{"id":6650,"date":"2016-10-11T15:01:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T15:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crc.umontreal.ca\/?page_id=6650"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:12:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:12:56","slug":"axes-communs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/crc.umontreal.ca\/en\/axes-communs\/","title":{"rendered":"RESEARCH AXES & FUNDINGS"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”RESEARCH AXES” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Open%20Sans%20Condensed%3A300%2C300italic%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text css=””]Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Quality (CRC-ACQUA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research involves<\/strong>: Contribute to defining the attributes, parameters and criteria of recognition of architectural quality to better understand its renewal in contemporary practices in Canada.<\/p>\n

Research relevance<\/strong>: Development of qualitative comparative methods and digital infrastructures to document, analyze and disseminate best practices in architecture.<\/p>\n

The importance of architectural quality on the development of individuals and communities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perceptions of quality evolving over time and across cultures, how do we define architectural quality today? To what extent and by what criteria do experts and users perceive the qualities of public buildings? A representative body, large enough and selected by peer juries, to answer these questions: this is the (evolving) set of winners of architectural competitions and awards in Canada from the late 1980s to today.<\/p>\n

The work of Jean-Pierre Chupin as part of his Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Quality questions the ability of public buildings to meet the highest aspirations for quality. Contemporary, environmental, technological, economic, or cultural issues are addressed, in Canada and elsewhere, through the mediation devices of awards of excellence and competitions. These filters make it possible to identify exemplary realizations and to analyze them in a comparative way. In addition to expert judgments, the research aims to better understand how people and communities live and recognize architecture. By making unpublished data on building characteristics, design criteria and the appreciation of qualities available through a system of actors and users, and placing qualitative judgment at the heart of its program, the Chair intends to invite disciplines such as sociology, political science, ethics, etc., to new questions about relationships between people and built environments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(2026-2033) – The research program for this second seven-year term, awarded by the Canada Research Chairs Program and the University of Montreal, will focus on theories, methods, training, and policies related to quality, with an emphasis on issues of inclusion and universal accessibility in architecture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The chair will continue to examine the capacity of buildings and public spaces to meet the highest expectations of citizens by critically reviewing current conceptions of quality as conveyed by competitions and awards, which are mediators of excellence.<\/p>\n

Our recent work within the framework of the SSHRC partnership (Quality in Canada\u2019s Built Environment<\/a>) shows the extent to which award systems are organized around a definition of quality that paradoxically contributes to perpetuating environments of standardization and exclusion.<\/p>\n

It is important to\u00a0contribute to experiential and inclusive redefinitions of architectural quality.<\/strong> These social and cultural issues call for interdisciplinary and international collaboration to develop partnership-based research and doctoral studies, both in architecture and in other disciplines related to the built environment.<\/p>\n

Our new program places students at the heart of our research, with four objectives:<\/p>\n

A \u2013\u00a0Develop a new theoretical framework for inclusive, accessible, and sustainable architectural quality<\/p>\n

B \u2013\u00a0Develop methods for integrating diverse experiences, perceptions, and experiences of quality<\/p>\n

C \u2013\u00a0Contribute to training and awareness-raising activities on \u201cinclusive quality\u201d<\/p>\n

D \u2013\u00a0Encourage professional and political consideration of inclusion and accessibility in the evaluation of quality in architecture and the built environment.<\/p>\n