For the longest time, Quebec’s schools, like many schools in Canada, were associated with humdrum architecture. This was not particularly because of the architects involved (often a stable roster of firms), but because of unimaginative programs, poor budgets, and overemphasis on security issues. Flat roofs were the norm—as were artificially lit corridors, predictable classrooms, and paved yards surrounded with chain-link fencing.
And then, on November 7, 2017, totally out of the blue, an unexpected trio held a press conference. Chef Ricardo Larrivée and triathlete Pierre Lavoie, both darlings of Quebec media, had joined forces with well-known architect Pierre Thibault. They were determined to prove that if you provided children with joyous, dynamic learning spaces, if you encouraged them to be physically active, and if you engaged them in learning to prepare healthy meals, you just might have a tremendous impact on their future—and on the future of our societies. As Ricardo put it, the trio hoped to create conditions that “would make children eager to go to school.”
The threesome had managed to convince Sébastien Proulx, then Education Minister, to invest three million dollars for a two-year period
(a mandate that was later renewed) in the setting up of what they called a Lab-École—a research centre for experimental, progressive schooling—closely connected with Laval University’s School of Architecture. Initial research for the project included visiting dozens of schools located across the province, but also in Denmark, Japan, and Finland, as well as meeting with teachers, school directors, and others to develop ideas and concrete solutions. Then, work started in earnest, exploring ideas through drawings and models, and developing guiding principles for the optimal spatial organization of elementary schools. These guidelines were published in manuals that would serve as a base for the Lab-École’s next steps.
The first real-life testing ground for Lab-École’s research took place in a Quebec City neighbourhood. Stadacona School was initially going to be renovated, but had to be demolished. ABCP architecture and architect Jérôme Lapierre, the latter a close collaborator with Pierre Thibault, were selected to design a replacement building, which incorporated some of the ideas being developed by the Lab-École group.
But the bigger effort was yet to come. Five other elementary school locations were then selected across Quebec, and each of them became the object of a major open architectural competition. As this article goes to press, four of the resulting new and renovated schools are now open; the fifth one, located in Gatineau across the river from Ottawa, is still under construction.
Simultaneous design competitions, all with anonymous entries, were launched in 2019 to choose the professional teams that would eventually design and build the five projects, within the Lab-École’s guidelines. The conditions were far from perfect: no remuneration was offered for Phase 1; the schedule was extremely tight; and the requirements were demanding, the competitors having to produce two perspectives, a site plan, plans of all floors, a significant section, as well as a model. Nevertheless, the Lab-École received a total of 160 entries for the five sites. Quite a few well-established firms were among the participants. This was a surprise, since such firms tend to shy away from anonymous, unpaid competitions. This high level of participation was probably due to the fact that, for decades, most of the province’s schools had been kept in the hands of a very select group of firms. For established firms which had never managed to build a school, entering one of the five competitions was a way to get a foot in the door. And of course, for younger, emerging teams, it was a chance to break through the system.
This is exactly what happened at École des Cerisiers in Maskinongé, a small municipality of 2,250 people. Here, the smallest (2,770 m2) of the five Lab-École schools was awarded to a consortium headed up by two young women—architects Lucie Paquet and Paulette Taillefer. The duo was initially selected among four teams asked to develop their concept during a second phase: at this point they teamed up with Leclerc architectes, an established firm with a long record of school building, to eventually win the project.
École du Zénith (4,350 m2) and École de l’Étincelle (3,577 m2) went respectively to Pelletier de Fontenay (again with Leclerc architectes) and to a consortium of two up-and-coming firms, Agence spatiale and Appareil architecture (with BGLA architecture). Finally, École du Boisé-des-Prés, the largest (6,365 m2) of the school projects, was won by a consortium of two well-established firms, Lapointe Magne et associés and L’Oeuf.
The vision proposed by the Lab-École researchers was summed up by architect Pierre Thibault in a Radio-Canada interview aired in August 2020: generous interior spaces, sloped roofs, the widespread use of wood, bleachers for various activities, and community gardens outside.
The projects completed so far are all interesting in their own right, although there is a slightly uneasy similarity between two of them, École du Zénith (four kindergarten and 12 elementary classes) and École de l’Étincelle (three kindergarten and 12 elementary classes).
In both cases, the solution was to break the school down into small, interconnected pavilions, grouped around a partially enclosed exterior court. Sloping roofs and wood façades create a home-like feeling, highly evocative of Quebec tradition. At École de l’Étincelle—a project that was recently awarded a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture—the school also seems to offer a clear nod to the area’s iconic “Little White House.” Within walking distance of the new school, the small building is a strong symbol of resilience for the community, having survived the destructive floods of the summer 1996.
