It is an immense sign of cultural maturity, by choosing to open the design of one of the most prestigious buildings in Quebec to international competitors, by allowing Quebec architects to measure themselves, at home, against the best teams in the world, based on a three phase process that was as balanced as it was rigorous, the Musée National des Beaux-Arts, in addition to the unanimous selection of a response to a difficult problematic, has finally assured that Quebec made it into the major league of international competitions. [...] more

Since the year 2000, more than fifteen architectural competitions aimed at rethinking libraries have been organized in Quebec. The recent Gabrielle-Roy library competition is a perfect example of this desire to change institutions dedicated to knowledge. Architecturally, it questions the contemporary trend towards dematerialization, which has been particularly explicit here due to the formal and massive architectural expression of the old library designed by Gauthier Guité Roy decades earlier. It also questions the paradoxical desire to create spaces that are well adapted to specific uses while being very flexible and versatile. [...] more

The expansion of Saul-Bellow Library was subject to a design competition in 2011, the first of its kind to insist on an "integrated design process". Three years later, while Chevalier Morales' winning proposal is under construction, it is interesting to review the way the architects responded to the challenges presented by the use of this qualitative process that exploits vastly different means. [...] more