INVERSION(S)
"...people locally develop solutions for local problems"
- Neil Gershenfeld, founder of Fab-labs
The architectural genetic code of large cultural and historic buildings like the St. Sulpice Library remains structured by a series of key spaces, from the clearance to the street, the forecourt, and the stairs to the large reading room that occupies the piano nobile. This internal structure of the building, supported by a rich tectonic and an equally eloquent collection of objects, proposes and describes a vision of the world well anchored in the era from which it emerged. A true legacy of the Enlightenment, carefully preserved and wrapped in the evangelical and educational mission of the Sulpicians, the entire architectural discourse of the St. Sulpice Library converges on a positioning of knowledge at the center of this world; a universal, transcendent, and enlightening knowledge that is acquired from the masters and their works through research, study, and patient reading. The technique and the backstage of this machine that works tirelessly to protect and stage knowledge - a machine that is nevertheless progressive and inventive - remain hidden at all times.
The arrival of the library-laboratory in this world of the Enlightenment provokes a real reversal of the situation. In the world of manufacturing and multimedia labs, creativity is now the center of the world. Instead of knowledge - and technologies - produced by a handful of scientists and scholars, there is now creative activity, produced by a mass of networked individuals who work to measure and modify the world locally in order to generate technologies and inventions that suit their needs and interests. From the creative work in the library-laboratory, from this individual and social ingenuity, new knowledge and new technologies emerge, anchored in a specific cultural territory, and progressively build a new collection for the St-Sulpice library: objects, files, fragmentary three-dimensional prints, essays, sounds, images and films take their place within the library and come to dialogue with the collections of books on the shelves or digital books deployed at the beginning.
The approach proposed here was to develop the architectural genetic code of this new library-laboratory, which underpins a contemporary worldview centered on creativity and networking, which is why the manufacturing labs were placed in the piano nobile, supported by the traditional library sunken in the lower level. It was important here to develop the spatial and material identity of the latter in order to link it with the spatial and material structure already in place and, above all, to use it to enhance and rediscover the century-old library. Establishment of a dialogue thus, between two universes which look at each other as in a mirror and where the backstage and the spaces of representations do not necessarily occupy the same positions any more.
(Competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
Arguments in favor:
- Good understanding of the mission and target audience. The inversion proposal hits the mark and meets what BAnQ is looking for in this project.
- The exterior/interior interaction is appreciated.
- Good emphasis on FabLab functions.
- Interesting positioning of the café,
- Good accessibility and good use of the mezzanine spaces.
- Proposal shows good efforts
- Good use of the glass roof for heat recovery.
- Abundant natural lighting is a noted asset
- Bold proposal in the spirit of the library-laboratory.
- The virtual mirror proposal is interesting.
Arguments against:
- Reversibility of interventions was not considered in this proposal.
- The evolution of the spaces is more restricted.
Reservations from the jury:
- The inversion is disturbing because the piano nobile level is a space for contemplation rather than creation.
- The impacts of the creation of a walkway and the installation of an elevator in what was the reading room on the identity and heritage value of this space are of concern.
- Noise control remains an issue due to the breakthroughs.
- Through its inversion and breakthrough, structural challenges will need to be well controlled.
- The potential for cost overruns is something to watch for due to the structural proposal of the design.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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