Ilot des Palais

Québec City, Canada

Competition Winner

Canadian Architect Award of Excellence 2007

Surrounding the celebrations of Quebec city’s 400th anniversary was launched an architectural competition to enhance Quebec’s most important heritage and historic site, the “Îlot des Palais”. The new center of archeology and history, in two pavilions, were to be built on the vestiges of the “Palais de l’Intendant” around a cour d’honneur and a garden.

The project reinterprets the historical stratification of the site in a contemporary way. The coexistence of the two palaces, which is a first in the history of the building, becomes an excuse for a contemporary dialoguebetween the archaeological remains of the first “Palais de l’Intendant” and the second Palace, erected on the footprint of its foundations.

The presence of archeological remains from the first palace led to the design of Pavilion Jean-Talon. The new building unfolds like a showcase that envelops the old walls, establishing a dialogue between the archeological elements and the public space. The enhancement of the remains is accentuated by the structural system contemplated for the Pavilion Jean-Talon.

Rigid frames support the multimedia room and exhibition spaces that "float" above them by using vertical supports which are placed outside of the perimeter limited by the archeological remains. The volume of wood containing the exhibition spaces is superimposed on the imprint of the first palace. Its treatment evokes certain elements of the original building. This "light" mode of intervention ensures the protection of the archeological remains while leaving a great flexibility for the organization of the exposed artefacts.

With A. Vallières and Belanger Beauchemin Architectes