Billets Archive - CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR IN ARCHITECTURE, COMPETITIONS and MEDIATIONS of EXCELLENCE

ABOLISHING AWARD CATEGORIES GUARANTES NEITHER FAIRNESS NOR OPENNESS

In this post we share some thoughts on updating the architectural excellence awards evaluation framework in light of the abolition of the Ordre des Architectes du Québec (OAQ) awards categories in 2023. If definitions of exemplary architecture evolve over time, and if awards of excellence are used as indicators of exemplarity, how should evaluation … Read more

SURVEY VERSUS COMPETITION: SIMULACRUM AND DEMOCRACY

About the cancellation of the competition for the memorial to Canada’s mission in Afghanistan Survey versus Competition: Simulacrum and Democracy September 11, 2023 Jean-Pierre Chupin, Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence, Université de Montréal (www.crc.umontreal.ca ) Jacques White, architect, retired professor at Université Laval, trainer and professional advisor for … Read more

WRITING, A PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE? COMPARATIVE APPROACHES OF TWO ARCHITECTS WITH A PEN

Why write fiction when you are an architect? If the role of professionals in architecture is not, a priori, to write stories, some of them have a privileged relationship with literature. This is the case of Sergio Morales, a Quebec architect (co-founder of Chevalier Morales Architectes, a studio based in Montreal) and Pierre Blondel, a ... Read more

ROCOCO, BY FRANÇOIS CHASLIN: AN AWARD-WINNING BOOK ON ARCHITECTURE, WIDELY ACCLAIMED FOR ITS FORM AND CONTENT

Gold Medal in the Book Design category at the European Design Award in Warsaw in 2019, winner of the student selection of the Best Dutch Book Design 2018, and more recently awarded the Architecture Book Prize by the Academy of Architecture in October 2019 (see our post), François Chaslin’s latest book is still being rewarded, … Read more

PARADOXES OF HERITAGE AWARD

Evolution of award titles related to heritage issues in Quebec (2009-2019) What should we think of awards of excellence for heritage transformations, particularly in the Quebec context? According to the recurrence of this type of distinction in the contemporary landscape of architectural awards, heritage would be one of the canonical categories of architectural excellence. Despite ... Read more

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN QUEBEC IN 1964: SAMPLE PLANS FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION

"Concours pour écoles primaires, Québec, 1964". Top image, project by Rosen, Caruso, Vecsei, bottom image project by Melvin Charney (see Canadian Competitions Catalogue) Organized by the government of Quebec, the "provincial architecture competition for elementary school" was launched in the midst of the "quiet revolution", under the watchful eye of the religious authorities hitherto in ... Read more

HENRY N. COBB’S AWARD-WINNING SKYSCRAPERS

Place Ville Marie in Montréal (1955-62), Henry N. Cobb in his office (February 2019), the John Hancock Tower in Boston (1967-76) With the passing away of Henry N. Cobb on March 2nd, 2020, North American architecture has lost one of his most respected professionals—a man acclaimed for his designs as well as for his human ... Read more

BOOK AWARDS OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE

In October 2019, on the National Days of Architecture, the Academy of Architecture announced the winning work of its 25th edition of the Book Prize, and the 1st winner of the Book Prize for young people. The Academy Book Prize is annual, and rewards quality architectural works published the previous year, from May to May. ... Read more

WHEN THE “TOP OF THE ROCK” RECEIVES AN AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN ALTERING THE VIEW

Rockefeller Center Vintage Travel Brochure (2018) “The city architect can no more afford to neglect the roofs that continually spread out below him than the country architect can afford to neglect the planting about a house.”(1) There are only three observation decks on the top of skyscrapers in New York—in chronological order, the Empire State ... Read more

WHEN THE PHOTO OF THE AWARDED BUILDING CONFIRMS THE PICTURE OF THE COMPETITION MODEL

The competition for the Toronto City Hall was won in 1958 by Viljo Revell (On the left the model produced for the competition, on the right photography taken by the author in 2015) The Fort York Visitor Centre as a competition project won in 2009 by Patkau Architects and Kearns Mancini Architects (Top, a digital ... Read more