SHORTCUT
Walking towards the campus entrance of the Université de Montréal’s, Faculté de l’aménagement, one notices diagonal traces on the surface of the ground. These traces mark the most natural and direct path of movement to and from the building.
But they have not been designed as part of the building’s landscape strategy. They are in effect inscribed as corrections to the formalised movement sequence. We generally call them “short-cuts”.
We can all personally attest to this non-orthogonal tendency as it pertains to human movement. Historically, it has often been harnessed to inflect richly upon urban space. In the classic example of the informal constellations of connecting paths criss-crossing campus quadrangles at many American Ivy League universities, the inevitability of the diagonal is not only accepted; it is exploited for its spatial potential.
Located in front of the Faculté de l’aménagement, “Shortcut” was a straightforward installation that also embraced this potential. Placed upon the aforementioned traces, informal movement was given a measure of nobility by its acknowledgement in material form. Made of a luminous blue epoxy terrazzo, its seamless continuity of surface and ability to reflect sunlight helped produce a theatrical happening. Because of its high visibility and location, those entering or leaving the building walked upon “Shortcut”, making it a true, if only temporary threshold to the Faculté de l’aménagement.
