Coming home one evening, I decided to wander around the Olympic Park. This is an area full of well-known, iconic buildings (The Olympic Stadium, The Biodome, The insectarium, The Arena Maurice Richard, and many others), most of them built in preparation for the 1968 Montreal Summer Olympics.
However, I had never seen this one. It’s much more recent, and its futuristic appearance immediately caught my attention. It is beautifully minimalist while maintaining a very utilitarian aspect. It’s just a cube, with no windows, made out of -4-sided silicone curtain wall cladding with a slightly reflective finish that allows the building to integrate into its surrounding environment at the same time while producing a mirror effect. This elaborate trick is what helps to achieve the otherworldly translucence, almost luminescent aspect. The panels reflect their surrounding; they become more green, blue, or grey, or a mixture of the three, depending on the light or the color of the sky. This characteristic creates changing elements throughout the day and the seasons.
When I took this photo, the hour was my favourite time of the day for shooting (6:55PM). So I went nuts and took as many shots as possible. As a passionate of architecture, I could not believe that I lived in this neighbourhood for almost 17 years, and had never seen such a wonderful construction. To me, itthis is a striking and smart example of form and function being equally considered, almost in perfect balance.
Some additional notes on the building itself:
The material used: 6mm clear glass Satinlite on surface 1 with 6mm grey glass Pilkington Mirrorpane™ on surface 3 , back painted in grey on surface 4. Designed by Riopel + Associates
What are the TWO most impactful features that make your image a good photograph? Don’t be shy!
- The composition, putting the building from and centre.
- The relatively cohesive color story.
If you could make this photo again, what would be the ONE thing you would like to do better or different?
I would love to photograph this building with darker lighting conditions, either under a bright starry sky/night or very early in the morning, with the sun rising.
Maurice Depestre shared this photograph with the FRAMES Facebook Group.
Photographer
Maurice Depestre, Montreal, Canada
Equipment and settings
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T1i
Lens: EF-S18-35MM f/3.5-5.6 IS
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Exp: 1/400 Sec at ƒ / 7.1
Flash: Did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Pattern
Speed rating: ISO 400
Focal length: 21 mm
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