The Windsor Hotel - Site of the first meetings of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization
As war hostilities essentially ended on the day before, on the invitation of the Government of Canada, the first session of the Interim Council of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization met on 15 August 1945 at 14:30 in the Rose Room of the Windsor Hotel, adjacent to Dominion Square. Among the twenty country-members of the Council invited, Brazil and Mexico could not arrive on time for the opening meeting. Canada's Minister of Reconstruction C.D. Howe welcomed the Interim Council and noted that this was "the first post-war organization of the United Nations to get under way...". The first session of the Interim Council opened under the temporary chairmanship of the representative of Canada, Mr. A.C. McKim, with Wing Commander P.A. Cumyn as Temporary Secretary General.At its first session, the Interim Council decided that, to perform its functions effectively and promptly, it should remain in substantially continuous session, with short recesses to enable members to confer with their respective Governments. The agenda and documentation prepared by the Canadian Preparatory Committee greatly assisted the early work of the Organization, and the Interim Council expressed to the Prime Minister of Canada its deep appreciation for the generous assistance given by the Canadian Government in general and the Committee in particular.A matter of high importance for the Provisional International Civil Aviation organization (PICAO) was the setting of the First Session of the PICAO Assembly. This Assembly was originally scheduled from 21 May until Sunday 8 June 1946, but ended in fact on 7 June. Although the Assembly was held at the Windsor Hotel, Montréal, some of the meetings were held at the Dominion Square Building (10th floor). Mr. Louis de Brouckère, Chairman of the Belgian Delegation, was elected President of the PICAO First Interim Assembly. The Assembly comprised representatives of forty-four Member States, observers from ten non-member States, and eight international organizations. The session closed with two plenary meetings, one on 6 June, devoted to the selection of the site of the permanent organization and the filling of the existing vacancy on the Interim Council (left by the USSR), and the other on 7 June, at which the Assembly considered the final reports of the Commissions.On 6 June 1946, toward the conclusion of the first PICAO Interim Assembly, Montréal was selected as the permanent headquarters of the Organization, by 27 votes; the other candidates cities obtained respectively: Paris 9 votes, Geneva 4 votes, a city not named in China 1 vote. The choice of Montréal was formally proposed by Chile and was supported by Peru, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.
ICAO's first permanent accommodation (1949)
From July 1946, the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization (PICAO) started negotiations with the host Government and the Canadian National Railways to establish a permanent accommodation to replace its temporary quarters consisting of parts of two adjoining buildings on the Dominion Square; by 1949, the Secretariat staff numbered 390.The new commodious office accommodation would become the International Aviation Building (in French: la Maison de l’aviation internationale, for a total calculated space of 90,000 square feet reserved for ICAO, to be constructed at the corner of Dorchester Boulevard (now Boulevard René-Lévesque) and University Street (in 1080 University Street). It had the additional attraction of adjoining the city’s central railway station. ICAO would occupy the six upper floors (of the ten floors, the 5th to the 10th inclusive) of the new US$ 4 million 10-storey building. The premises were ready for occupation by 15 July 1949. The official opening ceremony of the International Aviation Building was scheduled during the Fourth Session of the Assembly on 1 June 1950 in the afternoon.The ninth floor contained the offices of the permanent national delegations to the Council. The Conference quarters were located on the 10th floor, with the Council chamber and committee rooms equipped with modern simultaneous interpretation equipment.The new building included excellent facilities for meetings. The Council Chamber was capable of accommodating up to 175 people, thus enabling the Organization to cater to a large-scale divisional meeting. A second chamber accommodated 85; there were also 5 committee rooms accommodating from 30 to 60 people. It was planned to immediately equip the Council Chamber and a second chamber with simultaneous interpretation and recording devices.The remaining five floors of the building were occupied by various organizations connected with aviation, the headquarters of IATA the International Air Transport Association, on the 2nd floor), several of the larger international airlines, a cafeteria, cocktail bar and a bank.It is to be noted that no provision was made in the new building for a dedicated conference room in which to hold the Assembly Sessions. They were therefore held either in Montreal (at the Windsor Hotel, ICAO Headquarters, or Laurentien Hotel for the third Assembly or outside Canada at the invitation of one of the Members States.
The second permanent accommodation (1975)
By the early 70s, the number of delegates of States attending the regular triennial Assemblies was outstripping the capabilities of almost all major convention centres in the world; costs of holding Assemblies with full services in four languages, including multiple and simultaneous meetings, had become prohibitively high. In addition, the ICAO building (in 1080 University Street) presented inadequate rooms in number and size to accommodate major technical meetings held in Montreal. The implications of various financing and management alternatives of a new Headquarters building, i.e., wet lease (with rental and all building services included), lease purchase and complete ownership, had been considered at that time by the Organization; a pure lease arrangement had appeared to offer definitive advantages and seemed to be the only practicable option considering the Canadian Government subsidy.Thus, Canadian Government authorities sought to construct new facilities specially conceived for the Organization on the prestigious Sherbrooke Street (at 1000 Sherbrooke Street West), facing the McGill University campus and overlooking Mount Royal. The construction proposal was known as the Schreiber project; in addition to the importance of the architectural concept, a factor which would contribute to ICAO’s identity, general quality, interior space layout especially with regard to the Conference facilities, it was selected due to the desire for a downtown location easily accessible by every means of transportation and within easy walking distance of major hotels. The award-winning 27-storey building (including a five-level base structure) was designed by a firm led by Montreal’s Architect André Vecsi; ICAO initially occupied fifteen floors of the building, as well as the whole conference complex adjacent to it to the rear. The new Assembly facilities could accommodate 600 people and the total space rented was 220,000 square feet.Contributions from Contracting States, typical of their arts and natural treasurers, were sought for the furnishing and decoration of the new building. The headquarters of ICAO in Montreal are not simply office buildings or conference centers. If they are to symbolize the Organization they house, they must also have some of the qualities of a museum. ICAO has gradually acquired outstanding works of art.The actual physical transfer from the old premises to the new was completed in two extended weekends; by Monday 21 July 1975, all ICAO operations had been effectively transferred to the new building. The official inauguration of the new Headquarters premises took place on 3 October 1975.
