Of
the
thesis
entitled: Building
a
Parc
de
la
langue
Française
/
Retracing
my
steps
as
a designer
Abstract:
In
1979,
Québec
artist
Rober
Racine
wrote
a
190-word
text
that
would describe
his
idea
for Le
Parc de
la
langue
française,
a
landscape
where
one
could
literally
meander
through
the
French language.
Although
some
partial
iterations
of this
project
have
been
presented over
the
years,
the
complete Parc has
not
been
built.
Yet.
This
thesis
is
my
take
on
Rober
Racine’s Le
Parc
de
la
langue française. In
doing
so,
I
found
myself
observing
the
design
process
itself,
the making
of a
design
project
as
well
as
my
making
as
a
designer.
This
thesis
has
many
questions.
Where
could
you
build it
so
it
would
be,
as
Racine
envisioned,
‘permanent’?
Emblematic
Mount-Royal Park
was
the
first
answer.
Then
how
to
unfold
Racine’s
190-word
concertina vision
into
a
2,14 million
m2 park?
How
to
intertwine
the
60,000 words
of Le
Petit
Robert dictionary
into
that
landscape and
create
a
space
to
celebrate
the
French
language
while
providing
freedom
for slowness,
contemplation
and
absorption?
How
to create
the
depth,
layers,
spaces and
media
through
which
the
visitor
could
dialogue
with
the
language,
Olmsted’s park,
the
forest
and
the
city?
In
building
a
project,
I,
as
a
designer,
ask myself
a
plethora
of
questions.
Layering
the questions,
one
atop
the
other,
is my
design
process.
My
proposition
for Le
Parc
de
la
langue
française is
therefore
multilayered:
beacons
within
the
landscape;
a
map
one
could
keep and
follow
while
in
the
park;
a
circular
glass
pavilion, 75
m
in
diameter
where one
could
sit
and
read
the
full
292
m
of
a
table
on
which
the
60,000
words
from Le Petit
Robert are
printed.
This
thesis
also
reflects
on
what
builds
a
community
around
a
project, how
this
community
becomes
involved
in
it,
adopts
it,
builds
it
and
nurtures
it through
time.
In
the
hopes
of
engaging
such
a
community,
this
thesis
has
become an exhibition.
While
writing
my
thesis,
I
reflected
on
how
a
design
project
is
made and,
beyond
the
project,
how
a
designer
is
built.
Examining
the
different layers
of
my
persona
–
graphic
designer,
architect
and
now
professor
at
UQAM
– I
explored the
palimpsest
that
I
am
through
the
influences
my
teachers, mentors,
friends
and
colleagues
have
had
on
me.
Both
cathartic
and
optimistic, this
essay
is
testimony
to
what
it
means
to
be
a
designer
and
what
it
means
to build
designers.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
Supervisor:
Committee Members:
Robert Jan van Pelt, University of Waterloo
Anne
Bordeleau,
University
of
Waterloo
Donald
McKay,
University of
Waterloo
External Reader:
Chris Pommer, Plant Architect Inc.
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Monday September
12,
2016
5:00PM
ARC
Loft
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.