Is it Possible to Envision a Neighbourhood and its Residents Within the Framework of a Competition?
by Juliane Alexandre Colmado, published 2026-08-03
Is it possible to envision a neighborhood and its residents within the framework of a competition?
This two-part ideas competition highlights ongoing social and political dynamics through the various ways of imagining the future of the Quartier Latin in the heart of Montreal. Amid the site’s historical context, densification, and shifting patterns of living and consumption, all within the context of an ecological transition, the proposals reveal a rich diversity, with relationships and sharing, both between people and spaces, remaining central concerns. There is also a desire to reconnect with users’ sensory perceptions, considering the impact of multidimensional and multimodal sensory experiences on their lived experience. Through their inventiveness and innovation, the winners’ proposals stand as true reflections of the transformations currently underway. Transformations that remain at the heart of ongoing debates and continue to challenge the ways we view and inhabit our urban centers.
The Quartier des Spectacles, a must-visit cultural hub in the Montreal metropolitan area, provides a rich context for urban planning initiatives that incorporate growing ecological and social challenges. Seeking to bring together a diverse range of uses, from performance venues to housing, the city launched these ideas competitions in 2012, inviting professionals in architecture, urban planning, and design to envision the future of this now-legendary neighborhood. The competition is divided into two categories: architecture and urban planning. The winners stood to collaborate with the City of Montreal to develop future urban planning projects for the area and to participate in the development of the Special Urban Plan. The jury selected a total of five winners and awarded honorable mentions to three of the participating projects. Another unique aspect of this competition is the voice given to the public. Through online voting, the public can highlight their favorite projects.
The interventions, divided into two parts, were intended to address different scales within the neighborhood. It is worth noting that the Quartier des Spectacles brings together many institutions and activities, making this vibrant center a particularly attractive cultural hub in the Quebec City metropolitan area. Located between Sherbrooke Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard, it is crossed by Sainte-Catherine Street, which stands out for its bustling commercial activity. This is a true historic hub of Montreal’s cultural and nightlife scene, home to many notable institutions such as the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT), the Cinémathèque Québécoise, the National Film Board (NFB), the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). Since 2007, the neighborhood has been the focus of numerous development initiatives aimed at highlighting this cluster of cultural venues, which is unique in Quebec. Following the launch of the PPU in November 2007, several flagship projects have emerged, such as the Promenade des Artistes, the Parterre, and the Place des Arts. Together, these planning and renovation projects are helping to further establish Montreal, and Ville Marie in particular, as an essential international cultural destination. Building on these additions, the goal of this ideas contest was to highlight ideas and solutions to address a growing issue of coexistence.
Public participation in selecting the winners was a unique feature of this competition, directly involving Montreal residents in the evaluation of the submitted proposals through an online vote.
At the conclusion of the process, the professional jury selected two winners and awarded two special mentions in the architecture category, as well as three winners and a jury mention in the urban planning category. Each category also features a People’s Choice Award, determined by tallying the online votes.
The first phase of the competition, focused on architecture, addressed issues related to the relationship between housing and community ties. The projects focused on housing typologies. Whether it was a dwelling conceived as a theater box, as in the designs by Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage or the Leclerc Group, or a structure conceived as an “inhabited barrier” by Poncelet/Boucher, there was a noticeable preference for collective-oriented layouts. Social considerations remain at the center of these reflections, with the aim of strengthening neighborhood ties and cohesion among residents with diverse backgrounds, a complex challenge given the variety of their expectations and ways of living in the neighborhood. In the project proposals of most participants, there is a genuine desire to foster a sense of community. The text from Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage illustrates this: “Targeting a dynamic population, the housing takes the form of a vertical cluster of individual units. Like opera house balconies, each unit can open its loggia onto the city to participate in festivities or close it off to turn inward and preserve its privacy. At the heart of the complex, the communal living space takes the form of small plazas and terraces directly connected to the public space.”
The most common architectural approach in the selected proposals stacks residential units on top of one another, creating a vertical dynamic. This contrasts with the horizontal approach, which has been heavily criticized for its large footprint, leaving little space for circulation, public squares, and air circulation solutions, particularly from an environmental perspective.
