- Faire le vide Installation Transforms Remote Quebec Island
- Project: Faire le vide
- Location: Québec City,
- Canada
- Typology:
- Installations And PopUps, Public Architecture
- Architects:
- Atelier mock/up, Luca Fortin
- Dimensions: 2438 x 2438 x 2438
- Images credit: Maryse Béland, Karma Photographie, Behind Création, Maika Nadon, Irvin Burel, Luca Fortin
The Faire le vide public art installation is spread across the vast landscape of Poisson Blanc Regional Park, in a remote island. As the first in a series of artistic interventions on the park’s islands, the project, initiated by Poisson Blanc, aims to transform the reservoir into both an open-air destination and a cultural experience.
The design takes the form of a wooden cube, a minimalist and almost monolithic exterior conceals an interior sculpted with curves and intricate textures. It is the winning entry of a design competition, conceived by a team composed of artist and architect Luca Fortin and Atelier mock/up.
The project is conceived with deep sensitivity to the site, blending seamlessly into its insular environment. Accessible only by water, by canoe or kayak, the installation reveals itself like a well-kept secret nestled in the heart of the reservoir. Viewed from the lake, its form and materiality act as a subtle landmark, inviting curiosity and encouraging exploration.
The site’s constraints became opportunities for design innovation. Entirely prefabricated off-site, the structure was installed without the use of heavy machinery. Each wooden slab was transported by boat, then carried and assembled by hand. Faire le vide was deliberately designed and positioned to minimize its impact on the rocky outcrop and surrounding landscape.
Designed using laminated cedar, and CNC-milled, the structure was assembled piece by piece on site. Two distinct geometries emerge: an orthogonal outer shell and an organically expressive inner chamber. The exterior walls are clad in vertical slats that resonate with the upright stance of the surrounding forest, while the interior preserves the marks left by the milling tool, textures that evoke the wind’s ripples on the water’s surface.
Faire le vide is an encounter between place and craft, where art and fabrication intertwine. It weaves a dialogue between gesture, material, and the rhythm of the landscape, a threshold between the visible and the invisible that celebrates the poetics of place and time. The work reminds us that art can emerge where we least expect it, at a bend in a path, on an isolated island, between two breaths. In the simplicity of the present moment, it reveals its power to shift how we see the world.
Project name : Faire le vide
Location : Island no.22, Poisson Blanc Regional Park
Client : Poisson Blanc Regional Park
Architects/designers : Luca Fortin + atelier mock/up
Manufacturing team : Luca Fortin, Hugo Thibaudeau, Véronique Côté, Thierry Thibaudeau, Daphée Cantin, Raphaël Pellerin, Tom Hallett
Financial partners : MRC d’Antoine-Labelle, Government of Quebec, Poisson Blanc Regional Park
Materials : CedarSuppliers : Cèdre JD Sirois
Overall dimensions : 2438 x 2438 x 2438
Project opening : June 2024
Photographs : Maryse Béland, Karma Photographie, Behind Création, Maika Nadon, Irvin Burel, Luca Fortin
Videography: Karma Photographie
Video complement : La Fabrique Culturelle, Télé-Québec
