What life after death? A competition to rebuild the church of Saint-Paul in Aylmer
Organized in 2009 by a Catholic parish in the Gatineau neighborhood of Aylmer, this recent one-stage competition aimed to develop ideas for the reconstruction and re-use of a late-nineteenth church that had been gutted by fire. While it attracted only nine proposals by Canadian architects and little media exposure outside the Ottawa-Gatineau area, it is noteworthy both for the quality of the winning entries and for that of the jury, three members of which are nationally renowned heritage experts. More importantly, the competition results offer an unusual perspective on architects' current attitude towards ruined cultural heritage. Should one leave it as it is? Should one restore it to its original state? Or should one take advantage of a catastrophic event in order to rethink the monument otherwise?
While relatively rare, this type of intervention is a powerful indicator of how approaches to architectural conservation evolve over time. When the campanile of St Mark's in Venice suddenly collapsed in 1902, architect and restorer Luca Beltrami famously exclaimed: "Dov'era, com'era." In his view, Italy had no choice but to rebuild the structure exactly where it stood before, in strict accordance with its original appearance. Likewise, when Notre-Dame cathedral in Quebec City burnt down in 1922 (only the outer walls were spared), architects Raoul Chenevert and Maxime Roisin undertook to rebuild the same sumptuous interior decor that was first created in the eighteenth century.
In the aftermath of World War II, however, the extent of destruction and especially the rise of architectural modernism led to other, more restrained solutions. For instance in Coventry, British architect Basil Spence chose to leave the walls of the medieval cathedral in a state of ruin, as a memorial to the martyrdom endured by the city during the Blitz. To accommodate worship, he erected nearby a new nave with a reinforced concrete structure and sandstone facades (1962).
This mixture of respect and distance toward historic monuments also characterizes several modernist architectural projects in Canada--most notably the reconstruction of St Boniface cathedral in Winnipeg (1972) and that of the Sacré-Coeur chapel inside Notre-Dame basilica in Montreal (1978). Each of these projects presents destruction by fire as an irreparable break in the life of the monument. In St Boniface, Étienne Gaboury erected a smaller church over the former chancel, but left the remainder of the ruined cathedral open to the sky--thus turning the original nave into an immense and solemn antechamber. In Montreal, architects Jodoin Lamarre Pratte faithfully recreated the Sacré-Coeur chapel's carved woodwork, but without its original polychromy. Above, they then suspended an austere wooden vault to protect--without touching it--the reconstructed decor. Stripped of color and lit from above, this chapel seems more a vestige than a living place of worship.
Unlike the examples discussed so far, the church of Saint-Paul is neither a major religious monument nor an architectural landmark. Nonetheless, both the competition's premise and its results clearly suggest that a new approach to religious heritage is emerging. Indeed, in contemporary Quebec, to rebuild a church has essentially become a problem of scale and use. How does one adapt the vast interior of a traditional church to the very modest scale of present-day religious practice? If worship is made to coexist with other more mundane uses, how then does one reconcile the church as architectural sign with its reality as a place? And since a church becomes a building like any other when it is stripped of its sanctity, how does one maintain it as a focus for the community? At Saint-Paul, all competitors were confronted with these issues, for the brief required them not only to develop a formal strategy for rebuilding, but also to imagine new uses for the future.
Treating the church walls as an available, neutral envelope, architects Brault/Lapointe Magne (winning project) proposed minimal interventions on the outside but major changes within--reshaping the church's interior by inserting in it bold new volumes. In the nave, a wooden hull suspended from the roof and hovering above the floor creates a space for intimate worship. Thanks to its variable configuration, this can also be used as a venue for theater or concerts. Lodged in the chancel, a four-story silo-like structure contains building services as well as community and rental spaces.
Architects Labonté Marcil (2nd prize) relied on an opposite strategy. Here, it is above all the intervention on the surrounding landscape that determines the site's meaning and new collective purpose. Largely re-used as a public library, with a small space set aside for worship, the church opens to the east onto a large, festive plaza, which features a stage and sloping lawn-like auditorium as well as a public market. This institutional block is completed at one end by a new apartment complex facing the street.
