Asymmetry in continuity
The complex of the Séminaire du Québec comprises many architectural styles as it was built, destroyed and complemented throughout the years. It is a rich ensemble on which several layers of history can be read. Therefore, any addition to it must ensure continuity with the pre-existent, as it is noted in article 13 of the Venice Charter (1964). However, caution is necessary to avoid falling into nostalgia for a distant past, rendering the building untouchable and any intervention impossible. An addition should be a reflection of current finies, while ensuring as well that it fits the context into which it is being inserted, thus contributing to the coherence of the ensemble. To make a reproduction of the existing would not only be lying but also tampering with the memory of the past, present and future. Therefore, to preserve the memory of the existing and create new memories, the extension has to assume an asymmetrical attitude towards the existing. An asymmetry is sufficiently different to be read as a unique entity, but similar enough to be associated to its counterpart. In this project this notion keeps on recurring throughout the design, from the urban scale up until detailing. On the urban scale, a new axis and public entrance to the School of Architecture is designed, purposefully distinguishing itself from the existing entrance and its more private character. The extension becomes therefore the link between the institution and the exterior community, leaving the existing building for the activities exclusive to the users of the school. The addition itself is built up of three elements: a prominent firewall to which the volumes of the main spaces (exhibition space, auditorium and the existing model room) are connected and an envelope wrapping them all together. It is the recycling of traditional elements such as the firewall – which brings comfort to the spaces with which it is linked – or the element of the envelope – a reinterpretation of the wooden cladding system – that make use of the concept of asymmetry, thus reinforcing its strength throughout the design.
(Competitor's text)
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