Toward a Canadian Culture of Architectural Competitions
The Canadian Competitions Catalogue is proud to be first to presents all the projects submitted by the 11 national and international teams selected to participate in the two phases "Block 2" competition in Ottawa in 2021 and 2022. The administrative term "Block 2" does not say anything about the democratic, cultural, historical, heritage and urban importance of this segment of Wellington Street located in front of the Canadian Parliament. In the words of John Rauston Saul, the moral compass of this great competition, it was no more and no less than the completion of Parliament Square, which began a century and a half ago in a great inaugural architectural competition.
To propose to rename this site "Parliament Square" would be an initiative that is all the more powerful and appropriate in terms of "Canadian-style" democracy, since the term "precinct" only affirms the frank, secure and - dare we say it - "police-like" limits of this public space where the complexity of the Canadian Federation is expressed. Since I had the honour of being associated with this process in 2016 through meetings and presentations to the Public Services and Procurement Canada team in charge of Parliament Hill, I can testify that it was a question of pushing the limits and preserving democratic openness from the beginning to the end of this adventure.
In July 2016, in a special issue of Architecture Québec magazine, I had written an informed - and altogether, concerned - article on the Quebec competitions of the 2010s. This reflection had aroused the interest of Thierry Montpetit, the architect in charge of the thorny Block 2 file. This moody text was entitled: "There is no point in competing if the competition is not up to scratch". In it, I complained about a way of doing things that had crept into Quebec and that increasingly limited the exercise to 3 competitors, to juries that were a little too expeditious, and to jury reports that were emptied of their didactic and informative role. Quebec had been for a long time a precursor in the field of public competitions and there was reason to be alarmed by a trivialization or worse by an extreme simplification of the formula. Thierry Montpetit was then ambivalent about the relevance of a competition, but he wished to initiate a debate within the service in charge of restructuring the parliamentary hill. Armed with a clear definition, that a complex situation required a complex and proven democratic procedure such as a competition, it was not difficult for me to list the elements of the situation. It was early 2017, when heritage and urban issues were competing with tensions between local and national issues. The main concern was urban integration, but we didn't want to dodge the magnitude of the national symbol. We wanted to ensure the functionality of the parliamentary offices - since it is a large machine or, if we prefer, a parliamentary organization - but we also wanted to reassure citizens about the proper use of public funds. All the elements of a great competition seemed already in place.
In order to better inform the government experts about the subtleties of the competition, I had put together a series of historical, theoretical and comparative. slide presentations, and the civil servants and their guests were amused by these academic presentations, which were as long as they were far from the "executive summaries" in the form of "bullets points" that pretend to summarize everything in 5 points. I spoke as much about the Duomo of Florence as about the beautiful series of library competitions in Quebec, for which the audience, although not very inclined to emotion, was very admiring. My mission was to deconstruct the supposed virtues of calls for tender to reveal those of competitions. But the shadow of the sadly failed "Bank Street" competition, at the beginning of the 2000s, on a site adjacent to Parliament Hill, with similar but lesser stakes, regularly came back on the table as a counter-example obscuring all the discussions of the representatives of public procurement in Canada. It was necessary to deconstruct this apparent failure to discover that it hid more dubious political decisions than problems with the functioning of the jury.
The stakes of the "Block 2" site seemed complex enough to compare with historical and legendary competitions, but one last argument was missing. In retrospect, it is not certain that my team and I would have succeeded in convincing people of the need for the competition, so much resistance was displayed around the coffee machine at these information meetings. The argument would come from higher up as on June 21, 2017, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the former U.S. Embassy – right in the middle of Block 2 - would become a space under the governance of Indigenous Peoples. The paradoxical reversal of this symbol of U.S. imperialism, a political move to be sure, made this house of Indigenous Peoples, or "Indigenous Peoples Space," an injunction whose added complexity now left no room for the usual public procurement practices. After this highly political and democratic decision, the formula of the competition imposed itself with force. From a hypothetical modern competition with typical stakes, we moved, within a few hours, to a true hypermodern competition placed under the aegis of equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation. The so-called "Block 2" competition was born. Five years later, we can appreciate the results and especially understand what made some of the best architectural teams in the world sweat when faced with the magnitude of this complex situation. The reader can judge this by comparing the proposals.
