“Architecture is about imagination. Suddenly we have witnessed the unimaginable, and imagination has been taken from us. Can we architects ever imagine again?” Peter Eisenman, September 2001

 

In the belief that September 11, 2001, poses an urgent demand to construct a new stage for thought and action — and in the conviction that architecture generates not only spaces, but also ideas and potentialities — the Canadian Centre for Architecture has overturned its exhibition schedule and organized “Laboratories”. The yearlong initiative, comprising a major exhibition and extensive programs of discussion and debate, will turn the galleries of the CCA into a public square: a place for reflection, response, and the exchange of ideas.

 

At the core of “Laboratories” is an exhibition, on view from April 18 to September 15, 2002, which highlights the emergence in Montreal of a cluster of inventive architectural firms. Six of these innovative ateliers, all of them in existence for 15 years or less, will create an environment or installation that expresses their current thinking about the world they might inhabit and the one they might want to shape. The firms are: Atelier Big City; Atelier BRAQ; Atelier in situ; Bosses design; BUILD; and Pierre Thibault (links below).

 

“I believe the CCA is itself one of the cultural forces that has made this initiative possible,” says Nicholas Olsberg, Director of the CCA. “Over the last 10 years, I think we have helped widen and deepen the discourse of architecture, and so have contributed to the explosion in our city of new approaches to practice. Through “Laboratories”, we now seek to advance these developments by fostering the ‘intense human interaction’ that Phyllis Lambert has identified as the critical generative force for new ideas in architecture today.”

 

The CCA launched “Laboratories” in November 2001 by issuing a project statement and a call for proposals. The jury (listed below) met in mid-December to select the architects to participate in the project. The jury based its decisions on the firms’ demonstrated capacity for thinking outside usual boundaries, their ability to work in a multidisciplinary team, and the quality of their work. The CCA then invited two leading architectural thinkers, Frédéric Migayrou, Director of Architecture at the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou in Paris, and Mark Wigley, Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Architecture/Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, along with a panel of critics and artists to join in discussions with the architects to help clarify and extend their ideas before they proceeded with their installations.

 

Three of the firms chosen (Atelier in situ, Atelier Big City, and Pierre Thibault) have won the prestigious Prix de Rome awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Previous work produced by the six firms ranges from residential and commercial construction and renovation to exhibition design. Their various Montreal projects include the Usine Poste (Atelier BRAQ in collaboration with Carlos Ott); the redesign of the foyer of Marché Bonsecours (Atelier Big City); the conversion of the Darling Foundry for the city’s Quartier Éphémère (Atelier in situ); the bistro Le Petit Alep (Bosses design); a series of houses in Plateau Mont-Royal, including the BOX house (BUILD); and the Espace chorégraphique Jean-Pierre Perreault (Pierre Thibault).

 

Frédéric Migayrou states: “The younger generation of Montréal architects is important as both a critical and a practical resource. By creating a place where they can propose questions and pursue research, the CCA makes a vital contribution to their role in the city as well as their emergence worldwide.” His comments echo Mark Wigley: “In an act of extraordinary courage and generosity, CCA has turned its galleries over to the architects themselves, opening a space for reflection and active response.”

 

Once the installations are in place, discussions will be opened to the public in the galleries themselves and through a series of lectures, round tables, and symposia, culminating in a forum and public events the weekend of September 14. A major publication, written and edited by Wigley and Migayrou, will follow.

 

“For a period of a year, the CCA is becoming a public laboratory, a site of creation and conversation,” Olsberg concludes. “That laboratory is now open.”

 

Links:

 

You can follow the progress of the project, step by step, by visiting “Laboratories”, the Web site set up especially for the event.

 

It’s also worth a trip to the participants’ own Web sites (they’re a mix of English/French, French only, and one – we’re not sure):

 

Atelier Big City (Randy Cohen, Anne Cormier, Howard Davies)

Atelier BRAQ (Wade Eide, Peter Fianu)

Atelier in situ (Annie Lebel, Geneviève L'Heureux, Stéphane Pratte)

Bosses design (Éric Daoust, Donald Potvin, Jean-François Potvin)

BUILD (Michael Carroll, R. Wayne Guy, Danita Rooyakkers, Attila Tolnai)

Pierre Thibault (Pierre Thibault)

 

Jury:

Georges Adamczyk, Director, School of Architecture, Université de Montréal;

Sylvie Gilbert, Director/Curator, Liane and Danny Taran Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts;

Caroline Andrieux, Director, Quartier Éphémère;

Louise Pelletier, adjunct professor, School of Architecture, McGill University, teacher, School of Design, Université du Québec à Montréal;

Denis Lemieux, architect.

 

The CCA wishes to thank Hydro-Québec and Loto-Québec for their generous support of the exhibition. Also thanks to Lafarge Canada, Bank of Montreal, RBC Financial Group, Calgah Computer Systems, and Liberty Yogourt for their support of the exhibition and the public programs. The CCA gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.