Environmental concerns, coupled with ecological challenges, characterize the winning proposals. Poncelet/Boucher innovates by proposing to harness solar potential through the design of building typologies and orientations that prioritize natural lighting. L’Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage, for its part, makes creative use of interstitial spaces by advocating for their greening.
Similar challenges are evident in the proposals under the Urban Planning component. This time, the focus is on initiating a discussion about the design of the neighborhood’s public spaces with the goal of developing a program for the PPU. Particularly innovative proposals from the consortium comprising Atelier Barda, Patrick Morand Architecte, and Iglu Studio are highlighted, suggesting the development of urban agriculture. The group proposes a way to produce and consume more locally, while involving neighborhood businesses and residents: “…The library park would be the ideal location for a public market, community vegetable gardens, and small-scale animal husbandry experiments.” We suggest demolishing the old bus station and replacing it with a community center: a gathering place for local organizations serving the residents of the Latin Quarter. The vacant space between this future institution and the passenger terminal would host a food court, a collection of “mobile food trucks” offering local cuisine.”
Ultimately, the urban approaches deployed in this dual competition address themes that link social and community dynamics. Added to this are historical connections aimed at highlighting the past of a neighborhood that played a major political role in the empowerment of certain marginalized communities. To bring out the character of this place, often described as “underground”, Gagné and Robidoux, as well as Zaraté + Lavigne Inc., choose to play off the contrast between the city above ground and the underground city, thereby paying homage to the social struggles that took place there. By pedestrianizing public spaces and creating a smoother transition between these two levels of the city, the goal is to slow down traffic flow while also fostering a more human-scale and leisurely way of experiencing the neighborhood.
Although the neighborhood’s past and history serve as a means of highlighting certain temporalities, other teams, such as WWA Williams and Asselin, Ackaoui et Associés, focused on a more seasonal dimension of time. They envisioned both the transformation of activities between winter and summer and the shift in uses between daytime and nighttime. This “chronotopic” approach, combined with a consideration of the multisensory nature of the built environment, clearly took into account the idea of a changing lived experience.
This two-part ideas competition highlights ongoing social and political dynamics through the various ways of imagining the future of the Quartier Latin in the heart of Montreal. Amid the site’s historical context, densification, and shifting patterns of living and consumption, all within the context of an ecological transition, the proposals reveal a rich diversity, with relationships and sharing, both between people and spaces, remaining central concerns. There is also a desire to reconnect with users’ sensory perceptions, considering the impact of multidimensional and multimodal sensory experiences on their lived experience. Through their inventiveness and innovation, the winners’ proposals stand as true reflections of the transformations currently underway. Transformations that remain at the heart of ongoing debates and continue to challenge the ways we view and inhabit our urban centers.
The Quartier des Spectacles, a must-visit cultural hub in the Montreal metropolitan area, provides a rich context for urban planning initiatives that incorporate growing ecological and social challenges. Seeking to bring together a diverse range of uses, from performance venues to housing, the city launched these ideas competitions in 2012, inviting professionals in architecture, urban planning, and design to envision the future of this now-legendary neighborhood. The competition is divided into two categories: architecture and urban planning. The winners stood to collaborate with the City of Montreal to develop future urban planning projects for the area and to participate in the development of the Special Urban Plan. The jury selected a total of five winners and awarded honorable mentions to three of the participating projects. Another unique aspect of this competition is the voice given to the public. Through online voting, the public can highlight their favorite projects.
The interventions, divided into two parts, were intended to address different scales within the neighborhood. It is worth noting that the Quartier des Spectacles brings together many institutions and activities, making this vibrant center a particularly attractive cultural hub in the Quebec City metropolitan area. Located between Sherbrooke Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard, it is crossed by Sainte-Catherine Street, which stands out for its bustling commercial activity. This is a true historic hub of Montreal’s cultural and nightlife scene, home to many notable institutions such as the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT), the Cinémathèque Québécoise, the National Film Board (NFB), the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). Since 2007, the neighborhood has been the focus of numerous development initiatives aimed at highlighting this cluster of cultural venues, which is unique in Quebec. Following the launch of the PPU in November 2007, several flagship projects have emerged, such as the Promenade des Artistes, the Parterre, and the Place des Arts. Together, these planning and renovation projects are helping to further establish Montreal, and Ville Marie in particular, as an essential international cultural destination. Building on these additions, the goal of this ideas contest was to highlight ideas and solutions to address a growing issue of coexistence.
