A
Archivistower
Guest
Schulich gets a medal, but nothing else in the city does, or much outside Quebec.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S MEDALS ARCHITECTURE
Quebec architects soar with modest, civic designs
LISA ROCHON (Globe and Mail, May 2)
Quebec architects have been showered with the riches of the Governor-General's Medals in Architecture, scoring an unprecedented eight of 12 awards given out in the country's most prestigious design competition. The winners were announced yesterday by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Though Quebec has not experienced the building booms of Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, modest, civic projects located throughout the province -- a library, a tourism centre, a park's welcoming pavilion, two theatres and one condominium -- caught the attention of the Governor-General's jury.
The Montreal studios of Cirque du Soleil, the province's beloved entertainment troupe, have also been awarded. And the distinguished, Montreal-based firm of Saucier + Perrotte architectes has been honoured for its design of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.
"What can be said of this year's laureates? That there is a promising future for Canadian architecture with the breakthrough of a new generation of architects. That modest public buildings in smaller urban centres can demonstrate the value of architecture in our communities. That an architectural competition program, such as the one in the province of Quebec, can successfully give rise to superior buildings," said Yves Gosselin, president of the RAIC, in a release.
Meanwhile, major cultural commissions in Ontario were shut out of the awards. Though lauded around the world, the Ontario College of Art and Design's Sharp Centre for Design, a tabletop addition held aloft on 12 brightly coloured steel legs by acclaimed British architect Will Alsop, of Alsop Architects, in a joint venture with Toronto-based Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc., received nothing. Another surprising rejection was the Canadian War Museum by Moriyama & Teshima Architects of Toronto and Ottawa's Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects in a joint venture, a powerful work in concrete and glass that rises up from the banks of the Ottawa River. And Canada's National Ballet School, an exhilarating addition to Toronto's downtown by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects/Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects, was noticeably absent from the awards.
From Quebec, Governor-General's Medals go to the following built projects, all of which were designed by Montreal architects: 115 Studios -- Cirque du Soleil headquarters located on a landfill in one of Montreal's poorest districts, by Éric Gauthier; Bibliothèque Municipale de Châteauguay by atelier TAG with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés Architectes en consortium; Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec by Lapointe Magne + Ædifica; Structures d'accueil des jardins de Métis, a front-gate pavilion and series of screens by Atelier in situ, which lead visitors through the splendid Reford Gardens; Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, a theatre located on the outskirts of Montreal that is aligned with the landscape of Terrebonne's civic park, by atelier TAG with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés Architectes en consortium; Théâtre Espace Libre, a renovation of an old fire station, by Lapointe Magne et associés, and Unity 2, a mid-rise condominium with double-height living spaces by Cormier, Cohen, Davies architectes.
Of particular interest is that atelier TAG has picked up two Governor-General's Medals to clearly emerge as one of the strong, new-generation voices from Quebec. The firm was founded by Manon Asselin, a Quebec-born architect who joined forces with Katsuhiro Yamazaki, born in Costa Rica to Japanese parents. The couple met at McGill University and formed atelier TAG shortly after. For their theatre in Terrebonne, a historic community near Montreal, the young firm won a two-stage ideas competition with a collaborating team. Before that, they won the Châteauguay Municipal Library competition.
Outside Quebec, honours have been awarded to the following: Maurer House, a discreet series of wooden pavilions by Florian Maurer set in a subdivision of large lots in interior British Columbia; the newly centralized Winnipeg offices of Smith Carter Architects and Engineers Incorporated, an energy-efficient, two-storey rectangular box clad with recyclable stainless steel and views to the prairie on one side and a spruce forest on the other; Schulich School of Business, designed by Toronto's Hariri Pontarini Architects in joint venture with Robbie/Young + Wright Architects, an elegant, stone-clad complex that gives weight and grace to the suburban campus of York University. As well, a medal goes to Erindale Hall, an expressive student residence located at the University of Toronto at Mississauga by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects of Toronto.
Unlike her predecessor Adrienne Clarkson, an ardent supporter of Canadian architecture, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean will not personally present the medals. Instead, the awards will be presented on Sept. 20 in Montreal at l'Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec by Lise Thibault, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.
The 2006 winners of the Governor-General's Medals in Architecture were selected by a jury of the following architects: Amale Andraos, a McGill University graduate from Quebec City who co-founded WORKac studio in New York; Adam Caruso, a McGill graduate and principal of the London-based Caruso St. John Architects; Mario Saia, a prominent Montreal architect; Peter Busby, a Vancouver-based architect and principal of Busby Perkins + Wills, and Julien De Smedt, a Danish architect and disciple of Dutch superstar Rem Koolhaas.
GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S MEDALS ARCHITECTURE
Quebec architects soar with modest, civic designs
LISA ROCHON (Globe and Mail, May 2)
Quebec architects have been showered with the riches of the Governor-General's Medals in Architecture, scoring an unprecedented eight of 12 awards given out in the country's most prestigious design competition. The winners were announced yesterday by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Though Quebec has not experienced the building booms of Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, modest, civic projects located throughout the province -- a library, a tourism centre, a park's welcoming pavilion, two theatres and one condominium -- caught the attention of the Governor-General's jury.
The Montreal studios of Cirque du Soleil, the province's beloved entertainment troupe, have also been awarded. And the distinguished, Montreal-based firm of Saucier + Perrotte architectes has been honoured for its design of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.
"What can be said of this year's laureates? That there is a promising future for Canadian architecture with the breakthrough of a new generation of architects. That modest public buildings in smaller urban centres can demonstrate the value of architecture in our communities. That an architectural competition program, such as the one in the province of Quebec, can successfully give rise to superior buildings," said Yves Gosselin, president of the RAIC, in a release.
Meanwhile, major cultural commissions in Ontario were shut out of the awards. Though lauded around the world, the Ontario College of Art and Design's Sharp Centre for Design, a tabletop addition held aloft on 12 brightly coloured steel legs by acclaimed British architect Will Alsop, of Alsop Architects, in a joint venture with Toronto-based Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc., received nothing. Another surprising rejection was the Canadian War Museum by Moriyama & Teshima Architects of Toronto and Ottawa's Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects in a joint venture, a powerful work in concrete and glass that rises up from the banks of the Ottawa River. And Canada's National Ballet School, an exhilarating addition to Toronto's downtown by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects/Goldsmith Borgal & Company Ltd. Architects, was noticeably absent from the awards.
From Quebec, Governor-General's Medals go to the following built projects, all of which were designed by Montreal architects: 115 Studios -- Cirque du Soleil headquarters located on a landfill in one of Montreal's poorest districts, by Éric Gauthier; Bibliothèque Municipale de Châteauguay by atelier TAG with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés Architectes en consortium; Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec by Lapointe Magne + Ædifica; Structures d'accueil des jardins de Métis, a front-gate pavilion and series of screens by Atelier in situ, which lead visitors through the splendid Reford Gardens; Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, a theatre located on the outskirts of Montreal that is aligned with the landscape of Terrebonne's civic park, by atelier TAG with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés Architectes en consortium; Théâtre Espace Libre, a renovation of an old fire station, by Lapointe Magne et associés, and Unity 2, a mid-rise condominium with double-height living spaces by Cormier, Cohen, Davies architectes.
Of particular interest is that atelier TAG has picked up two Governor-General's Medals to clearly emerge as one of the strong, new-generation voices from Quebec. The firm was founded by Manon Asselin, a Quebec-born architect who joined forces with Katsuhiro Yamazaki, born in Costa Rica to Japanese parents. The couple met at McGill University and formed atelier TAG shortly after. For their theatre in Terrebonne, a historic community near Montreal, the young firm won a two-stage ideas competition with a collaborating team. Before that, they won the Châteauguay Municipal Library competition.
Outside Quebec, honours have been awarded to the following: Maurer House, a discreet series of wooden pavilions by Florian Maurer set in a subdivision of large lots in interior British Columbia; the newly centralized Winnipeg offices of Smith Carter Architects and Engineers Incorporated, an energy-efficient, two-storey rectangular box clad with recyclable stainless steel and views to the prairie on one side and a spruce forest on the other; Schulich School of Business, designed by Toronto's Hariri Pontarini Architects in joint venture with Robbie/Young + Wright Architects, an elegant, stone-clad complex that gives weight and grace to the suburban campus of York University. As well, a medal goes to Erindale Hall, an expressive student residence located at the University of Toronto at Mississauga by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects of Toronto.
Unlike her predecessor Adrienne Clarkson, an ardent supporter of Canadian architecture, Governor-General Michaëlle Jean will not personally present the medals. Instead, the awards will be presented on Sept. 20 in Montreal at l'Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec by Lise Thibault, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.
The 2006 winners of the Governor-General's Medals in Architecture were selected by a jury of the following architects: Amale Andraos, a McGill University graduate from Quebec City who co-founded WORKac studio in New York; Adam Caruso, a McGill graduate and principal of the London-based Caruso St. John Architects; Mario Saia, a prominent Montreal architect; Peter Busby, a Vancouver-based architect and principal of Busby Perkins + Wills, and Julien De Smedt, a Danish architect and disciple of Dutch superstar Rem Koolhaas.
