Griffintown is widely considered to be one of Canada’s earliest industrial neighbourhoods, whose future has been uncertain ever since the postindustrial decline of the 50s. Today this indeterminacy remains, as Griffintown hovers on the precipice between its industrial past and an urban future. Empty lots and low-level industry sit alongside apartments and artists’ studios. While municipal plans for the demolition and redevelopment of large swaths of the area are in place, many citizens insist that highrise condominiums are not the only answer. As this debate rages on, Griffintown Interrupted proposes a third focus for the debate: neither past (restoration) nor future (redevelopment), but present. How can short term projects expand the existing community?

Each proposal should include a plan for its own disassembly, dehabitation or disappearance at the end of its short term lease. Each submission will determine the conditions of the structure’s use for the duration of the provided lease. Each proposal will acknowledge its relationship to the contaminated soil on which it sits. Questions to consider: Does the temporary unit have its own structure, or act parasitically on an existing building or land condition? Does the unit subvert the suggested program? After the allotted lease expires, does the unit disassemble, decay, disappear or relocate? Does the unit embrace or deny its temporary nature? What is the relationship of the unit to the sites of demolition and redevelopment adjacent to it? To the once-industrial character of the site? How to begin? Choose one site based on the scale, program and duration you prefer. Develop a design scheme which will challenge, expand and explore the current site conditions through a temporary intervention. Submit your scheme on one digital 11″x 17″ PDF. Participate in the discussion surrounding the shortlisted submissions.

Griffintown Interrupted is an open platform for discourse and debate which blurs the line between competition and collaboration, merging the traditional aims of the competition (winning authorship) with an emerging trajectory for architectural practice (distributing authorship). (01 June – 01 September 2010) Five sites of intervention are selected through an analysis of Griffintown in the public domain. Hundreds of people have publicly shared their experiences through dynamic archives such as YouTube and Flickr. The sites which engender the most curiosity, mystery and concern are selected for speculative reinhabitation. (01 October – 10 November 2010) Architects, artists, students and Griffintown enthusiasts are invited to submit temporary projections for one of the five sites. (11 November – 25 November 2010) Participants and the public are invited to join an online debate about the proposals, leading up to a vote on the proposals shortlisted by the jury. (01 December – 14 December 2010) Finalist proposals become part of an open-ended design scheme for Griffintown, in a digital exhibition and digital publication which engage users, designers and jurists. Please note that the outcome of this competition is strictly speculative and is not intended to result in built structures.