Plaza Swatow - 6 étages (2009)

[Miska]

De quelle facon s'en inspirent-ils? (par curiosite)

 

 

 

 

 

C'est une façon moderne de réinterpréter une forme très commune dans l'achitecture chinoise que l'on retrouve dans la forme des toit et même des «portillons» comme au dessus de la rue Saint-Laurent.

[mcgill]

I walked by today; the hole is about 3 to 4 metres deep and occupies the whole plot.

 

Hopefully the construction of this new building will motivate the owners of the neighbouring buildings fix them up; many of them are in a sad state.

[pfafman]

Aujourd'hui sur SPACING MONTRÉAL

 

June 4th, 2008

Ground broken for Swatow Plaza in Chinatown

Posted by Cédric Sam

 

Swatow Plaza - May 2008

 

I returned from a six-week trip to China some three weeks ago, and the first time since then that I ventured in our Montreal Chinatown was last week. The first thing that I noticed while walking around with my camera was that ground has been broken for the Swatow Plaza (see a previous Spacing Photo du Jour post), a brand new commercial centre with a main entrance on St-Laurent (Google Maps), and stretching behind on Clark as well.

 

In an article by Spacing’s own Christopher DeWolf last December, the owner of Swatow, what seemed like any other import/exports store selling chinoiseries, said that he would invest $20-million into what would become a six-story building, complete with a supermarket and office space, and of course, shopping space.

 

I must say that I was a little taken aback by the prospect of a brand new commercial centre in the middle of Chinatown. Last Fall, I saw the sign just being put up for Swatow Plaza on the side of Chinatown’s less charming empty lot in the middle of Chinatown (only challenged by the former Sun Hing grocery store): I took a picture of it, thinking that in some twenty years, I would be able to show my kids what dreams of grandeur were like in the late 2000s, just like my father recently showed me a picture taken in 1984 of the sign for Kenneth Cheung’s doomed Centre Chinatown, a project that remained one, a block beyond Chinatown’s current eastern gate.

 

The same early 80s era did however see the construction of major buildings in Chinatown, like Chinese Apartments (1984) and Place du Quartier. In the next decade, a Holiday Inn would be built at the corner of St-Urbain and Viger, as the only major building project within Chinatown until Swatow.

 

Now that Swatow Plaza is becoming tangible, what will be its eventual effect on the dynamics of Chinatown? Perhaps asking the question the other way around would sound more appropriate?

[-AX-]

wow! j'avais même pas vu ce fil! C'est cool que ce trou soit bouché par un beau bâtiment comme ça!

 

Juste en face de ça, y'a un resto que j'aime bien "Pho Bang New york" C'est vietnamien, mais leur soupe au poulet est très bonne, allez y gouter!

[mtlurb]

C'est vietnamien, mais leur soupe au poulet est très bonne, allez y gouter!

 

Parce que t'aime pas la nourriture vietnamienne, sauf la soupe au poulet??

[MTLskyline]

Parce que t'aime pas la nourriture vietnamienne, sauf la soupe au poulet??

 

Je pense qu'il voulait dire qu'au lieu d'être la nourriture chinoise c'est la nourriture vietnamienne.

[mtlurb]

Je pense qu'il voulait dire qu'au lieu d'être la nourriture chinoise c'est la nourriture vietnamienne.

 

Je sais, je sais.

[le calmar]

Bah, Pho Bang New York j'ai trouvé ça moyen! Moi je suis vendu au jardin de Jade, j'y vais une fois aux 3 semaines environ...

[Gbx]

Bah, Pho Bang New York j'ai trouvé ça moyen! Moi je suis vendu au jardin de Jade, j'y vais une fois aux 3 semaines environ...

 

C'est pas le gros buffet ça?? C'est plus pour les gourmands que les gourmets

[saturnus85]

Oh my God, Jade! I made the mistake of trying the mussels there. Needless to say it was a BIG mistake.