Reference page for the individualized PhD program in architecture at the Université de Montréal : https://architecture.umontreal.ca/programmes-detudes/phd-individualise-en-architecture/
On Friday, December 3, 2021, Bechara Helal, Professor of Architecture at the Université de Montréal, organized a study day at the UQÀM Design Center. The event was sold out in ‘face-to-face’ format, but it was also possible to attend it via Zoom (a registration was required).
The event’s details are available on this link.
This study day was presented in the context of the exhibition Pier Luigi Nervi master designer-builder which continues until February 6, 2022.
THE PROGRAM OF THE DAY :
9:00 a.m.: Welcome
9:30 a.m.: “Building correctly”: Pier Luigi Nervi and the intersecting dynamics of design and research in construction
- Bechara Helal, Professor, School of Architecture, Université de Montréal
10:30 a.m.: Structures and models: real and virtual explorations and investigations of unconventional building systems
- Thibaut Lefort, structural engineer and partner, Latéral Inc.
11:30 a.m.: How to move in the field of constructible today in architecture? or The hybridization of knowledge and professions
- Jean-Marc Weill, architect and engineer, director of the engineering and architecture firm Construction & Environnement, professor at ENSA Paris-Est, Université Gustave Eiffel
12:30 pm: Lunch break
2:00 p.m.: Roundtable on the cross-practices of research and design in architecture and engineering moderated by Bechara Helal, professor, School of Architecture, University of Montreal
- Valérie Chartrand, structural engineer, NCK – Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Inc.
- Martin Houle, architect, partner and project manager, ELEMA experts-conseils
- Thibaut Lefort, structural engineer and partner, Latéral Inc.
- Jean-Marc Weill, architect and engineer, director of the engineering and architecture firm Construction & Environnement, professor at ENSA Paris-Est, Université Gustave Eiffel
Wednesday, October 27, 2021.
The Atlas of Research on Exemplarity in Architecture and the Built Environment, in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, presents all buildings and places recipient of a Governor General Medal in Architecture since 1982 on a single interactive map and in a visual gallery of over 250 items.
A new classification system by typological categories allows for more precise queries in the database. A table of “unlocated items” collects cases that cannot appear on the map because they are private residences.
The realization of this map and the entry of data in the AREA system is funded by the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence directed by Jean-Pierre Chupin (https://crc.umontreal.ca/en/ ), as well as by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). This corpus was collected by the team of M.Arch. students coordinated by Lucas Ouellet at the Université de Montréal: Charles Cauchon and Anna Zakharova.
For direct access to the map of all Governor General Medals in architecture since 1982:
For direct access to the visual gallery:
The international student competition inviting creative ways to renew the appeal of public transport during a global health crisis is now the subject of a book. It is available for free access today.
Reimagining Waiting for the Bus is an open access book edited by Carmela Cucuzzella, Jean-Pierre Chupin, Emmanuel Rondia and Sherif Goubran and published by Potential Architecture Books (Montreal, 2021).
This creative guide, the result of an international competition, is a synthesis of the best ideas in the form of a free resource aimed at stimulating citizen discussion and community group engagement around the improvement of small urban environments connected to bus stops.
This richly illustrated, educational guide presents ideas that encourage appreciation of urban spaces by emphasizing the importance of nature, art and design. Reimagining Waiting for the Bus invites citizens to think about creative approaches, neighborhood by neighborhood, bus stop by bus stop, that would energize these public spaces in an interactive, poetic, critical and meaningful way: shifting the immediate environment of bus stops from a merely functional spatiality to a multi-purpose spatiality.
This is not about redesigning the bus shelter, but about making waiting for the bus more pleasant, in various ways, encouraging citizens to use the bus instead of their car, all year round, including during hot summer days and long periods of freezing winter.
The ideas extracted from projects from many countries are not presented as solutions but as illustrated principles gathered in 5 vectors going from culture to social dimensions, from ecological concerns to technological innovations and, in general, to everything that can increase the feeling of well-being.
