From left to right: Catherine Gauthier (MArch, Université de Montréal), Morteza Hazbei (PhD candidate, Concordia University), Jean-Pierre Chupin (UdeM), Doramy Ehling (CEO, Rick Hansen Foundation), Marco Pasqua (Rick Hansen Foundation), Nooshin Esmaeili (UCalgary)

On March 1-2, 2023, several student members of the SSHRC Quality Partnership were invited to participate in person or online in the annual APN2023 Building Together Symposium, which brought together industry leaders, accessibility professionals, and global thought leaders to discuss how we can continue to build an inclusive and accessible world for people of all ages and abilities. [Accessibility Professional Network 2023.](On March 1-2, 2023, several student members of the SSRC Quality Partnership were invited to participate in person or online in the annual APN2023 Building Together Symposium, which brought together industry leaders, accessibility professionals, and global thought leaders to discuss how we can continue to build an inclusive and accessible world for people of all ages and abilities. Accessibility Professional Network 2023.

March 16, 2023. A seminar presented by Izabel Amaral (UdeM) around a SSHRC Insight Development Grant: (in collaboration with Carmela Cucuzzella (Concordia) and Jean-Pierre Chupin (UdeM)

An Ecology of Wood Cultures in Canada (20032020): comparing constructive cultures through awarded architectural designs

At the  intersection of  architectural theory and  cultural studies, this  research investigates wood  architecture as a symbolic universe that allows us to study the presence of nature in human culture. This research will theorize the diversity of expressions of quality in Canadian architecture, from the standpoint of environmental preoccupation, building culture and architectural expression. Considering wood architecture as a form of “cultural ecology”, it has the potential to reveal how Canadian cultures represent and symbolize their relations to the land and natural resources, as well as the cultures of its founding peoples.

Notwithstanding the interest in wood as a major alternative to fossil fuelbased construction materials, this research will highlight the symbolic spectrum of wood buildings, which ranges from local and indigenous traditions to ecological aesthetics, representing forms of making that rely both on traditional architectural practice or recent building technologies and computeraided design. We aim to better interpret and understand how advancements in architectural practice and building techniques affect the way architecture is envisioned and materialized in Canada during the past decades. In parallel to studying the influence of environmental considerations to  architectural forms in  Canada, we  will make sense of  a  dissonance within the theory of architecture between ideas about the interdependency or autonomy of architectural form (visual appearance), material (what it is made of) and meaning (messages and ideals expressed).

This debate was organized at the BAnQ’s National Archives in Montreal (535 Viger Avenue East) on November 24, 2022.

Once a symbol of excellence and exception, architecture and design awards, which aim to reward achievements, have multiplied exponentially in recent years. We no longer count the number of companies, associations, municipalities and specialized publications that have set up their own awards, many of which have greatly multiplied their categories over the years. The situation is such that we can now speak of a veritable awards “industry”, both in Quebec and internationally.
In this context, we may wonder about the value of these awards. Do they always reward excellence? Do the entries focus excessively on aesthetics, or even the “Instagrammable” side of architecture, rather than on the public experience? Why do architectural firms feel the need to participate? How can we ensure the real value of an architecture award?

The event was organized by Kollectif, in partnership with Jean-Pierre Chupin, Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence (Université de Montréal) and co-editor of the collective book The Rise of Awards in Architecture (Vernon Press, 2022) with Carmela Cucuzzella and Georges Adamczyk.

Presenter: Marc-André Carignan, Content Manager for Kollectif
Moderator: Jean-Pierre Chupin, Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence, Université de Montréal

Our panelists:

Our guests of honour:

Video production:

  • Video editing and recording: Jonathan Haxhe, M.A. in communication, Université de Montréal.
  • Recording: Théo Pagé-Robert, Bachelor of Architecture, Université de Montréal.

Funding: Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence.

Two grants to support two doctoral students of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence: Paloma Castonguay-Rufino and Shantanu Biswas-Linkon.

These two $12,000 scholarships are awarded by the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence for the quality of their academic record. Paloma Castonguay-Rufino is working on a redefinition of the notion of “industrial heritage” in the Canadian context, while Shantanu Biswas-Linkon is studying the notion of “social value” (Re-evaluating the Social Value of Architecture in the Public Realms through Inclusiveness and Environmental Justice).

The Doctoral Admissions Committee awarded the Graduate Admissions Grant in the amount of $10,000 to new doctoral student Shantanu Biswas-Linkon in recognition of his academic record, research proposal, and clear motivations. Shantanu is enrolled in the Individualized Doctor of Architecture program under the direction of Jean-Pierre Chupin since September 2022.

The Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Fellowships Committee of the Université de Montréal has awarded the “J.A. DeSève” Excellence Fellowship to Lucie Palombi, a doctoral student under the direction of Jean-Pierre Chupin in the Individualized Doctoral Program in Architecture.

Under the supervision of professors Jean-Pierre Chupin and Bechara Helal in the Individualized Doctoral Program in Architecture, Aurélien Catros has received two prestigious grants for his thesis:

  • Daniel Arbour and Associates excellence grant

Amount: 20 000$CAD (Travel grant for England and Japan)
Title of funded topic: “Projection between design models in the era of the second digital revolution

  • Doctoral grant from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec Société et Culture

Amount: 28 000$CAD (spread over 16 months)
Title of funded subject: “Epistemology of the model in architecture and the transfer of project design in the era of the second digital revolution

Date: January 31, 2023, 5:30 pm.

Location: Amphitheatre 1120, Faculté de l’aménagement, Université de Montréal.

On the occasion of the publication in 2022 of L’architecture en ses écoles, une encyclopédie, we welcome Daniel Le Couédic, architect and historian, professor at the University of Western Brittany, and co-director of the book. Around Lucie K. Morisset, professor at UQAM and holder of the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, this conference-debate will also bring together two Quebec contributors to the encyclopedia, François Giraldeau, honorary professor at UQAM’s School of Design, and Jean-Pierre Chupin, professor at UdeM’s School of Architecture and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence,

  • Anne-Marie Châtelet, Amandine Diener, Marie-Jeanne Dumont and Daniel Le Couédic, (eds.), L’architecture en ses écoles (une encyclopédie de l’enseignement de l’architecture au XXe siècle), Châteaulin, Éditions Locus Solus, 2022.
  • Jean-Pierre Chupin and François Giraldeau, article Québec, relations et échanges. p. 568.

Summary

With its 704 pages and 341 notes written by 147 authors, this work is the result of a vast collective effort to gather and deepen, in an unprecedented way, a state of knowledge that was fragmentary until now. This history of architectural education in France in the twentieth century addresses multiple dimensions – pedagogical, professional, territorial, political, institutional and material – and covers a range of institutions involved in architectural education, such as engineering schools.

In France, the history of architectural education was long reduced to its alleged shortcomings and to the story of the struggle of the champions of modernity against the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The earthquake of 1968 buried even the memory of that bygone era. The revival came from the United States, where the École had once enjoyed great prestige, but at first it concerned only the nineteenth century. It was not until the 1980s that the complexity of the things debated and experienced in the twentieth century began to be illuminated and, above all, that the investigations of architecture, its teaching, the profession and its practice were correlated.

In this movement, one rediscovered the long exacerbated debate between the architects defending the Parisian monopoly and their provincial colleagues, which had preluded the creation of the first regional schools in 1903. The Regional School of Rennes – which became the Regional School of Brittany in 1984 – was the second to open its doors; its history thus allows us to understand all the stages of this bumpy path which, well beyond architecture, provides information on the reinvention of higher education in France and on the role it played in the structuring of the national territory.

The discussion will also be based on another book by our guest: Le Couédic Daniel, Sauvage André, L’École d’architecture de Bretagne : Un siècle de fabrique des architectes, Châteaulin, Locus Solus, 2022.

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada until 2027, a major research partnership on quality in the built environment brings together – for the first time – 14 universities, 70 researchers and 68 public and private organizations at the municipal, provincial and national levels.

The total value of this partnership will be $8.6M ($2.5M from SSHRC, $6.1M from partners including $4.2M in-kind contributions). Such an investment confirms the commitment of all partners and the importance of the collaborative process.

The partnership will stimulate a vital dialog demonstrating how those active in considering and creating the built environment across Canada can contribute to a redefinition of quality that moves us to heightened equity, more social value and greater sustainability at a critical moment for our societies and for our planet.

 

Coordinated, from the University of Montreal, by the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence (CRC-ACME), the partnership Quality in Canada’s Built Environment: Roadmaps to Equity, Social Value and Sustainability addresses the diversity of public environments impacting the everyday life of millions of Canadians in urban spaces, buildings and landscapes.

 

The program has three aims:

  1. Analyzing the current limitations of environmental norms and sustainability models to bring us closer to the United NationsSustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  2. Co-designing new paths to equity, diversity and inclusion in the built environment.
  3. Defining new frameworks for the definition of quality so as to enhance the social value of the built environment through roadmaps to quality.

