The History of World Expositions
The world exhibition site was constructed near the harbor on two islands in the middle of the 1,700 meter wide St. Lawrence river, which flows through Montreal. The landscape architect Frederick G. Todd proposed retaining the island of Sainte-Hélène, which was used by the city's inhabitants as a natural recreation park, and extending it for the new buildings by means of filling. The new island of Notre-Dame was created south of it near the banks of the river. For months, sludge and silt were removed from the river and transported by lorry to the future exhibition site. A total of 1.2 million cubic meters of earth had to be moved to reclaim 120 hectares of new land. The third part of the exhibition site was formed by the Mackai Pier at the harbor, which was likewise extended and renamed City du Havre. The Habitat 67, an innovative urban housing project, administrative buildings, the stadium and the Expo Theater were erected on this peninsula. The islands were connected by bridges. In line with the varied structure of the site, the pavilions were divided into four groups, between which there were water or green areas.
Included in the plans were more than 600 projects aimed at improving the infrastructure in the entire province, such as the erection of parks and residential estates, cultural centers and a fundamental overhaul and extension of local public transport. This also included the building of a motorway and the Concordia Bridge over the river, as well as the generous extension of the subway. To provide visitors with easy access to the exhibition site, a stop was opened at the main parking lot and one on Sainte-Hélène's island. All three islands were also connected to the Expo Express, a computer-controlled local express train, at the four most important points of the exhibition. From here, you were able to transfer to monorails, small trackless trains, vaporetti, motor-driven Venetian gondolas and bicycle-drawn rickshaws in order to get about on the site. The monorails sometimes drove right through the pavilions. The paths and roads within the exhibition were reserved for pedestrians.
A graphical guidance system that was to help visitors find their bearings on the site was designed for Expo '67. A strict striving for form, as reflected in the use of a uniform typeface and in the design of the street furnishings, benches, telephone booths, street lamps and waste-paper bins, ensured an agreeably functional look to the Expo site.
The Montreal World Exposition 1967
Land reclamation in the middle of a river
|Year: 1967||City: Montreal||Country: Canada|
|Duration: 28th April - 27th October 1967|