The result of a research and creation process, this guide aims to encourage citizens to take hold of these often neglected spaces in which waiting should be given all the attention necessary to enhance public transport.
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REFERENCE:
Cucuzzella, C., Chupin J.-P., Rondia, E., Goubran, S., (2021), Reimagining Waiting for the Bus, Montréal, Potential Architecture Books, 139 pages.
ISBN 9781988962054
The article “When Boston Isn’t Boston: Useful Lies of Reconstructive Game Models” won the Ray Lifchez Berkeley Prize of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE) for the best article written by students or junior researchers. The authors, Aurélien Catros and Maxime Leblanc, are respectively an individualized doctoral candidate in Architecture at the Université de Montréal under the direction of Jean-Pierre Chupin and Bechara Helal, and a doctoral student at McGill University under the direction of Theodora Vardouli.
First organized in 1988 in Berkeley, USA, the 2021 “Virtual Tradition” edition of this biennial international conference was hosted by Nottingham Trent University, UK, and held online from August 31 to September 3. This year it brought together over 120 scholars and practitioners from many fields of study (architecture, architectural history, art history, anthropology, archaeology, conservation, geography, history, planning, sociology, etc.) around the 3 themes: Theorizing the Virtual and the Traditional in the Built Environment; The Socio-Spatial Traditions of Everyday Life in Changing Landscapes; and Tradition, Space, and Professional Practice in the Built Environment at Times of Transition.
The winning paper, published in the peer-reviewed journal Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to infer the origin of verisimilitude of models used in video games that simulate historic cities. Drawing on Kevin Lynch’s concept of imageability, he specifically examines the similarities and differences between a 1775 military map of Boston and the model of the same city presented in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed III game. By comparing the monuments, roads, nodes, boundaries, and neighborhoods of the game model to the information recorded on the historical map, he demonstrates that a sense of verisimilitude is achieved not by total accuracy, but by specific combinations of sufficiently precise historical elements.
The article is available in open access on the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence website.
2021 Reimagining the Experience of Public Transportation in a Post-pandemic Metropolis
- For all projects submitted: Canadian Competitions Catalogue
- For winning and mentioned projects: IDEAS-BE
81 teams of students from 16 countries and 4 continents participated in this ideas competition which asked for new ways to encourage and renew the experience of public transport in the wake of a global sanitary crisis. How can we open up avenues for redefining an enhanced relationship to urbanity through the sharing of public spaces? The jury chose to reward 5 projects and gave 2 honorary mentions for exemplary ways of reimagining the experience of public transportation in a post-pandemic metropolis.
This competition was part of a joint research initiative. Concordia University’s Chair in Integrated Design, Ecology and Sustainability for the Built Environment and the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence of the Université de Montréal worked together to mobilize the creativity of young designers of the built environment to stimulate the debate on new experiences of public transportation to enhance urban resilience.
The 2021 edition was organized in collaboration with the CRE-Montreal and the ARTM. The Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal (CRE-Montréal) promotes sustainable development for the city of Montréal. The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) plans, finances, organizes, and promotes public transit and paratransit services for the Montréal metropolitan region.
The proposals were judged anonymously by a jury composed of the following:
- Emmanuel Rondia, Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal
- Peter Fianu, Ville de Montréal
- Marie-Pier Veillette, Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain
- Izabel Amaral, Université Laurentienne et Université de Montréal
- Sarah V. Doyon, Trajectoire Québec
- Virginie Lasalle, Université de Montréal
- Anne Cormier, Atelier Big City
- Thomas Bernard Kenniff, Université du Québec à Montréal
- Bechara Helal, Université de Montréal
Mr. Peter Fianu was unanimously named president of the jury, while Dr. Carmela Cucuzzella and Dr. Jean-Pierre Chupin, co-organisers of the competition, were named the competition advisors.
