The MACM's metamorphosis will make it a delightful, desirable, welcoming and permanent place to allow the institution to flourish, to update its image and thus truly assume the role of flagship institution that its collection and the richness and interest of its exhibitions announce.
The MACM occupies a singular position in the city, in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles, in the Place des Arts block and on the rue des grands magasins, to which it adds a new cultural showcase. Its large lobby is lively, bright, welcoming and exciting, a place to meet and socialize. It opens directly onto Sainte-Catherine Street and extends to the grand staircase located near the new entrances of Jeanne-Mance Street, the esplanade and the Espace culturel Paul-Émile-Laplante. From this hall, you can discover all the public spaces of the museum and understand the variety of itineraries available to you to discover the exhibitions, stop at the café, stroll in the boutique, have a drink at the restaurant bar...
Cross the threshold and think differently!
This is the experience that the museum offers to those who enter. The new MACM is a porous building that increases the general public's contact with contemporary art. In addition to the three sets of exhibition rooms, the halls and circulation spaces offer extremely varied atmospheres and can be invested by works and performances. The new accesses transform the museum's frequentation, addressing both the visitor and the stroller. One crosses the threshold of the museum without necessarily intending to visit it, because the space is pleasant and inviting, and... one discovers the unexpected.
The eventful and the everyday
The transformed MACM must be both intimate and intense. The architecture of the MACM responds both to the expectations of everyday life - the pleasure of spending a privileged moment with works of art, of working there, or even of walking there - and to the requirements of openings, private parties or auditorium performances.
The rhythm of the MACM, Place des Arts and the neighborhood :
facades and temporalities
The rhythm of the vertical divisions of the new MACM façade echoes those of the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and the Théâtre Maisonneuve. Slipping under and over the colonnade of Jeanne-Mance Street, whose three columns disappear to mark the new entrance, the MACM's facade unfolds onto Sainte-Catherine Street and stretches out onto the Place des Arts esplanade, affirming the presence of the new MACM.
Unlike the other buildings on Place des Arts, the MACM's attendance is not generally timed to coincide with performances. The museum is a much more fluid place to experience art than a performance hall. The flexibility of the museum's different access points and its new urban presence allow it to deal with this particularity (the main entrance is no longer stifled) and even to take advantage of the predictable rhythms of its environment as well as the ephemeral relationships that the MACM maintains with a plethora of seasonal activities. At intermission, from the foyers of the main halls of Place des Arts, we catch a glimpse of the museum and linger at the lively spectacle of the restaurant and its terrace. Dinner or a nightcap awaits...
Then, in the worksite, the presence of the MACM must be affirmed clearly and advantageously. The proposal for the transformation of the museum includes its enhancement during construction: A major ephemeral moment!
A sustainable impact
The MACM's sustainable development strategies are based in part on known and proven approaches aimed at the overall energy performance of the envelope; the use of healthy materials; the quality of what can be called the "atmospheric" flows - natural and artificial lighting, acoustics and the field of vision - which contribute to the comfort of those who visit or work in the MACM.
Moreover, the decision to transform the MACM rather than build a new building elsewhere resonates directly with the most creative of our proposed sustainability strategies, which is to leverage the MACM's physical resources. This strategy can be seen on the scale of integrating materials salvaged from the existing and incorporated into new construction, but also on the broader and more ambitious scale of the circular economy. In many ways, the impact of the MACM's metamorphosis will reach far beyond the confines of its building.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
Pros:
- Good dialogue is established with the Esplanade.
- The project allows for a better delineation of the public square.
- The proposed rhythm of the architectural treatment is a good response to the other buildings on Place des Arts.
- Clear and well-defined spatial organization. It favours the potential for event-driven activities.
- The visitor experience at the MAC is greatly enhanced.
- Refreshing, playful, democratic and experimental proposal.
- The design allows for a remarkable luminosity of the space.
- The best proposal for the choice and application of the proposed measures for sustainable development.
- A singular, audacious and exceptional graphic presentation of the project.
- The eccentricity of the architectural proposal is underlined.
- Unexpected, surprising, playful and philosophical project. Completely different from the other three and in direct link with contemporary art.
- A lot of research and efforts allow a very interesting technical proposal.
- The use of existing frames is a wise choice.
Cons:
- There are concerns about the sustainability of the project in its context.
- The main entrance lacks scale.
- The architectural and volumetric treatment is timid on Jeanne-Mance.
- The location of the restaurant on the Esplanade is a choice questioned by the jury.
- The main entrance is not fluid due to the opening of the floor onto the basement space.
- The choice not to present levels 3 and 4 prevents a complete evaluation of the project on the criterion of functional aspects.
- The architectural treatment of the façade on Sainte-Catherine is disturbing and unresolved.
- The architectural treatment of the façade on Sainte-Catherine is disturbing and unresolved, and is attributed more to an industrial or even prison use than to a museum use.
- All aspects of the technical quality and constructability of the work are not well understood given the difficulty in understanding the submitted drawings.
- Some of the plans and perspectives do not match
Reservations:
- Feasibility to be validated by value engineering.
- Correct the slight encroachment on the Esplanade
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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