Architectural firms win with design for downtown Laval

Consortium chosen from four finalists in design contest

Architectural firms win with design for downtown Laval

(TLN) During the most recent public meeting of Laval city council, Mayor Marc Demers announced the winner of a multidisciplinary contest to create a new plan for the design of Laval’s downtown core.

The winning architectural team is a consortium made up of the firms Conscience urbaine, Collectif Escargo and Petrone Architecture.

Laval’s future downtown

“Laval is affirming itself where cultural development is concerned,” Mayor Marc Demers said in a statement. “Thanks to this competition, we can finally see the outline of a future and important quadrant for the city centre. The Montmorency sector will from now on by associated with creativity, innovation and the culture of knowledge.”

The president of the jury, Ayana O’Shun said the jury was impressed by the narrative theme presented by the architects, bringing together citizens around an art and design project with the power to ignite the imagination.

The jury was impressed

“As a Laval resident living in the downtown, I can’t wait to see my city become transformed under the influence of this vision,” she said. At the same time, the jury gave honourable mentions to architectural teams from Sans façon and Architecturama and their partners, Balistique, Amery Calvelli and Claude Gosselin.

In order to allow the public to get to see elements of the winning concept as well the design competition finalists, an outside exhibition is being presented in the Claude-Léveillée outdoor gathering space from Oct. 3 to Nov. 11.

The members of the winning architectural team:

Conscience urbaine
Artistic direction: Fanie St-Michel

Collectif Escargo
Architect landscaping: Karyna St-Pierre 
Designer: Pierre-Yves Diehl
Designer: Julie Parenteau

Pétrone Architecture
Architecte landscaping: Déline Petrone

In all, twelve candidacies were judged admissible to the competition, including four finalists. The City of Laval is awarding a $130,000 contract for the work of rendering the architectural design into plans.