Photo from Metro (Station Jarry, Montreal Metro, 1966)
For anyone even remotely interested in the history of Canadian design, John Martins-Manteiga is a treasure trove. His archive, Dominion Modern, strives to collect, preserve and promote public awareness of our architectural and design heritage through exhibitions, catalogues and publications – like his latest title, Mtro: Design in Motion/Design en movement, due to launch tomorrow night. The Toronto Standard caught up with Martins-Manteiga to get a sneak preview.
What is the book about?
It’s kind of a complete documentation of the Montreal Metro: the architecture, the engineering, the art program, and the industrial design program. We detail all 68 stations with their layouts, specs, and the names of each architect, designer and artist – which has never really been done before. The second half of the book is the documentation of how the subway has lived for the past 40 years.
It sounds like an exhaustive overview.
450 pages. The book is so heavy it’s like a weapon. But it’s not academic, it tells the human story.
Does that play into the Dominion Modern’s emphasis on oral histories?
The book uses the remaining players that are still alive to tell that story, like the designer Jacques Guillon. I also spoke with the last remaining people that worked on the subway. They’re called the “Metro Boys”. They’re in their 80s and 90s now and still kicking – they have active minds and are very proud of what they did.
Why the Montreal Metro?
The entire system is such an astounding feat: It was built in rock under the island of Montreal, it had a rubber wheeled system, they designed and built their own car. And they did it on budget and on time to open Expo 67.
What detail about the system were you most interested in?
Probably how the car came about. [The architects and designers] studied the system in Toronto at the time, as well as those in the U.K. and France. The French were testing a rubber tire system that was quieter and so they went with that system. Similarly they required narrow body cars in order to fit two cars in one tunnel; which meant they didn’t have to build two tunnels like in Toronto, which was more costly. Also, the car is extremely important because it was designed by a Canadian, Jacques Guillon, and it was built in Montreal, at the insistence of the mayor Jean Drapeau.
The Metro featured the first subway system art program in North America, in which each station was given to an individual architect, which makes it distinct. There were a lot of really unique things, but I think the car is the most important industrial design object in Canadian history.
Why is it so important?
It created an industrial design industry. It also created Bombardier, which at the time was only making snowmobiles and because they got the contract for the second version, the MR-73, it launched them into what they are today.
What can other cities learn from this book?
I dedicated the book to Lucien Saulnier and Jean Drapeau – two amazing politicians with vision. They were part of a civil service that really served the public and I think that’s a huge lesson in the book. These people weren’t perfect, but, they respected the public purse and didn’t abuse it, they kept this thing on budget, and they built it on time and looked at the most economical way to build its system. I think that’s the thing that we can learn from this – that public service vision is something that is really lacking today. These people, I mean, I’m just in awe of them.
Mtro: Design in Motion/ Design en movement launches November 9 at 6pm at Inabstracto, 1160 Queen St W, with a small exhibit with archival photos and artefacts running until November 27, 2011.
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Paige Magarrey writes on design for Toronto Standard.