After two deliberation sessions, the jury decided to award 5 prizes ex aequo to the following 5 projects whose teams will each receive, without distinction of ranking, the sum of $1500 granted by the two organizing research chairs IDEAS-be and CRC-ACME. Some statistics before presenting the winners and honourable mentions:
- Number of participating countries: 16 (4 continents: Africa, America, Asia, Europe)
- Number of cities: 22
- Total number of students: 238
- Total number of teams: 81
- Total number of universities: 30
The program clearly specified that the competition was not about inventing new structures ex nihilo. In addition, the jury noted that many projects relied on conventional solutions, sometimes very contextual, without being formulated as a series of principles that could be adopted in different situations. This partly explains why the jury and the organizers insisted in the final choice on the expected balance between: 1 – evocative narrative, 2 – project elements, and 3 – formulation of principles. year round, even during the hot summer days and the long periods of extreme cold winters.
Only Moh Abdolreza, PhD student at Concordia University, had access to the list of team details, since this was an anonymously judged competition.
Below are extracts from the jury report:
Winners:
Sentiment Station proposed by Melisa Akma Sari (Indonesia).
Can public transportation and memorial practices be combined? The Sentiment Station project reinterprets transportation spaces as true public spaces. They offer an opportunity to enter other temporal dimensions especially while waiting for the bus, a time most often perceived as unproductive. Critical or poetic, this project is based on evocative principles that mobilize a commemorative aesthetic.
Détour proposed by Joëlle Tétreault, Catherine Juneau et Laetitia Bégin-Houde (Canada).
The jury was seduced by the clarity and strength of this anti-project. The proposal, entitled Détour, converts the rigidities of public transport, usually from station to predetermined station, into an unusual, indeterminate, unpredictable experience: getting on the bus without knowing where it will take you.
Commotion: Community in Motion proposed by Aulia Rahman Muhammad, Andika Raihan Muhammad et Firzal Muhammad Setia Nugraha (Indonesia).
In the Community in Motion project, the question of public space as a place of socialization and animation is confronted with that of efficient transport. By proposing thematic spaces, it meets multiple needs and offsets the impression of homogeneity often felt in public transport.
Integrated Metro Library proposed by Davi Sloman et Amir Hotter Yishay (Canada).
Ironically, but perfectly realistically, the Integrated Metro Library puts books into “circulation”. The conjunction of two programs, transportation and reading, seems simple on the surface. But this a mini public library and therefore a real public place: what some libraries sometimes struggle to embody.
Overtime proposed by Juliana Alexandrino Baraldi, Carolina Cipriano de Oliveira, Natália Chueiri (Brazil).
The project entitled Overtime constructs an inversion of the reality experienced in the underground of the metro. It responds to the need, often expressed by users, to maintain contact with the sky and with the outside world in the very interior underground spaces of the metro. The optical illusion would allow us to leave our phones behind for a few moments to look up instead.
Honorary Mentions:
e-Pus proposed by Man Zou / Jia Zishi (Canada)
The Opus all-inclusive card, reloadable directly from your phone, is an attractive idea for public transport users. This simple but effective supercharged Opus card unites the community of public transport users through the various services offered on the application.
Cubic proposed by Ana Beatriz Hierro Azevedo / Isabela Lopez Lourenção / Júlia Snege de Carvalho / Nicole Perruzzetto Bringel / Rebeca Martins Elias / Victor Oliveira de Souza Rogato (Brazil)
This proposal directly addresses the issues of an ongoing pandemic while seeking to not disrupt the necessary traffic flow at a bus stop. The modularity allows for different configurations of spaces and experiences.
Carmela Cucuzzella (IDEAS-BE Research Chair) Université Concordia
Carmela.cucuzzella@concordia.ca
Jean-Pierre Chupin (CRC-ACME Research Chair) Université de Montréal
Jean-pierre.chupin@umontreal.ca
Wednesday, August 25, 2021.
