New plans for Viger Square will preserve concrete Agora art

Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has announced the city's new plan forrefurbishing Viger Square, and it willpreserve part of thecontroversial public artwork known as Agora.

Coderre hadpreviously said the city would demolish Agora, aseries of monolithic concrete pergolas created by Quebec sculptor CharlesDaudelin in 1981.

The shelter provided by the concrete structures has attracted drugusers and people living on the street for years.

Coderre's new plan will see about half of the concrete pergolasdestroyed, whilethe others will be preserved.

The overall effect will be to open up the space and allow in more daylight, he said.

"This plan strikes a balance between safety and respect for modernheritage.Opening up this public space will allow citizens to reclaimit," the mayor said in a statement.

Opposition party Projet Montral and heritage activists said the new plans are an improvement, but not ideal.

"We're losing more than half the structures, so that's a big loss for us," saidAnne-Marie Siguoin,a city councillor withProjetMontral.

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The new project will also see a fountain in the middle of the squareredesigned and moved, sidewalks widenedand large trees planted inthe square.

City bureaucrats say this is just a preliminary design, and it's still possible that some elements of the project maychange.

Work is scheduled to begin in November 2015 at an estimated cost of $28.3 million.

Watch CBC's Steve Rukavinareport from the square:

Viger Square's public art will be preserved

9 years ago

Duration 1:25

The City of Montreal will give Viger square a facelift, but it won't demolish the Agora artwork, as previously planned.