Public participation in selecting the winners was a unique feature of this competition, directly involving Montreal residents in the evaluation of the submitted proposals through an online vote.
At the conclusion of the process, the professional jury selected two winners and awarded two special mentions in the architecture category, as well as three winners and a jury mention in the urban planning category. Each category also features a People’s Choice Award, determined by tallying the online votes.
The first phase of the competition, focused on architecture, addressed issues related to the relationship between housing and community ties. The projects focused on housing typologies. Whether it was a dwelling conceived as a theater box, as in the designs by Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage or the Leclerc Group, or a structure conceived as an “inhabited barrier” by Poncelet/Boucher, there was a noticeable preference for collective-oriented layouts. Social considerations remain at the center of these reflections, with the aim of strengthening neighborhood ties and cohesion among residents with diverse backgrounds, a complex challenge given the variety of their expectations and ways of living in the neighborhood. In the project proposals of most participants, there is a genuine desire to foster a sense of community. The text from Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage illustrates this: “Targeting a dynamic population, the housing takes the form of a vertical cluster of individual units. Like opera house balconies, each unit can open its loggia onto the city to participate in festivities or close it off to turn inward and preserve its privacy. At the heart of the complex, the communal living space takes the form of small plazas and terraces directly connected to the public space.”
The most common architectural approach in the selected proposals stacks residential units on top of one another, creating a vertical dynamic. This contrasts with the horizontal approach, which has been heavily criticized for its large footprint, leaving little space for circulation, public squares, and air circulation solutions, particularly from an environmental perspective.
Environmental concerns, coupled with ecological challenges, characterize the winning proposals. Poncelet/Boucher innovates by proposing to harness solar potential through the design of building typologies and orientations that prioritize natural lighting. L’Atelier Ville Architecture et Paysage, for its part, makes creative use of interstitial spaces by advocating for their greening.
Similar challenges are evident in the proposals under the Urban Planning component. This time, the focus is on initiating a discussion about the design of the neighborhood’s public spaces with the goal of developing a program for the PPU. Particularly innovative proposals from the consortium comprising Atelier Barda, Patrick Morand Architecte, and Iglu Studio are highlighted, suggesting the development of urban agriculture. The group proposes a way to produce and consume more locally, while involving neighborhood businesses and residents: “…The library park would be the ideal location for a public market, community vegetable gardens, and small-scale animal husbandry experiments.” We suggest demolishing the old bus station and replacing it with a community center: a gathering place for local organizations serving the residents of the Latin Quarter. The vacant space between this future institution and the passenger terminal would host a food court, a collection of “mobile food trucks” offering local cuisine.”
Ultimately, the urban approaches deployed in this dual competition address themes that link social and community dynamics. Added to this are historical connections aimed at highlighting the past of a neighborhood that played a major political role in the empowerment of certain marginalized communities. To bring out the character of this place, often described as “underground”, Gagné and Robidoux, as well as Zaraté + Lavigne Inc., choose to play off the contrast between the city above ground and the underground city, thereby paying homage to the social struggles that took place there. By pedestrianizing public spaces and creating a smoother transition between these two levels of the city, the goal is to slow down traffic flow while also fostering a more human-scale and leisurely way of experiencing the neighborhood.
Although the neighborhood’s past and history serve as a means of highlighting certain temporalities, other teams, such as WWA Williams and Asselin, Ackaoui et Associés, focused on a more seasonal dimension of time. They envisioned both the transformation of activities between winter and summer and the shift in uses between daytime and nighttime. This “chronotopic” approach, combined with a consideration of the multisensory nature of the built environment, clearly took into account the idea of a changing lived experience.