 

To achieve these objectives, the partnership brings together methodologically 4 sets of stakeholders concerned with the use, scientific study, planning, design, construction and management of built environments:

  • Citizens (representatives of communities including minorities and underrepresented populations).
  • Cities (national, provincial and municipal actors in the public procurement of built environments).
  • Organizations assessing quality (professional associations, award granting institutions, councils, cities).
  • Universities (interdisciplinary research teams).

 

For the first time and at an unprecedented scale in the design disciplines in Canada, the project gathers 14 universities including all of the schools of architecture as well as most landscape architecture and environmental design departments. It mobilizes 23 disciplines concerned with the impact of built environments on citizens. Sixty-eight partner organizations including national institutions and not-for-profit will join in a conversation pertaining to 4 thematic clusters to address urgent considerations on quality relative to:

  1. Spatial justice and heightened quality of life.
  2. Integrated resilience, material culture and adaptative reuse.
  3. inclusive design for health, wellness, aging and special needs.
  4. processes and policies supporting the reinvention of built environments.

 

This extraordinary collaborative effort will stimulate training, internships and connections between hundreds of students and communities of practice. The partnership will engage in cross-sectoral co-creation of knowledge whose outcomes will take the form of “roadmaps to quality” (guidebooks, analyses of exemplary case studies, resources for design thinking and proposals for public policies, etc.). These will constitute a bilingual Living Atlas on Quality in the Built Environment set on a digital platform created with the support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Designed as a public forum on the social, economic and environmental value of quality, the Living Atlas will offer open access to repertories of award-winning projects, case studies, comparative analyses, scientific resources and articles, interpretative didactic podcasts, analogical maps and visualizations.

SSHRC Partnership Grant # 895-2022-1003

 

To see the full list of official co-applicants, collaborators, and partners:

Link to the SSHRC platform: 

https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/results-resultats/recipients-recipiendaires/2021/pg-sp-eng.aspx

 

Steering Committee (2022-2023)

 

Josie C. Auger, PhD, Adjunct professor, Athabasca University

Jean-Pierre Chupin, PhD, Professor, Université de Montréal, SSHRC partnership director

Carmela Cucuzzella, PhD, Professor, Concordia University

Doramy Ehling, CEO, Rick Hansen Foundation

Terrance Galvin, PhD, Professor, Laurentian University

Thierry Montpetit, OAQ OAA, Public Services and Procurement Canada

Lyne Parent, Directrice, Association des architectes en pratique privée du Québec

Brian Robert Sinclair, PhD, Professor, University of Calgary

Federica Goffi, PhD, Professor, Carleton University

Robert M. Wright, MLA, Professor, University of Toronto

 

Dimitri Weibel, MSc Pol. Sc., SSHRC partnership coordinator

The project, entitled Potentials of Architectural Quality: Equity, Sustainability and Cultural Openness, will have Jean-Pierre Chupin (Ph. D.) as team coordinator. The amount of the subvention granted to the LEAP by the FRQSC (support to research teams/university renewal) for this project is $423,420 and will be spread over a 4-year period, thus until 2027!

For 2022-2027, the programming of the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle is based on three research chairs to address a central issue that directly impacts the daily lives of millions of citizens: the quality of built environments.

The program of the Potentials of Architectural Quality: Equity, Sustainability and Cultural Openness project is based on three axes:

  • Axis 1: Equity, spatial justice and improvement of the quality of life (linked to the Canada Research Chair (2) on spatial justice, McGill);
  • Axis 2: Sustainability imperatives and material qualities of built environments (linked to the Research Chair in ecological and integrated design, Concordia);
  • Axis 3: Cultural openness and the process of recognizing architectural quality (linked to the Canada Research Chair (1) in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence, Montreal).

The collective reflection on quality intends to paint a global and coherent portrait of our discipline and its renewal, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to demonstrate how actors in the built environment can contribute to a redefinition of quality at a critical moment in our collective history. The team is composed of researchers from four Montreal universities.

  • Université de Montréal: Jean-Pierre Chupin, Georges Adamczyk, Izabel Amaral, Denis Bilodeau, Anne Cormier, Bechara Helal, Virginie LaSalle
  • Concordia University: Carmela Cucuzzella, Cynthia Hammond
  • McGill University: Ipek Türeli
  • UQÀM: Thomas Bernard Kenniff, Louis Martin