Right from the exploratory and development phase of the project, the first source of inspiration was the St. Lawrence River, the majesty and quiet strength that emanates from it. Then, considering the geographical location and the maritime history attached to the site, the latter a major contributing factor to the development of the city itself, the decision to anchor the project in both its physical environment and its history was taken without question. Hence, the layout of the installations is inspired by the footprint of the old harbour wharves that once formed the banks at the shorefront, creating volumes alternating between full and empty. This architectural ensemble is then deposited on a site fractioned into levels descending towards the river, recalling the historical layers that form the memory of the place.
Architecture firm eba uses curved double-glazing to create a new entrance for a Quebec City college.
The Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier, a private high school located in Quebec City, occupies a 1930s neo-classic building extended with various wings overtime. The students needed a welcoming and universally accessible entrance. The client’s demands also involved renovating the existing gymnasium and regrouping the Art studios in a poorly lit basement.
This house extension project is located in St-Roch, in the heart of Quebec City. Built in 1915, this former rooming house was renovated and converted into a single-family house. On the facade overlooking the street, the authentic style of the house was preserved by enhancing the look of the cornice and the woodwork and by having it contrast with the contemporary burnt wood of the rear extension. The St-Roch district is dense and mineral, with very few trees found on the streets. Therefore, the challenge was to open up the residence to the vegetation of the garden in order to maximize brightness and integrate the backyard into the project.
An innovative Canadian first for a heritage preservation project of its size, the new glass envelope that will protect the Grand Théâtre de Québec is a Lemay and Atelier 21 consortium design and the winning solution in the cultural complex’s architectural competition.
Faced with the severe deterioration of its concrete envelope, made of prefabricated panels, the Grand Théâtre de Québec needed an intervention to ensure its longevity. The team’s proposed solution was holistic, delicate, transparent and understated. The jury was charmed by the concept of a protective shell around architect Victor Prus’ creation, a brutalist icon inaugurated in 1971.
The Pierre Lassonde Pavilion—the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec’s fourth building is interconnected yet disparate—is a subtly ambitious, even stealthy, addition to the city. Rather than creating an iconic imposition, it forms new links between the park and the city, and brings coherence to the MNBAQ.
Ubisoft’s 400 video game creators located in Quebec City have been settling in to their new workspaces since last May. An ambitious relocation project, the design of this new studio was done in an integrated way under the direction of the firm Coarchitecture, mandated by Ubisoft Quebec for this architectural challenge. The lighting of these new spaces, designed to encourage creative projects, was at the heart of the conception and LumiGroup’s expertise was called upon to achieve all the of the project’s objectives, including the importance of creating an efficient, dynamic, and inspiring living environment, representative of Ubisoft’s DNA.
boustrophedon: Alternating right to left and left to right –
the pattern of oxen tilling the land, or of an ancient form of writing.
The 6.1m x 21.3m Boustrophedon Garden was one of eleven “Ephemeral Gardens” made for Québec City’s year-long 400th anniversary festival in 2008, and were on show from June 16 to September 30, 2008. Gardens were intended to reflect the major festival themes including the indigenous region and its peoples, and the French settlement of Québec. Our response was to draw ideas from Québec’s regional long-lot system – fundamental to creating the distinctive thin-striped pattern of agricultural development in the province – and Samuel de Champlain’s (the great explorer, and founder of Québec City) rigorous agricultural experimentation and recordings done to ensure the survival of the future colonizers of New France in the 17th century.
The MNBAQ and its new pavilion are enveloped in a context of historical heritage. Listed buildings in a historical park populated by centenary trees constitute a straightjacket of inhibiting concerns. The complexity of the context- the urban requirements, the respect for heritage, the significance of the surroundings, the dispersal of the various museum buildings, the heterogeneity of the historical buildings constitutes a series of paradoxes that we had to deal with.
The new building for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec – the museum’s fourth building in an increasingly complicated site, interconnected yet disparate – is a subtly ambitious, even stealthy, addition to the city. Rather than creating an iconic imposition, it forms new links between the park and the city, and brings new coherence to the MNBAQ.
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