Lab-École, a non-profit organization bringing multidisciplinary expertise to design schools in Québec, has announced the launch of its architecture competition.
Driven by its three founding members—Pierre Thibault, Pierre Lavoie, and Ricardo Larrivée— the competition will generate Québec’s first Lab-École projects.
“We determined the specifications of the different projects by consulting and working with stakeholders from all the communities selected to receive a Lab-École,”said Pierre Thibault, architect and co-founder.“This was an important step for us in deploying the architecture competition. Completing projects on a competitive basis is known to help raise design quality standards. This way, we will be able to design new models of innovative schools based on best practices that will promote student success.”
The architectural competition will draw plans for five schools located in Gatineau, Shefford, Maskinongé, Saguenay and Rimouski.
As part of their mandate, Lab-École coordinates the competitions and accompanies the school boards, which are the owners of their project, until their opening.
Firms that would like to participate in the competition can find information on the SEAO platform.
Architects are invited to submit their proposals anonymously during stage 1 via SEAO according to the prescribed procedure specific to each of the five projects: Gatineau (Western Québec School Board), Shefford (Val-des-Cerfs School Board), Maskinongé (Chemin-du-Roy School Board), Rimouski (Phares School Board), and Saguenay (Rives-du-Saguenay School Board).
The panels will then review the proposals and select four finalists per project during stage 2, which will be announced in October 2019.
At the beginning of 2020, the panels will determine the five winners. All the finalists’ submissions will be displayed in their respective communities before the construction stage begins.
The first schools bearing the Lab-École signature will open between September 2021 and September 2022.
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