Imagine George Street in Sydney or Hunter Street in Newcastle requiring massive civil infrastructure upgrades such that sections would be closed off to vehicle access for years – a likely, if not certain, possibility. Economic uncertainty, business downturn, and potential permanent closure for the businesses would be certain. If businesses were to remain operational, safe public access would certainly be imperative. But how?
Nothing short of impressive, Kanva – an architectural design company from Montreal Canada, has developed a solution to for a project on St Catherine Street in Montreal, Canada. Kanva won the competition ‘Vivre le chantier Sainte-Cath’ with its innovative design of a giant tunnel composed of a series of inflatable and movable structures which will be used to shelter and protect the civil construction work on St. Catherine’s Street. The project is due to commence in January 2018.
The design works such that noise and dust nuisances to surrounding areas are mitigated during construction (hello my enviro mates – I know you support this! Especially since corporations avoid the exorbitant environmental fines!) And critically, pedestrians are protected from entering construction zones and therefore prevented from enduring harm.
Lets see how this pans out in January, 2017. So looking forward to the updates and the innovative solutions or inspirational designs that transpires from this innovative solution.
By the way, I wrote this post not only because I’m a proud Canadian, but also because I love innovation and inspiration! Have you been involved in an innovative project or its conception? Please comment (brag) below – we’d love to hear about it! Or with safety, could tunnel vision be blocking your innovation and inspiration?
Check out this CTV News broadcast, highlighting other features and activities proposed for the project.
See below for a few more photos from Kanva’s website (all photos on this post are from Kanva):