The space of this editorial is too limited to explain and recount these five years of competition development, nor all the lessons that accompanied its implementation, including the introduction of the German team of (phase eins) - undoubtedly the best competition organization agency in the world - as well as the role of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in the regulation of the procedure with the attentive but benevolent eyes of Peter Ortved and Jonathan Bisson. It will be necessary one day to explain in detail all that the team, piloted by Assistant Deputy Minister Rob Wright with the support of Thierry Montpetit, produced in terms of expert reports, preliminary analysis, preparatory meetings, etc. Everything, absolutely everything that constitutes an excellent competition was mobilized in the service of quality. For the sake of confidentiality, we will unfortunately not be able to recount the hours and days of deliberations of an immense jury coordinated with the greatest respect for the diversity of points of view by the architects Bruce Haden and Anne McIIlroy. However, as a researcher familiar with national and international competitions, I would like to express my admiration for the impeccable organization of this great historic competition.
Yest, at the same time, we can only regret that the Ordre des Architectes du Québec has decided to abolish the competition committee and the competition accreditation procedure in December 2021, at a time when Quebec's expertise was being admired by Ottawa's elected officials. The validation procedure for Quebec competitions, which was put in place in the mid-1990s - I remember, as I was there - has long protected clients, competitors and professional advisors alike. To think that everything is fine now as far as the organization of competitions is concerned, to renounce to check their organization, while undermining the role of competitions in the amplitude of public procurement, is first of all, to dangerously underestimate the fragility of a complex procedure. Competitions are never cast in the concrete of an infallible methodology. Each competition is unique, because each situation is unique. We have yet to understand how abolishing the OAQ competition committee will affect a 3-decades competition culture, but the fact remains that a significant part of Quebec's expertise will have actively contributed to the success of the "Block2" competition.
I hope that the expertise developed for this competition will serve as an encouragement and that we will witness in the coming years the emergence of a new competition culture in Canada. Competitions are certainly not the only roadmaps to quality as the will also benefit from all those initiatives and policies currently in the making that aim to ensure the highest expectations for public buildings and environments in Canada. These 11 projects for Block 2, that a small team of 4 students from the Université de Montréal has just juxtaposed on the pages of the Canadian Competitions Catalogue, already offer themselves as a great lesson in contemporary architecture. You may now be the judge!
Jean-Pierre Chupin, Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence.
Summary:
The Parliamentary Precinct. Its architecture and heritage features represent our past and present. The Government of Canada is now modernizing the Precinct and making it greener, safer and more accessible for future generations. As part of these efforts, the block directly facing Parliament Hill, known as Block 2, will undergo an impressive renewal.
Block 2 covers an approximate area of 9,800 square metres and includes 2 vacant parcels of land and 11 buildings - many of which are designated heritage buildings. 2 of the 11 buildings in the block have been dedicated for the development of an Indigenous Peoples' Space. While these buildings currently stand independently from the design competition, the department will ensure the design and construction for the entire block honour and respect the significance of this space, which sits at the heart of Canada's Parliamentary Precinct. Preserving the heritage of Block 2 is at the heart of the project.
Redesigned as a whole, the block will provide office space for the Senate and the House of Commons. It will also include space for the Library of Parliament and renovated retail space on the Sparks Street Mall. In collaboration with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, a multidisciplinary jury, composed of design professionals and respected members of Canadian academia and civil society, as well as parliamentary representatives, will help ensure the development of a design that complements one of the most unique settings of parliamentary buildings in the world - one in which Canadians can continue to take pride.