The most radical questions, however, are raised by architects Jodoin Lamarre Pratte (3rd prize). While the other winning entries seek to recreate the original church's massing, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte exalt the ruins' spectral quality by wrapping them in steel mesh. The main access to the building is provided by a ramp that slopes down to new public spaces located below ground. In the stories above, the promenade takes the shape of suspended platforms and walkways that jut out into the empty space of the nave. Most significantly, while the scheme suggests a wide range of possible uses inside the building, none are fixed to a specific location. Here, worship becomes but one potential event in a transparent and wholly visible public space.
None of these winning entries is fully developed, and all refrain from transgressing late-nineteenth-century church typology, with its bell tower, gabled roof and axial layout. Nor will they ever be actually built, because the instability of the masonry and the high cost of reconstruction led to Saint-Paul being completely razed shortly after the competition. But even viewed as imaginary schemes, these proposals contain many challenging hypotheses that will eventually need to be tested. After all, a great number of churches elsewhere in Quebec are likewise fated to be closed to worship, either wholly or in part.
After an arson attack on June 11, 2009, only the exterior stone walls remain of St. Paul's Church in Aylmer, completed in 1894 by architects Louis-Zéphirin Gauthier and Victor Roy. The St. Paul's fabrique council now wishes to rebuild "a new modern building within the stone walls of the original structure". The organization wished to maintain the same size and exterior silhouette, while modernizing the interior to meet not only the religious needs of the institution, but also the social functions required by the growing population of Aylmer.
Aware that the future of the church is closely linked to an opening towards new vocations, the competition launched by the St. Paul's parish council is first and foremost a competition of ideas. The organizers sought to diversify the use of the new building by adding, for example, a community hall or a library, which would allow access to government subsidies, since the funds of the parish church were not sufficient for the reconstruction. The competition therefore calls on architects working in history, ethnography, development and urban planning to propose an architectural solution, but also to find the necessary funding for the reconstruction.
The organizers of this competition are looking for a project that is "completely innovative, that could serve as an example or model for similar projects in Quebec, if not in Canada".
Here are some of the criteria sought:
- A concept that would combine heritage and history with technological innovation and ecology,
- A project that could adequately satisfy the religious needs of the Saint-Paul d'Aylmer parish while meeting, among other things, much broader community and cultural needs that would bring together the entire community,
- A COMBINING project,
- A project that would naturally be feasible depending on the resources and programs available and, to this end, the participating firms will have to propose not only architectural concepts but also serious avenues for financing.
Emphasizing the diversification of uses, respect for heritage and financing, the spokesperson for the Saint-Paul parish council reminds us that "it would be ridiculous for the City of Gatineau to allow the demolition of Saint-Paul Church and that in 10 years, when the population of the Aylmer sector will have reached 40,000 people, it will need a multifunctional building the size of the current church.
(From competition program)
(Unofficial automated translation)
Of the 30 or so firms that showed interest in the competition, some 20 registered in good and due form and, in the end, 9 of these firms made it to the end, the others having to drop out along the way, due to an overload of work.
A selection jury, composed of 9 people and representing the sectors of architecture, engineering, urban planning, management, religious heritage, culture and worship, met on April 24 to evaluate the various proposals. The jury was composed, in alphabetical order, of: Lyse Blanchet, Dinu Bumbaru, Claude Charbonneau, Jean-Charles Ferland, Michel-Rémi Lafond, Sylvie Lauzon, Marie Roy, Maria Triés Subercaseaux and Pierre Tanguay.
Using a grid based on the explanatory brochure given to the participating architects and which included no less than 28 criteria, the selection jury proceeded to a very detailed analysis of all the projects. It must be emphasized that the choice was not the easiest one, and there were extensive discussions between the members of the jury throughout the day of evaluation. Indeed, all the projects contained extremely interesting and valid ideas. Broadly speaking, the 28 criteria were grouped under the following broad categories: compliance with basic requirements for requested documents, architecture, respect and enhancement of heritage elements, engineering, response to worship needs, response to cultural needs response to socio-community needs, financial feasibility, realistic phasing.
It is also important to note that none of the jury members knew which firm had submitted which project. Indeed, the names of the firms did not appear on the panels or documents; there was only a number and the only people who knew the equivalence between the number and the name of the firm were the representative of the architectural firm and, of course, the coordinator of this ideas competition, who was not a member of the jury.