The Atlas of Research on Exemplarity in Architecture and the Built Environment, in collaboration with Canadian Architect magazine, presents all the projects, buildings and places awarded since 1968 on a single interactive map and in a visual gallery of over 500 items.
A new classification system by typological categories allows for more precise queries in the database. A table of “unlocated items” collects cases that cannot appear on the map because they are private residences or unbuilt award-winning projects by students.
This corpus was compiled in coordination with Elsa Lam, chief editor of Canadian Architect magazine, and the data was collected by the team of M.Arch. students led by Lucas Ouellet at the Université de Montréal: Charles Cauchon and Anna Zakharova.
The realization of this map and the entry of data in the AREA system is funded by the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence directed by Jean-Pierre Chupin (https://crc.umontreal.ca/en/ ), as well as by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
For direct access to the map of Canadian Architect magazine list of awards since 1968: https://architecture-excellence.org/canadian-architect-map/
To access directly to the visual gallery: https://architecture-excellence.org/canadian-architect/
Jean-Pierre Chupin, PhD, MOAQ, MIRAC
Professor, Université de Montréal, School of Architecture
Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence
https://crc.umontreal.ca/en/
Jean-Pierre Chupin, Morteza Hazbei and Karl-Antoine Pelchat wrote an article about architectural education strategies (AES) in sustainable buildings. Their research led them to conclude that there are three strategies for architectural education in buildings designed to disseminate knowledge in the field of sustainable architecture in Canada; the labeling approach, the experiential approach, and the iconic method. Architects are convinced that architectural communication forms can be used as a language accessible to non-experts. Future research may therefore challenge the very possibility of teaching through formal language and aesthetic features.
If you are interested in learning more, this publication is available for free on the Open Access Publications page of the CRC-ACME website.
How can design accelerate the transition from the end of the pandemic to a new experience of public transportation?
This design competition is part of a joint research initiative. The Concordia University Chair of Integrated Design, Ecology, and Sustainability for the Built Environment and the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions, Mediations of Excellence at Université de Montréal are working together to mobilize the creativity of young designers of the built environment in order to stimulate debate on the renewed experiences of public transportation for increased urban resiliency. This 2021 edition is done in collaboration CRE-Montreal and ARTM. The Conseil régional de l’environnement de Montréal (CRE-Montreal) promotes sustainable development for the City of Montreal. The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM) is the transportation authority, which plans, funds, and promotes public transit and paratransit services for the Montréal metropolitan area.
This ideas competition seeks to gather:
- Narratives of renewed experience of public transportation;
- Design idea(s) for encouraging the use of public transportation;
- Series of design principles for implementing a renewed experience of public transportation.
Program:
February 1, 2021: Competition Launch online + Registration Opens
March 1, 2021: Registration Closes
April 12, 2021: Competition Submission Deadline at 5:00PM EST
May 17, 2021: Event for the Announcement of the Winners.
For more information : www.ideas-be.ca/project/competition-reimagining-public-transport
For this 3rd online edition of Docu-conferences, the Université de Montréal Alumni and Donors Network is proud to welcome director Joseph Hillel, a graduate of the Faculty of Continuing Education, as well as two special guests: architect emeritus Phyllis Lambert and doctoral student Lucie Palombi, from the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Planning.
The documentary Rêveuses de villes takes us to the heart of our urban environments in perpetual metamorphosis to meet four exceptional architects, exemplary women, pioneers who – for decades – have been working, observing and shaping the city of today and tomorrow.
When: Thursday, March 25, 202, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Where: Online activity, via Zoom.
Where: Online activity, via Zoom.
Course of the evening:
5:30 p.m. | Welcome and opening remarks before the screening
5:35 p.m. | Screening of the documentary Dreamers of Cities
18 h 55 | Intermission
6:58 p.m. | Exchange and discussion with invited speakers
19 h 25 | Public question period (30 min)
19 h 55 | Thanks and closing remarks
20 h 00 | End of the event