Given the history of the sire as one of the earliest European settlements in North America and the role the Old Seminary played in laying the cultural and institutional foundation of Quebec, the consideration of the very nature of history necessarily acts as the point of departure for the proposed intervention. The design is based on the observation of two quintessential features of history; its continuous emergence into temporality as a kind of self-consuming feedback loop and its interpretative function as a surface or contemplative reflection. The form of the proposed addition is conceptualized as a continuous loop that unites both built fabric and site in a single movement, producing a variety of spatial types: the connective, the interstitial, the open, and the closed. The light metallic skin on the hand transmutes the site's necessary weight of history into the lightness of reflections.
In situating the “emblematic addition”, the car park to east of the main campus was chosen as the ideal location to create a new entrance to the school and other programmatic spaces, whilst leaving the entire historical building fabric intact. The addition attaches itself at the northeast corner of the campus building, which can be seen as the fulcrum of the entire site with its multiple intersections between the school of architecture and other buildings of the seminary. The building loop rises towards the east to create the most important feature of the scheme, the elevated amphitheatre, which integrates distant view of the city of Quebec through its giant ocular. On the ground, the elevated amphitheatre creates a grand covered forecourt that also functions as an outdoor exhibition area. The addition with its distinctive design has the potential to emerge as a new symbolic icon for both the school of architecture and the city of Quebec.
(Competitor's text)
17 scanned / 15 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Plan
- Elevation
- Elevation
- Section
- Section
- Digital Model
