Montreal’s underground city has always given way to fascination and curiosity in the collective psyche. Created in order to make urban travels easier under extreme weather, all of what is left today of this sophisticated network of galeries is a large mall made up of shops, restaurants and other spaces dedicated to consumption.

This isn’t, however, due to the city dwellers’ lack of imagination as demonstrates Michel Lincourt, architect and philosopher, when he writes in December 1970 an article for L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui (issue No.153) about the « Métro/Education » research and development project.

This experimental project aimed to decentralise the city’s education system and transform the – often empty – spaces linked to the metro into learning areas « like a display offering passersby the phenomenon of education ». In the spirit of the democratization of knowledge and free circulation of information, the project required that each professional or businessman working in these places could give an hour per week of their time to teach their area of expertise for free.

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