Québec City, Québec, Canada

La Société des établissements de Plein air du Québec’s Experience Chute Park by Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker draws on the breathtaking views of its natural site, creating a 4-segment tour path and a new visitor’s center for the falls.

More than 800,000 people visit the Parc de la Chute-Montmorency each year to enjoy the remarkable 83-meter-high waterfall and its scenic surroundings.

Intervening in such an eminent, vast, and imposing site requires respect and humility so that the visitor’s experience is entirely dedicated to contemplation and experience of the falls.

The Experience Chute has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The new installations realized as part of the Experience Chute project showcase the natural beauty of the park by drawing on its existing character.

The project approach aims to create an intervention that responds to the program defined by Sépaq, while responding harmoniously and meaningfully to the site.

The overall vision is rooted in the historical richness of the place while differentiating from the top of the cliff.

From a natural site where the St. Lawrence River came to touch the foot of the cliff, named at the time the Bas-du-Sault, it was gradually modified by human interventions to develop its military, energy, and industrial potential, as well as by the passage of the railroad and a highway on large embankments.

The vestiges of this rich heritage are found at the foot of the falls and make up the material and immaterial memory from which the new developments find evocative meaning. 

The overall project is divided into two sub-sectors:

The Visitor Reception area, south of the Chemin de fer Charlevoix, aims to redefine the entrance route, reconfigure, and introduce landscape into the parking area, develop thematic gardens, interpret and highlight industrial remains, and build a new service pavilion.

The Experience Chute area, north of the railroad tracks, which consolidates a universally accessible circuit, allows visitors to approach the waterfall and complete a 4-segment tour around the river basin that includes:

— The Contemplative Footbridge downstream of the basin, enlargement, and improvement of the existing pedestrian footbridge adjacent to the railway bridge

— The Mineral Path and Garden on the east side of the basin, renovation of the concrete paths, and belvedere built-in 1967 with modernist gestures

— The Semi-submerged Passerelle upstream of the basin, hidden within the water, allowing visitors to approach the waterfall and feel its hydraulic power; a true technical innovation 

— The Nature Path and welcome pavilion on the western shore of the basin, developments on stilts that are delicately integrated into the coastline

The master plan sets out design guidelines for the site and represents Sépaq’s new roadmap for realizing its vision, one that reflects current and collective values with a contemporary resolution, intertwining architecture, landscape, programming, and interpretation.

The welcome pavilion defines the western segment of the path around the Montmorency Basin and marks the entry point to the Experience Chute.

The new pavilion is located on a gentle slope towards the basin and is designed to respect the sensitive environment of the river shoreline and its flora.

Built on the site of an abandoned electrical substation, the pavilion serves as a landmark and focal point for visitors.

Expressing the third dimension in the landscape, its minimalist steel structure—devoid of vertical bracing through the skillful integration of rigid frames—features a canopy cantilevering towards the water, emphasizing the horizontality of the construction and framing views of the landscape.

The assembly details of this structure have been finely studied to conceal both the structural and drainage requirements of the roof.

The roof’s waterproofing is contained within the structure’s thickness and is clad in whitewashed wood siding, a texture that references the manor’s cladding that characterizes the historic estate on the upper plateau of the falls.

The roof is a single, continuous plane; the pergola of the cantilever allows for a play of light and shadow on the ground that changes with the hours and seasons.

The wooden boardwalks of the Nature Path are adjacent to the pavilion; they hover on stilts, minimizing their impact on the environment.

The lamination and tectonics of the boardwalks are inspired both by the iconography of log piles that accumulated at the base of the falls during the log drives and also by the stacks that characterized the sawmill landscape of the last century.

The forest surrounding the pavilion and its paths are enhanced by the planting of native trees and shrubs.

The welcome pavilion acts as a place for pause, allowing visitors to take a break in the shade while offering a privileged perspective on the falls.

The Contemplative Footbridge is a part of the Experience Chute that, like the project, is intended to resonate with the genius loci of the site.

The widening and enhancement of the existing bridge that runs parallel to the railway bridge over the river are in response to a programmatic challenge.

Project: Parc de la Chute Montmorency
Architects: Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker
General Contractor: Construction Deric Inc.
Client: The Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq)
Photographers: Maxime Brouillet