(From video presentation)
Detailed:
Ottawa is the centre of Canada's parliamentary democracy. At its core is the Parliamentary Precinct, the symbolic centerpiece of the city and country, and host to Canada's legislatures - the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada - as well as the Library of Parliament. This triad of historic Parliament Buildings sits upon a dramatic escarpment, a high cliff edge overlooking the broad and turbulent Ottawa River (Kichisìpi, meaning "Great River" in Anicinàbemowin) with the rapids and falls considered sacred to Indigenous peoples within view. Constructed between 1859 and 1866, and partially reconstructed after a massive fire in 1916, these imposing buildings set in the midst of a small frontier lumber town were the result of an international design competition held in 1859.
Their construction, on this site, on the traditional territory of the Algonquin, manifest a process of nation building that has complex and contested foundations. The fact that these buildings stand as a testament to the history of Canada in all its complexities enhances their values and significance.
The combination of a spectacular site and the rugged yet grand masonry buildings, with a forest of towers and facades dominated by pointed openings and carved beasts and buttresses, make it one of the world's finest Gothic Revival complexes. While the winning designs of the 1859 Architectural Design Competition were heavily influenced by the evolving ideals of Gothic architecture in the 1850s and the watershed works of John Ruskin and others, "it was a very different kind of Gothic that captured the imagination of Canadians and gave Canadian architecture its first national identity on the eve of Confederation." (Young, Carolyn A. The Glory of Ottawa - Canada's First Parliament Buildings, 1995, p.6)
Tied to the power of the site, to its wildness, and to its intimated relationship with the river systems, which were still then thought of as the highways of Canada, these magnificent buildings heralded the promising potential of this emerging country and the political institutions they housed. The Dominion of Canada held its first parliament here in 1867, and the Precinct remains the place where the country is shaped and defined in the context of a modern changing world.
A defining characteristic of Parliament Hill is the transition from natural forested escarpment coming up from the river to the formal landscaped ground of terraces, driveways and a large central lawn. The great Parliamentary Lawn is bordered on three sides by the historic parliament buildings - now referred to as Centre Block, West Block and East Block. This is the premier gathering place - official and unofficial - for Canadians and Indigenous peoples: a place to express views and exercise democratic rights, to protest and to call for changes, but also a place to engage collectively in times of national mourning and celebration. The openness, accessibility, and security of this national public space, and the democratic values it represents, are treasured and celebrated by all Canadians.
The capital is home to dozens of prominent sites and buildings. The numerous parliamentary, cultural, and diplomatic buildings reflect the history of the country and speak to its evolving role on the world stage. However, few sites carry the significance of Block 2, a full city block directly opposite Canada's Parliamentary Lawn, framing this important national public space.
The redevelopment of Block 2 is a component of the Long Term Vision and Plan (LTVP), the underlying strategic plan that guides and orients the custodianship and development of land, properties and assets within the Parliamentary Precinct.
The long-term planning and rehabilitation of the Parliamentary Precinct has been a longstanding concern of the Government dating back to 1912. The Long Term Vision and Plan is the current comprehensive multi-decade strategy to renew the Parliamentary Precinct.
At the core of the LTVP is a cascade of projects, starting as early as 2002 with the rehabilitation of the Library of Parliament. This was followed by the creation of a set of interim facilities for the relocation of the two Houses of Parliament, thus allowing the emptying the Centre Block, the centre piece of the strategy and plan up to 2018. The LTVP is continually being updated, and with Centre Block now under a complete rehabilitation, focus can now be turned to the next phase of the Plan: this includes in particular Block 2.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is pleased to launch a two-stage design competition for the Parliamentary Precinct Redevelopment of Block 2. This development is a keystone in the broader renewal of the Parliamentary Precinct, providing critical accommodations that will position Parliament to serve the country for another 150 years. As the fourth side to the great lawn, the Block 2 redevelopment is an architectural initiative of enormous importance, visually and symbolically. It represents an historic and imaginative opportunity to take Canadians' sense of the country and its democracy to a broader and more inclusive level.
