President of the jury : Philippe Lupien, architect.
Members of the jury : Mark Poddubiuk, architect Atelier L'Oeuf, and adjunct professor, McGill University School of Architecture; David Theodore, research associate, McGill University School of Architecture and architecture critic; Indra McEwen, architecture historian and adjunct professor, Art History Department, Concordia University; Rima Elkouri, journalist, La Presse.

The jury has named three winning projects:

FIRST PRIZE: TEAM 25
Université de Montréal

Julie Veillette
Elif Genç
Phuong-Trâm Nguyen
Nicolas Ceccaldi

for the project BRUIT BLANC (WHITE NOISE)

This project won the jury over with its luminous originality and quiet sobriety. It was awarded first prize for its intelligent way of investigating the notion of wall surface, of making it sensitive and bringing it to life; for its astute way of transforming cold, inert surfaces into walls of light which not only listen to the city, but answer it as well; for its brilliant way of making us see the inaudible, for making us hear white noise.

SECOND PRIZE: TEAM 57
Université de Montréal and Université Laval

Ian Nataf
Yves de Fontenay
Marc-André Tratch
Mathias Iosco

for the project REFAIRE SURFACE (RESURFACING)

We took note of the quality of the work in cross-section beneath UQAM and Place Émilie-Gamelin, incorporating the subway platforms into the project, which showed a keen understanding of UQAM’s spatial organization and proposed a relevant strategy for its transformation.

THIRD PRIZE: TEAM 55
Université de Montréal, McGill University and UQAM

Yutaro Minagawa
Jean-Philippe Beauchamp
Jean-Bruno Valiquette

for the project ART CONDUIT (ART DUCT)

The playful and graphically intriguing aspect of this project is certainly appealing. The proposition nonetheless caused a debate of interpretation among the members of the jury. All were enthusiastic about the project’s sensory qualities, far preferring them to its virtual ones.

MENTIONS

The jury also awarded three honourable mentions:

“Michel Tremblay” honourable mention: Team 49
UQAM and Université de Montréal

David Gour
Anne Sabourin
Gabriel Villeneuve

This project impressed the jury with its simplicity, straight out of a work by Michel Tremblay. The project received an honourable mention for its way of creating an open-air exhibition hall with limited resources, deploying art in the street the way we hang sheets out on the line in the summer; for its arresting way of creating a dialogue between buildings and people, who otherwise would never speak to each other; for its festival atmosphere under an ever-changing artistic sky; for its interesting exchange between underground, surface and passerby.

“Presentation” honourable mention: Team 35
McGill University

Laurie Damme Gonneville
Vedanta Balbahudur
Rami Abou Khalil
Peter Sealy

Without title or text, this project nonetheless struck the members of the jury with the force of its eloquence and the rich possibilities it suggests. Its economy of graphic means demonstrates, in an exceptionally striking way, both a thorough understanding of the challenge raised by the Charrette and possible strategies for resolving it. Although the problem is not solved, the strength of the presentation allows us to better understand it.

“Anti-object” honourable mention: Team 58
McGill University

Lawrence Siu
Lia Ruccolo
Monica Freundt
Marc-Antoine Chartier-Primeau

The jury wanted to recognize a project which, instead of an object or a construction, proposed a strategy that promotes the concept “The architect is not there to speak but to allow people to speak.” The reason an honourable mention and not a prize was awarded to this object was that the minimalism of the concept and of the presentation gives rise to uncertainty: did the designers really address the issue?  It is unsure whether the idea of a wet coat of paint is just a metaphor for the movements of art and people around the square (a facile one-liner) or whether the designers wanted to actually apply paint in order to study these movements – a strategy of reflection before construction which intrigued the jury.