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The Archives of Exemplarity in Architecture and the Built Environment (AREA) is an open construction site!

AREA-BE is an initiative of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations for Excellence (CRC-ACME), held by Jean-Pierre Chupin, Ph.D. , architect MOAQ, MIRAC, DPLG, DipArch (2), Professor at Université de Montréal. This initiative is actively supported by a network of Canadian and international scholars.

The current website of the AREA (www.architecture-excellence.org) has been officially launched in November 2019 for information purposes.

The AREA website foreshadows an important documentation and research platform to be launched in 2021 / 2022

This long-term initiative is supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the Canada Research Chairs Program.

In the coming years, the establishment of an AREA partnership of researchers based in Canadian schools of architecture and research universities will ensure the reliability, regular updating and sustainability of this scientific platform regrouping resources, knowledge transfers and analyzes on best examples of architectural design, landscape design and urban design in Canada.

Thanks to the contribution of institutions delivering awards and to professional teams giving access to data on projects and buildings, researchers and students will be able to contribute to a better understanding of the current evolution of quality in the built environment. The data, information, analyzes, comparisons, visualizations that will be progressively delivered – in open access – on the AREA platform will take advantage of award-winning projects and buildings in Canada, from year to year, in order to identify and better understand best practices.

The AREA collective platform will be meant to provide scientific data in order to support education, policies, actions and mediations aiming at excellence in the built environment.

More information on CRC-ACME’s program can be found at www.crc.umontreal.ca/en/ as well as definitions, data and insights in the “science blog” section of the same site.

This is Not a Nest: Transcultural Metaphors and the Paradoxical Politics of International Competitions

Jean-Pierre Chupin, Université de MontréalPublished in:

Footprint, Delft Architectural Theory Journal, issue #26, Vol 14, n1, Spring 2020. Pages: 63-82

Abstract

Although the architecture competition has been analysed through a number of rhetorical lenses, the recurring production of transcultural metaphors, particularly in international competitions, remains to be addressed as a genuine disciplinary phenomenon. The hypothesis of competitions as contact zones is particularly appropriate for the study of international events, in which competitors forge broad analogical figures to bridge cultural differences. Recent studies in the cognitive understanding of analogical matrices have considerably reinforced the theories on metaphors. Our analytical grid characterises analogical matrices to identify levels of symbolic operations through the differentiation of formal, structural and conceptual analogies. We first dig into a sample of competition project nicknames (Crystal, Bird’s Nest, DNA, Cloud, Lace, Stealth, etc.) to confirm that these tropes have a paradoxical status at the intersection of architects’ intents and public expectations. We then summarise an in-depth hermeneutical discourse analysis of forty North American international competitions. This indicates a fourfold series of expectations to which competitors hope to provide answers in an international ‘conflict of interpretations’. Adhering to the theory of speech acts, we suggest that performative metaphors in competitions appear less as indicators of designers’ intentions than as products of the broader context surrounding competitions themselves. We conclude with a proposed grid indexing four types of contact zones in which metaphorical relationships are actively created and not just repeated.

Keywords

International Competitions, Analogies, Metaphors, Analogical Matrices, Discourse Analysis, Speech Acts

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This book presents a collection of data and real-life cases in support of the idea that young offices of architects and planners are able to match or exceed the capabilities of their most experienced competitors when it comes to creating high-quality built environments for the public. The argument is made in response to, and as an attempt to critique, a post year-2000 trend that has seen young firms excluded from project competitions on the supposed basis of their inexperience. Can architecture survive, though, when it brings into question its very renewal by excluding young architects from the synergistic activity and democratic participation so emblematic of design competitions? The book’s repository of architectural achievements is presented briefly, with emphasis placed on the surprising precociousness of the associated firms. It includes examples from a number of international competitions, grouped by region.

Over time, it becomes clear that the work of young architects has contributed greatly to several major objects of contemporary historical memory. After analyzing a period spanning nearly five decades, the book concludes that an emphasis on Requests for Qualifications (RfQ) is not the sole reason many architectural firms face rejection. It hypothesizes that our society’s fondness for a priori control procedures should also be called into question, at least if we desire our places of culture and civic representation to sustain the generations that live and benefit from them.