In summary, the members of the jury were impressed by the overall quality of the proposals. The level of creativity, as everyone will be able to see when viewing the exhibition of concepts that will be presented at the Symmes Inn Museum throughout the summer, was very high and some members of the jury, who have already had to manage projects of this type, even said that they had rarely seen a project arouse so much enthusiasm and creativity from the participating architects.
In fact, all of these projects bring hope for resurrection and demonstrate that, despite the retreat of religion, such a project can be a source of imagination, can bring people together and can contribute to restoring a sense of belonging and collective identity to a community deeply damaged by the June 2009 fire. Overall, these are projects that are resolutely forward-looking while respecting the past, concepts that aim to establish a relationship between the architecture and its environment, the family and the community, concepts that demonstrate the versatility necessary for the viability of the project.
Having said that, it is important to keep in mind that this ideas competition is only a start. Even if there are winners, this does not mean that the proposed forms, materials, structures, interior layouts, openings or exterior massing will be retained. This is not a contract, but a competition of ideas. Concepts can be reworked and it may even happen that two or three projects are combined and the firms called upon to work together to arrive at the concept that best meets the aspirations and needs of the community.
From this very objective and professional exercise came the following rankings: First prize ($10,000) SP-021
Maxime Brault Architect
Lapointe Magne et associés, architectes, urbanistes et programmateurs Montréal
Second prize ($5,000) SP-013
Les architectes Labonté Marcil Montreal
Third prize ($3000) SP-010
Jodoin, Lamarre, Pratte et associés architectes (Carlo Carbone, coordinator) Montreal
In addition to these three prizes, since another project also ranked very high in the evaluation of the selection jury and proposed interesting ideas from the point of view of the Conseil de fabrique, the latter decided to offer a fourth prize or honorary prize of $2000 for the following project:
Fourth Prize ($2000) SP-014
Colin Fraser OAQ MAIBC Montreal
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
| Jury | Lyne Blanchet, Ingénieur |
| | Dinu Bumbaru, Directeur |
| | Claude Charbonneau, Architecte |
| | Jean-Charles Ferland, Administrateur |
| | Michel-Rémi Lafond, Professeur.e |
| | Sylvie Lauzon, Consultante |
| | Marie Roy, Économiste |
| | Maria Inés Subercaseux, Architecte |
| | Pierre Tanguay, Urbaniste |
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November 30, 2009: Competition begins
April 19, 2010: Submission deadline
June 02, 2010: Winners announced
(From competition documentation)
Dufault, F.L. (2009, 30 novembre). Remue-méninges pour l'église Saint-Paul. Le Droit. Repéré à www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/ville-de-gatineau/200911/30/01-926583-remue-meninges-pour-leglise-saint-paul.php
Mercier, J. (2010, 2 juin). Des idées pour l'avenir de l'église Saint-Paul. Le Droit. Repéré à www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/ville-de-gatineau/201006/02/01-4286309-des-idees-pour-lavenir-de-leglise-saint-paul.php
Voyer, P. (2009, 30 novembre). Concours d'idées pour reconstruire l'église St-Paul. Info07. Repéré à www.info07.com/Societe/Spiritualite/2009-11-30/article-668901/Concours-didees-pour-reconstruire-leglise-St-Paul/1
Clermont, D. (2010, 4 Juin). Lauréats – « Concours d'idées pour la reconstruction et la réutilisation de l'église Saint-Paul d'Aylmer ». Kollectif. www.kollectif.net/11200/laureats-concours-d?idees-pour-la-reconstruction-et-la-reutilisation-de-l?eglise-saint-paul-d?aylmer/
Bégin, R.M. (2013) L'église Saint-Paul d'Aylmer : une belle occasion ratée. Histoire Québec, 18(3), 31-36. Repéré à www.erudit.org/culture/hq1056841/hq0536/68967ac.pdf
Ordre des architectes du Québec. (2012). Concours d'idées pour la reconstruction de l'église Saint-Paul d'Aylmer. Repéré à www.oaq-elevation.com/web/index.asp?pk_bulletin=322
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