The third permanent accommodation (1996)
ICAO’s success was evidenced by the dynamic and sustained increases in the number of States adhering to its Convention after the decolonization in Africa and the collapse of the countries in East Europe; the number of States Members had grown from 119 in 1970 to 162 in 1990, whereas in the same time the number of members of the Council had been increased from 27 to 33. The 600-seat Assembly Hall could no longer accommodate all the delegates in attendance (including non-member states and observers), with the spill over forced to listen in on closed-circuit TV. The building on Sherbrooke was no longer well enough equipped to meet future needs, in terms of electronic security and print shop. Since the early 90s, the Government of Canada, as host of the Organization, perceived the needs for more suitable accommodations for ICAO.ICAO's new and current premises is located at 999 Boulevard Robert Bourassa (at the corner of Avenue Viger Ouest) and is named La Maison de l’OACI.Its unique architectural design admirably captures the dynamics of the Organization, was occupied by ICAO in October 1996, and was officially inaugurated on 5 December 1996.Ken London Architects was the prime architect responsible for the base building design, while Provencher Roy Associés was responsible for the overall design of the interior space and common areas. Rented by the Government of Canada for 20 years, the new complex encompasses an area of 40,000 square metres, for 350,000 square feet of rentable space.Flanked by the flags of ICAO, Canada, and local governments, the complex is located along a prestigious gateway into Montreal and contributes immeasurably towards unifying and structuring the city’s downtown urban fabric.Severe challenges in terms of air quality, noise, vibration, site serenity and security were presented to the engineers, as the building site is located directly over the westbound and eastbound tunnels of the Ville-Marie Expressway.Two separate steel and concrete structures, a 15-storey office tower and a 5-storey conference block, are joined by a dramatic glass-covered atrium, flying bridges and criss-crossing escalators. The result is a delicate balance of transparency and continuity, in a classic yet modern environment. Limestone and precast concrete represent the strength of the Organization, while back-painted textured glass permits natural lighting to wash the walls with a delicate filtering effect.
Place de l'Aviation civile internationale
On 8 September 2017, the presence of Minister Martin Coiteux, local artist Michel de Broin and Dr. Fang Liu, ICAO’s Secretary General, the mayor of Montreal, Mr. Denis Coderre, proceeded at the inauguration of the public art work Dendrites and the Place de l'Aviation civile internationale. The work of Michel de Broin, which is integrated into the new square, contributes to the quality of this brand-new entrance to the city, a worthy entrance to the beautiful metropolis, which is a showcase for Montreal's creativity. The Bonaventure project is a legacy for all Montrealers as part of Montreal's 375th anniversary.“Aviation is the essential foundation of global connectivity, which enables cities, producers and economies to build more sustainable futures, full of hope and opportunity. This new Place de l'Aviation civile internationale is a very natural tribute to Montreal's status in the world of aviation, and the Dendrites sculpture, chosen to help underline this prestige, very appropriately encourages us to esteem and appreciate this unique blue sky that connects us all,” said Dr. Fang Liu.On one hand, like many of the artist’s previous works, Dendrites repurpose functional elements (stairs and platforms) in a highly frequented and traffic intensive public space. For example, the repurposing of an urban structure (the stairs), which is normally designed to facilitate and guide pedestrian flow through public space, here becomes the vector for an inoperativeness in which the viewer is invited to take a step back from the frantic, nervous rhythms of the city and reflect on or simply admire the complex urban system looming and pulsating all around him or her. On the other hand, the sculpture functions on a sustained symbolic register via its multileveled referencing, ranging from dendrites and their function of receiving incoming electrochemical impulses, to tree-like forms contrasted with the surrounding urban space, and to the notion of traffic flows traversing the cityscape and so on. More specifically, the sculptural installation modifies this pivotal passage point (signalling the end of the Bonaventure expressway and indicating one’s entry into Montréal) by providing a visual attractor that detracts from, and somewhat mitigates, the unattractiveness of the concrete behemoth, just behind it on the northwest side, that is the self-enclosed Brutalist-style Place Bonaventure building.
Square-Victoria-OACI Station
On the opening day of the 38th Session of the Assembly (held in Montréal from 24 September to 4 October 2013), the Interim Major of Montréal announced that the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) responded favourably to the City of Montreal's request by accepting a change of identification of the Square-Victoria metro station, so that there would be a reference to ICAO on the banners identifying this metro station serving the International Quarter. The Mayor of Montreal wished to make a gesture to ICAO, to show his gratitude and pride in welcoming the Organization to Montréal.Following the adoption of a resolution by the Board of Directors of the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) on 2 April 2014, the name of the metro station Square-Victoria was changed to Square-Victoria-OACI. Due to the presence of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Montréal has become a major hub of civil aviation, a highly significant status for a metropolis with a well-developed industry.To mark the beginning of Montréal activities surrounding the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Chicago Convention and the establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the City of Montréal and the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) announced on 14 November 2014 the official renaming of Metro Station Square-Victoria to Metro Station Square-Victoria-OACI by a commemorative plaque (unveiled during the ceremony), which would mark the importance of ICAO’s presence in Montréal; this plaque is now displayed inside the station, right after passing the turnstiles.
