In this period of metamorphosis of our society, this redevelopment of the headquarters of the Order of Architects is an opportunity to affirm in space, the values of transparency, attention to sustainable development, the quest for meaningful intervention and the rich history guiding the work of our professional community.
The light box between the hall and the studio. From street to street, the OAQ headquarters will open to the city, its citizens and its light. At one end, the lobby space will be the place of northern light and welcoming rituals. At the other. the studio will be bathed in southern light. They will be unified by a loop around a light box.
To the rhythm of the daily cycles, this box will return, by reflection, the light and the animation of the places by day and, by night, will be a source of light.
Between McGill Street and the box, a hall will find its light through the absolute transparency of the presidency and a meeting room. The presidential function will also bring light into the spaces. They will establish the public character of the ends of the two large corridors. This hall, like a square animated by its perimeter, will be bordered by the reception and admission functions and, set back, the general management.
Between the rue des Soeurs-grises and the housing, in the back, a large workshop will bring together the continuing education team, the trustee and the communication department. Slightly behind, the inspectors and controllers will be on the road more often.
The light box will house the large conference room and will concentrate the neuralgic functions of the kitchen, servers and reprographics. These ends will be inhabited by management and administration.
Through corridors. Arriving by staircase or elevator, the visitor will be received in the great hall, discovering the great crossing corridor linking all the spaces accessible to the public, from the meeting room on McGill, through the hall, the admissions service, the conference room, the toilets to reach the continuing education and the cafeteria. A scroll carpet revealing traces of the order's history will be deployed from one street to the other. The office corridor will offer its two perspectives towards the city to employees' movements. A scroll-mat, revealing key articles of the professional code will be deployed from one street to the other. The library will be fragmented by content and deployed in the two traversants. The signage will be a testament to the content.
The ceiling and its mechanical loop. The raising of the ceiling will allow the windows to be better opened and give elevation to the central spaces. A lowered loop will facilitate the deployment of mechanical systems.
The materiality and formatting of the College's spaces will reflect its identity and commitment to sustainable development. The glass of the existing space will be recycled to compose the mosaic of glass cases of the offices. The doors will be recycled and integrated into the concept of transparency through a vestibule entrance that eliminates the effect of a string of doors. Acoustics will be improved by modulating the inclination of the glass. New materials will be used in Quebec: the maple core of the conference room and its extensions towards the libraries of the passage, the aluminum of the frames and the tempered glass of the hall and the white volume. The furniture will be revisited, restored, bleached. It will be reconfigured to fit the context of the open areas and the rooms dedicated to meetings.
Through a permanent intervention, the head office of the Ordre des architectes will be a place of transparency and light, by its location and its function. A place from which our profession, its members, its commitments and its projects will shine, towards the public and for the public. Men, women and places that shape Quebec's built landscape.
(Competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
- This project presents a clear spatial organization.
- The elegance of the concept in the purity of the gesture is underlined.
- At the functional level, some workstation locations would require slight adjustments.
- The layout is simple and flexible.
- The size of the reception area is appreciated and gives this place a marked importance.
- On the other hand, the open workspace located to the south (towards the alley) offers a very dense layout.
- Despite the opacity of the central block, the natural lighting of the space is well exploited.
- The location of the kitchen/dining room (2/2) and one of the meeting rooms (10.4) provides a generous amount of natural light. This will increase the use of these spaces and consequently stimulate exchanges.
- The positioning of the checkrooms, libraries and telephony along the corridor creates alcoves that energize this circulation space while setting back the access to the washrooms.
- The play of depth demonstrated in this project represents a sustained interest.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
12 scanned / 12 viewable
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Presentation Panel
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Perspective
- Plan
- Elevation
- Axonometric Drawing
- Schema
