McGill School of Architecture MSoA — ARCH673
Community Workshop with
Youth in Motion
Listening to the community’s vision for the future of Little Burgundy and the former site of the N.C.C.
On January 24th, we met with community members at Youth in Motion for a workshop to open a dialogue about creating meaningful community spaces in Little Burgundy. As a studio, we split into our three research groups - Site, People, and Stories - to get to know the community better through the lens of each of these topics.
As the Stories group, we focused on the history of the N.C.C. and the community’s current perception of the N.C.C., both spatially and conceptually.
On January 24th, we met with community members at Youth in Motion for a workshop to open a dialogue about creating meaningful community spaces in Little Burgundy. As a studio, we split into our three research groups - Site, People, and Stories - to get to know the community better through the lens of each of these topics.
As the Stories group, we focused on the history of the N.C.C. and the community’s current perception of the N.C.C., both spatially and conceptually.
Our approach was to open a conversation about the N.C.C. using prompts about the history of the N.C.C. and archival imagery that was both printed and displayed on a monitor. We adjusted the questions we had prepared due to a multi-generational group of participants who had varying levels of familiarity with the N.C.C. and its history.
The archival photographs, shown below, were a great conversation starter for adults and seniors who had a relationship with N.C.C., either through other community members or their own experiences.
The photographs above were chosen according to decade to show the range of programming and spaces at the N.C.C. over the years.We spoke to community members from different generations - children, teens, adults, and seniors - who each had a different relationship with the N.C.C. and the neighbourhood. For the younger age group who was largely unfamiliar with the N.C.C., we spoke about present-day community spaces that they enjoyed or frequented often.
A diagram summarizing three types of responses we recieved by age group during the workshop when asking community members about the N.C.C. and its history.After speaking about the N.C.C. and its role within the community, we listened to the workshop participants’ visions for the future of a new community space in Little Burgundy. Three key takeaways about the participants’ experience of community space, summarized in the word bubbles below, came out of these conversations.
Participants mentioned community spaces that were flexible and open, accessible and culturally-specific. They also spoke often about the way the neighbourhood has changed over the years and the effect that these changes have had on the formation of community organizations such as Youth in Motion.
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Participants mentioned community spaces that were flexible and open, accessible and culturally-specific. They also spoke often about the way the neighbourhood has changed over the years and the effect that these changes have had on the formation of community organizations such as Youth in Motion.
Diagrams summarizing three key takeaways from the workshop.