Emblematic Addition Competition Winners

The Université Laval School of Architecture has announced the three winning projects, three mentions and two finalists of the Emblematic Addition ideas competition held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the School’s founding in Quebec City, Canada. Entries were asked to propose an “emblematic addition” to the 18th century building, the Old Seminary, in which the school is currently located. Despite its many architectural qualities, the building’s form and layout provide neither a central gathering space nor a significant visible presence for the architecture school in the city. Finding the proper balance between an historical structure and the forward-thinking orientation of its current vocation were only part of the challenge. The projects submitted each approached the problematic very differently: from more subtle responses to the existing conditions to radical shifts in the site topography or the building’s form.

The competition received 115 entries from 22 countries. Most of the teams (49) were composed of students, while 38 were made up of practicing architects. Intern architects or mixed groups comprised the remaining teams. The jury members were: Philippe Barrière, architect DPLG and professor at the Université Laval School of Architecture; Emmanuelle Champagne, of the Quebec design collective 1x1x1; Joan Ockman, architectural historian and former director of the Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University (New York, USA); as well as Gilles Saucier and André Perrotte of Saucier + Perrotte architectes, based in Montréal.

After several days of deliberation, the jury chose unanimously to award three prizes of equal standing along with three honorable mentions.
Visit the competition web site to see all projects submitted as well as a video of the awards ceremony: www.arc.ulaval.ca/manifeste.

Winners:

“Direct Axis” by Omar Aljebouri, Avery Guthrie, and Steve Socha (University of Tonronto students)

“SHED” by Catherine Houle, Marianne Lapalme, and Vanessa Poirier (Université Laval students)

“Layering the Present” by Jihoon Kim and Sanghwan Park (JKSP Architects, NY)

Honorable Mentions:

“Spheres de Reference” by Éric Boucher and Élisabeth Bouchard (Montreal architects)

“Shlack!!” by Julien Beauchamp, Romy Brousseau, Émilie Gagné-Loranger and Alexandre Hamlyn ( Université Laval students)

“Untitled” by Odile Decq (Odile Decq Benoit Cornette Architectes Urbanistes)

Finalists:

“Idendification” by Jil Bentz (architecture student in Luxembourg)

“Untitled” by Dominique Poncelet (intern architect in Montreal)