Musée Huron-Wendat à Wendake / Huron-Wendat Museum in Wendake
2002
Wendake, Quebec, Canada- Architecture for culture, research, sport or leisure
- Building
- Museum
This competition initiated in 2002, was for the construction of a 1,600m2 museum of the Huron-Wendat Nation. As a provincial architectural competition, this venture was supported by the Direction de la Capitale-Nationale and the Québec Ministry of Culture and Communications, and attracted nearly twenty-five architectural firms. The challenge was to design a building representing the values of this first-nation, in the hope that it would contribute to the renewal of the Wendake Village, the only remaining occupied Huron-Wendat reserve in Canada. The building was also to reflect the important relationship with the environment in accordance with the values of this first-nation.
By means of this competition, the Huron-Wendat Council and community desired to obtain spaces that could assemble their various collections of handicrafts and therefore favour the development of national and international tourism: one of the principal sources of the reserve's development. They also wished to acquire a building representative of their culture. The museum was not to be considered an imposed object containing artefacts, but rather an environment generative and favouring rich and significant cultural encounters. The museum should therefore provide an ensemble of interactive devices and objects permitting the visitor to experience, by ambiance, the Huron Nation's vision of the world.
The Huron-Wendat Museum project was an integral part of a larger series of actions. Several other projects, not included within this competition, formed part of the global cultural policy elaborated to celebrate and communicate the Huron Nation's heritage. Included within this large-scale project were, among others; the renovation of the Tsawenhohi House dedicated to the conservation and transmission of local tradition and know-how and finally, the architectural and urban renewal of Wendake.
(CCC text)
By means of this competition, the Huron-Wendat Council and community desired to obtain spaces that could assemble their various collections of handicrafts and therefore favour the development of national and international tourism: one of the principal sources of the reserve's development. They also wished to acquire a building representative of their culture. The museum was not to be considered an imposed object containing artefacts, but rather an environment generative and favouring rich and significant cultural encounters. The museum should therefore provide an ensemble of interactive devices and objects permitting the visitor to experience, by ambiance, the Huron Nation's vision of the world.
The Huron-Wendat Museum project was an integral part of a larger series of actions. Several other projects, not included within this competition, formed part of the global cultural policy elaborated to celebrate and communicate the Huron Nation's heritage. Included within this large-scale project were, among others; the renovation of the Tsawenhohi House dedicated to the conservation and transmission of local tradition and know-how and finally, the architectural and urban renewal of Wendake.
(CCC text)