Montreal?s original subway cars were taken off the tracks two years ago, but local entrepreneurs have unveiled a plan that would see the blue and white cars serving the city for another century.
Frederic Morin-Bordeleau, 30, and his brother Etienne revealed details Tuesday of a planned multi-level structure composed of the two-ton cars stacked inside an eco-friendly glass shell.
Frédéric Morin-Bordeleau, left, and his brother Étienne, are co-founders of Project MR-63, which repurposes old subway cars. Photo by Graham Hughes/Canadian Press.
Frederic Morin-Bordeleau?s vision is of a building that would serve as a concert hall and meeting space as well as a showcase for local creations, from micro-brewed beer to art and pop-up design shops.
?It should create a sense of pride, definitely, because it?s unique in the world,? he said in a phone interview. The building, designed by the architectural firm Rayside Labossiere, would feature solar panels that make it carbon neutral and ensure as much energy is created as consumed.
?It?s going to be mainly glass, so that?s mainly what you?ll see (from the outside),? Morin-Bordeleau said in a phone interview.
?But it?s going to be a glass that will allow us to control the temperature and the humidity inside.?
It?s what will lie behind the glass that makes it an only-in-Montreal project.
A rendering of Project MR-63.
Opened in the 1960s as the city prepared to stage the Expo 67 world fair, the metro has long been romanticized by city r...