An architectural competition is necessary to ensure that the design of this project reflects the elegant creativity that such a rare and nationally-significant location demands. It is also an immensely complex site that will require exceptional creative and technical finesse to integrate the disparate components into a complete, modern, and efficient design concept suitable for Parliamentarians and its place in the community. This extraordinary combination of opportunities and challenges - in terms of architecture, symbolism, integration and functionality - requires accomplished design teams to understand the history of this block, and its role in the broader context. At its core, this project is an opportunity to craft a contemporary interpretation of the continued promise of the country for all Canadians and Indigenous peoples.
(From competition brief)
The jury was composed of persons nominated by the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC). It acted as an independent body to PSPC and was supported by technical experts. The jury reflected a diverse background, representing areas of interest applicable to this competition including: parliamentarians, Canadian civil society, and design professionals. At the end of the design competition, the jury made its collective recommendation to PSPC regarding the selection assessment for the competition.
The jury meetings took place twice; once at the end of Stage 1 and again at the end of Stage 2. During the meetings, the jury evaluated the design concepts submitted abased on the vision and response to the design competition guiding principles:
• Respect the dignity of Parliament
• Continue the story
• Express a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples
• Demonstrate design excellence
• Strengthen urban patterns
• Showcase sustainability
Based on their evaluation, the jury chose the proposals that will be shortlisted in Stage 1 and the winners in Stage 2 of the competition. At the end of each meeting, the jury provided written comments on each proposal, summarizing key points and recommendations for further development.
(From jury report)
| Jury S1 | Izabel Amaral, Architecte, universitaire |
| | Anne Bordeleau, Architecte, universitaire |
| | Geneviève Cadieux, Visualiste |
| | Christina Cameron, Professeur(e) émérite |
| | Brian Cody, Ingénieur, universitaire |
| | Carmela Cucuzzella, Professeure agrégée |
| | Robert Eastwood, Architecte (retraité) |
| | David Fortin, Architecte |
| | Peter Herrndorf, Responsable des médias |
| | Plita Irniq, Ancien commissaire au Nunavut et historien |
| | Matthew Kreilich, Architecte |
| | Elsa Lam, Journaliste en architecture, historienne |
| | Pierre Leclerc, Architecte, artiste |
| | Dorte Mandrup, Architecte et professeure |
| | Brian McDougall, Directeur des travaux publics, Première Nation Anishinabeg de Kitigan Zibi |
| | Steven McKinnon, Député, secrétaire parlementaire du ministre des Services publics et de l’Approvisionnement Canada |
| | Kevin O'Brien, Architecte |
| | Donald Neil Plett, Chef de l’opposition, sénateur, président du Sous-comité sénatorial sur la vision et le plan à long terme |
| | Lisa Prosper, Érudite, auteure |
| | Sabrina Richard, Consultante en arts et cultures |
| | Bruce Stanton, Député, vice-président de la Chambre des communes du Canada |
| | Jutta Treviranus, Universitaire |
| | Kirby Whiteduck, Ancien chef des Algonquins de Pikwakanagan, auteur |
| | Richard Young, Architecte (retraité) |
| |
|
| Jury president S2 |
Bruce Haden and Anne McIllroy,
|
| Jury S2 | Izabel Amaral, Architecte, universitaire |
| | Robert Black, Sénateur, président du Groupe des sénateurs canadiens |
