Two days after its official inauguration, the giant ring, about 30 meters in diameter, was installed on the Esplanade Place Ville Marie in the heart of downtown Montreal on Saturday. About thirty workers were engaged in this delicate task.
Posted 12:44pm Updated 1:50pm
Henri Ouellette-Vézina La Presse
Passing La Presse, a 400-ton crane was prepared to recover the work and position it at a margin of about two inches on each side of the structure between the two buildings facing the Esplanade. The ring should then be fully installed by the afternoon.
The works, signed by landscape architect Claude Cormier, were carried out at a cost of 5 million. This permanent installation aims to “revive the city center after two years of pandemic and load shedding,” Mr Cormier told La Presse last April.
He claims that this gigantic ring “fits into the emblematic axis of Avenue McGill College, where Place Ville Marie, McGill University, the former Royal Victoria Hospital and Mount Royal Park are aligned, representing more than 200 years of our city’s history reveal. “It also complements well what has already been done at Place Ville Marie, where 200 million has already been invested in repairs and rejuvenation,” Mr Cormier also argued last spring.
Made of steel and designed by Trois-Rivières-based Quebec firm Marmen, the 30-meter-diameter structure will be suspended several meters above the ground at the main entrance of the esplanade, Place Ville Marie, above the monumental staircase.
Due to weather conditions, a grand opening of the facility was held earlier this week, on Thursday, in the west lobby of 1 Place Ville Marie.