Chupin, Jean-Pierre, G. Stanley Collyer, Young Architects in Competitions (When Competitions and a New Generation of Ideas Elevate Architectural Quality), Montreal, Potential Architecture Books, 2020. 160 pages. ISBN 9781988962047 (PDF)

Jean-Pierre Chupin, PhD in Environmental Design, holds the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence at Université de Montréal (Canada) and is the editor of the Canadian Competitions Catalogue (www.ccc.umontreal.ca)

G. Stanley Collyer, PhD in History from Freie Universität Berlin, is the founding editor of COMPETITIONS (www.competitions.org) one of the longest lasting resource internationally and the author of Competing Globally in Architecture Competitions (Wiley Academy, 2004)

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The Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence is seeking applications for doctoral scholarships. Each grant will come with a research contract and will support a student whose doctoral research will be tightly linked to the research program of the chair, which is dedicated to the study of architectural quality in terms of awards of excellence and competition processes. (https://crc.umontreal.ca)

In general, research theme proposals should contribute to the history and theory of contemporary definitions of architectural quality. In particular, the proposals should focus on clarifying the parameters of comparative approaches and how such methods will build on the joint study of competition and award-winning projects and buildings in Canada. (see Canadian Competitions Catalogue www.ccc.umontreal.ca and Atlas of Excellence in Architecture www.architecture-excellence.org).

The thesis will be directed by Prof. Jean-Pierre Chupin, Ph.D. (https://crc.umontreal.ca/chercheur/jean-pierre-chupin/), but a co-supervision with a CRC-ACME (UdeM) associate professor could be considered depending on the specific directions of the research project.

Each scholarship of CAD $ 20,000 per year will be awarded for a minimum of two years and a maximum of four years depending on academic and scientific achievements (publications, conferences, etc.). They will be accompanied by CRC-ACME research contracts (of at least CAD $ 5,000 per year) and, depending on available funds, by travel or research grants from the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle (www.leap-architecture.org). Successful candidates may also benefit from admission grants and scholarships offered by the Faculté d’Aménagement and Université de Montréal.

Other conditions:

1. The thesis can be presented in French or in English, but the candidate must be able to attend seminars and courses in French (proof of a sufficient level of proficiency in French [or English if it is the chosen drafting language] will be required for the final registration)
2. Registration must be done in the individualized PhD program in architecture (https://architecture.umontreal.ca/programmes-detudes/phd-individualise-en-architecture/), full-time. Grants are conditional on full admission. The official application deadline is February 1, 2021. An excellent application portfolio may allow for late registration.
3. Length: the scholarship will be delivered in 4 instalments starting in Fall 2021. (Registration officially take effect beginning September 1, 2021, but the scholarship can be issued earlier for Canadian applicants or those already having obtained a visa). Renewal of the scholarship will be conditional on performance in courses and seminars as well as successful completion of the intermediate comprehensive exam. This exam can take place as of the 4th trimester of registration (must have been done at the latest the 6th quarter) and determines the transition to “thesis writing”.
4. Other Sources of Funding: Successful applicants will be required to apply for grants from both federal and provincial agencies, as well as the MITACS organization. Accumulation with doctoral scholarships from SSHRC or FRQSC is allowed, but the amount of the grant awarded is then reduced by 1/3 of the total amount.

As part of this special CRC-ACME (UdeM) grant, applications should include:

• Examples of publications or research papers in French or English.
• At least two detailed, confidential reference letters proving the applicant’s ability to work as part of a research team.
• A research project (5000 words)

The admissibility of applicant research projects (5000 words document) and CVs must first be validated by contacting Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin. The research project will outline one or more questions concerning a problem in the design, realization, judgment or reception of architectural quality. The theoretical and / or historical elements of the project should refer to previous work, memoirs, research or publications by the candidate. A comparative methodological approach will be favoured. 

1. As Canada Research Chair, CRC-ACME (UdeM) invites women, indigenous peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. We recognize that career breaks can impact the records of achievement without diminishing excellence. If applicable, candidates are encouraged to share the circumstances of any interruptions and to explain their impact on their progress and their record. This information will be considered in the evaluation. When recruiting, we can adapt our selection tools to the needs of people with disabilities upon request.

