Yarışmalar-Competitions

City of Quebec holds Ideas Competition for the Montmorency Falls area.

A new ideas competition called "Perspective Littoral" centres on urban design and redevelopment challenges along the riverfront from Montmorency falls to the old St. Lawrence cement plant. Two prizes of $40,000 and $20,000 will be awarded to the top two designs in the professional category and there will be a $10,000 prize for the top student design. The deadline for submissions is June 8, 2004. The winners will be announced at the RAIC Festival of Architectural in Quebec City in June.

Quebec City is currently undergoing major changes. In 2002, Quebec City and the twelve surrounding municipalities merged into a new, larger city of over 500,000 inhabitants. Because of this new urban reality, the municipal government is studying, among other issues, the city's overall development. One of these projects is the redevelopment of the river's riverfront that extends over thirty kilometres from east to west.

This riverfront redevelopment project poses major challenges, especially in the eastern part of the city, and the design process is just beginning. The riverfront underwent major changes over nearly four centuries of urbanization, especially with respect to highway construction over the last 40 years. These thoroughfares altered the shore's natural environment, cutting off the local population's access to the St. Lawrence River and contributing to a weaker residential, industrial and commercial fabric.

Revitalizing the riverfront is therefore of strategic importance for Quebec City: it is without any doubt a major economic and social development tool, especially for adjacent urban cores. It will also be a way of enhancing the high-quality natural features that are not currently being used to their full potential and which will be major elements in this redevelopment process.

By initiating the international competition for new ideas for the development of the Montmorency Falls area, Quebec City wishes to undertake a reflection on the future of the city's eastern riverfront.

The City and its partners hope that proposals received will not only serve to revitalize this under-utilized and isolated area at the foot of the Montmorency Falls but also to provide direction for the overall revitalization of Quebec's eastern riverfront.

The jury includes: Michel Corajoud, Marie-Chantale Croft. Paul Gauthier. Gary Hack. Peter Jacobs. Serge Viau.

For more information, please visit http://www.quebecarchitecture.org