by small motor crafts, kayaking and paddle boats. It would benefit the site to have a more frequent and deliberate usage of the waterway. Recreational and competitive rowing has the capacity to fill this void, as it is a past-time pursued both as leisure hobby and rigorous fitness.

Entry

This project aims to fulfill an important role for it’s community by providing a mix of community programs that are currently missing amid the intensive residential construction. A commercial eatery, café, screening room, fitness centre & micro-offices and other businesses promoting health & leisure provide local residents and visitors with an enticing community hub.

A community boathouse lives below. Rowing vessels, paddleboats, kayaks & other water sports launch from water level; a central access point for aquatic activities on the canal.