Quebec architects take 8 GG awards

The Cirque du Soleil studios in Montreal and York University's Schulich School of Business have earned their designers the Governor General's Award for Architecture.

The Canada Council for the Arts announced 12 winners of the award, given to honour outstanding achievement on recent architectural projects, on Monday.

Eight of the winning architects are based in Quebec, two in Ontario, one in Manitoba and one in B.C.

Yves Gosselin, president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, said there were a high number of winners in Quebec because of the architectural competition policy in the province, which is helping create "superior buildings." Quebec holds a design competition on all public projects, a process that has tended to encourage creative design, Gosselin said.

While past winners have often been individual homes, only one, the Maurer House in Naramata, B.C., designed by Florian Maurer, made this year's list.

"We saw many beautiful and indulgent houses," the jury said. "What struck us about this one, that made it worthy of an award, was its modesty and clarity."

Two Quebec architectural teams were double winners.

Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki of Atelier TAG won two awards, for a new library of fieldstone and glass for the community of Chateauguay and for Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, a new theatre that makes the most of the beautiful natural heritage in Vieux-Terrebonne. In both projects they worked with Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés Architectes.

Michel Lapointe of Lapointe Magne + Ædifica won for two inspired renovations. He redesigned the Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec in Montreal, giving a grey '70s building a colourful new image. He was also honoured for his renovation of Théâtre Espace Libre, which occupied an old fire station built in 1903 at the foot of the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal. "Bold but not out of place, this theatre creates a strong presence in a neglected neighbourhood," the jury said.

The other winners from Quebec were:

• Éric Gauthier of Les architectes FABG, who designed the studios where Cirque du Soleil houses athletes from all over the world who come to train with the famous circus troupe.
• Annie Lebel and Stéphane Pratte of Atelier in situ, who designed the screens and pavilions at the Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens, which are being slowly transformed into a landscaped park.
• Gilles Saucier of Saucier + Perrotte, who designed the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, a private research institute building that judges described as "hyper-real" in the way that suggests "exciting intellectual endeavors taking place inside."
• Cormier, Cohen, Davies architectes for a Montreal housing project called Unity 2, which transforms an urban block and adds a semi-public courtyard.

The winners from other provinces were:

• Barry Sampson and Jon Neuert of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, who designed the 200-bed Erindale Hall residence at the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus. It features a protected colonnade along a main pedestrian route for students.
• Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects, who worked with Robbie/Young + Wright Architects to design York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto. The jury described it as "a combination of grandness and sophistication that is appropriate for a school of business."
• Smith Carter Architects and Engineers Inc. of Winnipeg, who designed an environmentally sustainable and intellectually stimulating workplace as their own headquarters.

The Governor Generals Awards for Architecture will be presented Sept., 20, 2006, at 6 p.m. in Montreal by Quebec Lieutenant Governor Lise Thibault.