Governor General's Medals in Architecture — 2018 Recipient | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

Governor General's Medals in Architecture — 2018 Recipient

Complexe Sportif Saint-Laurent
Montréal,
QC
Award Category: 
Governor General’s Medals in Architecture

Saucier+Perrotte Architectes and HCMA

Lead design architect(s): 

Gilles Saucier, FIRAC and André Perrotte, FIRAC

Occupancy: 2017
Construction Budget: $42.9 million

The sculptural nature of the project aims to create a link between the Marcel-Laurin Park and a projected green band that will run along Thimens Boulevard.  Two angular objects — one prismatic, white and diaphanous, the other darker and stretched horizontally — embrace the specific functions of the complex but simultaneously transcend them. The two volumes appear to be shifting, activated by the kinetic energy emanating from the heart of the project; they evoke the dynamic nature of the athletic activities taking place within. The volumetric approach is inspired by the tectonic forces that bend the surface layer of the site’s landscape.

Jury Comment(s): 

"This project is distinctively stark and austere.The strategic manipulation of what is essentially two huge boxes and the ground-level glazing generate a dynamic tension that is palpable as one approaches the building and walks through it. There is a fearless confidence in the decision to reduce all the complex and varied activities and services of the programme into two stark, strong, sculptural forms and a very small number of strong colours. The architecture takes the human activities inside and transforms them into an abstraction of strength and energy." 

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Photo: Olivier Blouin

Photo: Olivier Blouin

Photo: Olivier Blouin

Photo: Olivier Blouin

Photo: Olivier Blouin