| | Anne Bordeleau, Architecte, universitaire |
| | Geneviève Cadieux, Visualiste |
| | Christina Cameron, Professeur(e) émérite |
| | Brian Cody, Ingénieur, universitaire |
| | Carmela Cucuzzella, Professeure agrégée |
| | Robert Eastwood, Architecte (retraité) |
| | David Fortin, Architecte |
| | Peter Herrndorf, Responsable des médias |
| | Anthony Housefather, Député, secrétaire parlementaire de la ministre des Services publics et de l’Approvisionnement |
| | Plita Irniq, Ancien commissaire au Nunavut et historien |
| | Matthew Kreilich, Architecte |
| | Elsa Lam, Journaliste en architecture, historienne |
| | Dorte Mandrup, Architecte et professeure |
| | Brian McDougall, Directeur des travaux publics, Première Nation Anishinabeg de Kitigan Zibi |
| | Anne McIllroy, Architecte et urbaniste |
| | Kevin O'Brien, Architecte |
| | Lisa Prosper, Érudite, auteure |
| | Sabrina Richard, Consultante en arts et cultures |
| | Bruce Stanton, Député, vice-président de la Chambre des communes du Canada |
| | Jutta Treviranus, Universitaire |
| | Kirby Whiteduck, Ancien chef des Algonquins de Pikwakanagan, auteur |
| | Richard Young, Architecte (retraité) |
| |
|
| |
|
| Technical Commitee | Sophie Acheson |
| | Naresh Arora |
| | David Atkinson |
| | Steve Barbosa |
| | Sonia Bebbington |
| | Doug Brown |
| | Shelley Bruce |
| | Jim Carr |
| | Donna Clare |
| | Linda Dicaire |
| | Raul Dominguez |
| | Kathryn Elliot |
| | Jonathan Gilford |
| | Daria Khachi |
| | Ngongang Kristof |
| | Josée Labelle |
| | Nadia Maksymiw |
| | Charles Marshall |
| | Marta McDermott |
| | Liam Meagher |
| | Vijay Mehta |
| | Laura EJ Ouellette |
| | Joanne Pagani |
| | Michael Petrescu Comene |
| | Luc Picknell |
| | Tony Quigley |
| | Jonathan Rubes |
| | Gregg Stallard |
| | Kevin Sullivan |
| | Sandrine Thibault |
| | Bob Topping |
| | Justin Tsang |
| | Katherine Tylor |
| | Sophia Wong |
Public announcement of the competition: January 20, 2020
Phase 1: Request for Qualifications
Request for Qualifications period: December 23, 2020 to March 2, 2021
Selection of candidate teams: April 29, 2021
Phase 2: Architectural Design Competition
Phase 2 will be conducted in 2 stages
- Stage 1: May 19, 2021 to August 18, 2021
Jury Meeting Stage 1: September 23 and 24, 2021
- Stage 2: October 18, 2021 to end of March
Public presentation of proposals: April 11, 2022
Jury meeting Stage 2: April 20-22, 2022
Unveiling of the winner: May 16, 2022
Public exhibition: June 4-12, 2022
(From competition program)
Lam, Elsa, Block 2 Winner Announced, Canadian Architect, 2022
Crawford, Blaie, Block 2 design winner completes 'Parliament Square' with a nod to heritage, Ottawa Citizen, 2022
News ·, C. B. C., Winning 'Block 2' design features public square, preserves heritage buildings | CBC News, CBC, 2022
News ·, Sarah Kester · CBC, Jury reviewing short list of designs for Block 2 of parliamentary precinct | CBC News, CBC, 2022
Gallagher, Kevin
Correspondent, CTV National News Parliament Hill
Contact, Follow |, Expert jury set to pick new design to revamp parliamentary precinct, CTVNews, 2022
Parliamentary Precinct Redevelopment Ottawa – Block 2 - Architectural design competition in two stages
Magazine, Canadian Architect, Block 2 competition finalists announced, Kollectif, 2021
Bozikovic, Alex, Ottawa’s Block 2 offers six striking design options for Parliament Hill’s new neighbours, The Globe and Mail, 2022
Hickman, Matt, Grimshaw, Partisans, Foster + Partners and more in the running for a major mixed-use project opposite Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, The Architect’s Newspaper, 2021
- Programme
- Règlement
- Rapport du jury (global)
