Esplanade Tranquille – Montreal

“The first time I stumbled upon Esplanade Tranquille, a year-round indoor public space in Quartier des Spectacles, at the core of downtown Montreal, I lived a positive experience of quality in the build environment.

During my summer visit, I was not sure what the specific program of the building was, nor what kind of services they had to offer. All that I could confidently observe was that it was a public space holding a great variety of services such as a café, a boardgame rental counter, a self-serve library, and tables and terrasses for studying and chit-chatting. And that all of this was situated in the heart of the city, where finding free interior public spaces can be quite difficult. And so, I was very pleasantly surprised from the very first visit.

A few months later, during winter, I realized that this public space could transform itself to serve various programs, turning into a refrigerated skating rink with common areas and storage for skaters. It looked as lively as during the summer and hosted all sorts of events all year-long.

Hence, Esplanade Tranquille is a positive experience of quality in the build environment thanks to its public nature, versatile spaces, generosity in services offered, and adaptability to changing needs.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.178).

Esplanade Tranquille’s versatile Café-Boardgame-Rental-Counter next to its public living room, in the core of downtown Montreal

Image by Annie Thao Vy Nguyen (myself)

Google map link: https://goo.gl/maps/NyYcrNUpXrJc5bay7