Contacts:

– For the scholarship and the relationship to the CRC-ACME (UdeM):

Jean-Pierre Chupin (jean-pierre.chupin@umontreal.ca)

– For registration procedures in the individualized Ph.D in architecture:

Diane Martin (diane.martin@umontreal.ca)

https://architecture-excellence.org/agenda-tous/

This AGENDA OF CANADIAN AWARDS in architecture and the built environment is a work in progress.

The information was compiled by researchers at the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence (CRC-ACME).

From the AGENDA you can join more than 70 websites of the various institutions that deliver awards.

The bilingual AREA platform is accessible at: https://architecture-excellence.org

Montreal, November 20, 2019 – Raymond Lalonde, Vice-Chancellor for Relations with Alumni, Partnerships and Philanthropy, Raphaël Fischler, Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design, and Virginie Portes, Director of Funded Research at the Université de Montréal’s Office of Research, Development and Valorization inaugurated, on Tuesday, November 19^th, the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competition and Mediation of Excellence program (CRC-ACME). Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin, as the Chair holder, presented the main research directions that will unfold over the next 7 years. He officially launched the Atlas of Research on Exemplarity in Architecture (AREA), a website that acts as the prototype of a future open-access scientific resource that is presently being developed by a network of researchers from 12 Canadian schools of architecture. Other universities will join this network over time.

The program of the new Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence aims to answer a key question in architecture: what defines the quality of built environments? This question is dealt with in a comparative and diachronic manner at the scale of a country, Canada, whereas until now it has been the subject of fragmented analysis. With definitions of quality changing over time, the program will seek to understand how these criteria are used in practice. It will question how peer juries apply – or not – the criteria for “quality” in their collective judgments. It will examine how the users of buildings and public places, once built, feel or perceive the different aspects of architectural quality.

To answer these questions, it is necessary to constitute a representative sample of the architectural production of a country and a period. It is also necessary to have a corpus that derives from the selection processes of peer-review juries, so as not to bias the analysis. Such ensembles exist on a Canadian scale. They consist of award-winning public buildings and spaces, or architectural award winners, and sometimes both, from the late 1980s to the present day. If the award-winning buildings are mediations of excellence (par excellence), the phenomenon begins before the design of the project, continues with the awarding of a prize and obviously much beyond. Award-winning buildings, award after award, year after year, can be interpreted as responses to the constant redefinition of excellence. At the level of everyday experience, how do users perceive the qualities identified by the juries of competitions and prizes to evaluate buildings or public spaces?

The Atlas of Research on Exemplarity in Architecture is designed with the financial support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Université de Montréal’s Centre for Digital Expertise for Research (CEN-R) and Humaneco. It will be hosted by Compute Canada as ongoing database allowing unprecedented comparative analyses of anticipated quality (competition projects) and quality as lived (award-winning buildings). Several thousand competition projects (whether these were winning projects or not) have already been documented in the Canadian Competitions Catalogue, a database created in 2002 through the initiative of the Chair holder and affiliated researchers of the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle (LEAP).

 For the documentation of awards, the CRC-ACME team is currently defining a preliminary corpus within more than 6,000 buildings that have been awarded prizes by over seventy public and private institutions in Canada since 1953 (see our Directory of Administrations of Canadian Awards).

The analysis of hundreds of projects requires the establishment of a broad partnership. This partnership is currently being built. The AEA Network will bring together researchers from more than a dozen Canadian universities in the built environment and will invite administrations of awards to collaborate on the development and regular updated of an Agenda of Canadian Awards.

The impact of this work will go beyond architecture as a discipline, as this type of research requires collaboration between social sciences, humanities and engineering. By making available unpublished data on the characteristics of public buildings, by explicating the design criteria along with the appreciation of qualities by a system of actors and users, and by placing collective judgments of quality at the heart of the program, the Chair will create an open dialogue, inviting disciplines such as ethics, sociology, political science, etc., to enter into new questions about the relationships between people and built environments. Through these intersectoral collaborations, we will be better able to engage with the complex impact of spatial quality on health, society, the achievement of environmental objectives, the correlations between technological development, and the search for the highest environmental standards.