At École des Cerisiers, the site included an existing school, which had to be integrated into the project. The architects’ response was subtle, as they managed to cleverly navigate between the 1950s structure and the contemporary intervention. The project raised a lot of enthusiasm in the municipality, which invested extra funds for its realization. As at several of the other sites, the school’s ground floor was planned so that the gym and the kitchen area could be made directly accessible to the public outside of regular school hours.
For École du Boisé-des-Prés, the architects delivered a much larger, complex project under an imposing roof structure. The program provided for eight kindergarten classes and 17 elementary classes. The building is characterized by its large aluminum-clad volumes and the strong presence of a community-accessible gym to one side of the public entrance. The sloping site also made it possible to locate the school kitchen so that it can be reached directly from outside, or by using the interior stairs. The school’s pièce-de-résistance is its central agora, with its generous bleachers that project to the exterior. One of the lead designers, architect Katarina Cernacek, acknowledged that the Patkaus’ early school projects had been a source of inspiration.
Studying the whole Lab-École operation, one cannot ignore the serious budget overruns—which, to be fair, were in large part due to Covid-related difficulties such as the increased cost of materials and labour shortages. Looking back at the work accomplished and at the results, Lab-École co-founders prefer to talk about “investment” rather than “expense.” They might be right.
Curiously, a rather similar school building program had been initiated in British Columbia during the 80s and 90s. Thanks to the efforts of Vancouver-based Marie-Odile Marceau, then regional architect for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, a series of award-winning, well-published schools were built across the province for several First Nations communities. The use of wood, welcoming interiors, natural light, proximity to nature—it was all there! It took decades, but finally, the message has made its way across the continent.
This time, the Lab-École experiment may have a lasting effect in Quebec education. Even though the Province may not launch another school competition for a while, expressions such as “child creativity,” “natural light,” and “collaborative spaces” have now found their way into official Guidelines for primary school design in Quebec. That, in itself, is a huge victory. And the unexpected trio—Ricardo Larrivée, Pierre Lavoie and architect Pierre Thibault—should be thanked for it.
Odile Hénault is a contributing editor to Canadian Architect.
École du Zénith, un Lab-École
LOCATION Shefford, Quebec | CLIENT Centre de services scolaire Val-Des-Cerfs | ARCHITECTS Pelletier de Fontenay + Leclerc Architectes | ARCHITECT TEAM Thomas Gauvin-Brodeur (Leclerc Architectes), Hubert Pelletier (PdF), Etienne Coutu Sarrazin (PdF), Ghislain Gauthier (Leclerc Architectes) | STRUCTURAL Latéral (Thibaut Lefort and Alexandra Andronescu) | MECHANICAL BPA (Marco Freitas) | ELECTRICAL BPA (Jean-Claude Corbeil) | CIVIL Gravitaire | LANDSCAPE Relief Design (Jean-François Bertrand) | INTERIORS Pelletier de Fontenay | CONTRACTOR Binet Construction (Charles-Antoine Busque) | AREA 4,350 m2 | BUDGET $30.5 M | COMPLETION January 2024
École Des Cerisiers, un Lab-École
LOCATION Maskinongé, Québec | CLIENT Centre de services scolaire du Chemin-du-Roy | ARCHITECTS Lucie Paquet – Paulette Taillefer + Leclerc architectes | ARCHITECT TEAM Paulette Taillefer, Lucie Paquet, Thomas Gauvin Brodeur, Elaine Tat, Leslie Bellessa, Ibtissame Zandar, Hugues Patry, Étienne Pelletier, Alexandre Chartré-Bouchard | STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Stantec | LANDSCAPE Mousse Architecture de paysage | INTERIORS Lucie Paquet – Paulette Taillefer | CONTRACTOR Therrien | BUILDING ENVELOPE Envelop3 | AREA 2,770 M2 | BUDGET $16.8 M | COMPLETION November 2023
École du Boisé-des-Prés, un Lab-École
LOCATION Rimouski, Quebec | CLIENT Centre de services scolaire des Phares | ARCHITECTS Lapointe Magne et associés + L’OEUF architectes in consortium | ARCHITECT TEAM Katarina Cernacek, Sudhir Suri, Jennifer Benis, Pascale-Lise Collin, Martin-F. Daigle, Alain Desforges, Aurélia Crémoux, Agata Najgebauer, Océane Purnham, Aline Gabriel-Chouinard, Benjamin Rankin, Ronnie Araya, René Chevalier, Chantal Auger, Caroline Corbex, Daniel Pearl | STRUCTURAL Latéral Conseil | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Gbi Experts-Conseils Inc.| LANDSCAPE Pratte Paysage | CIVIL Vinci Consultants | INTERIORS Lapointe Magne et associés + L’OEUF architectes | CONTRACTOR Construction Technipro BSL | ARCHITECT COLLABORATOR FOR SITE SUPERVISION Proulx Savard Architectes | AREA 6,365 m2 | BUDGET $35 M | COMPLETION June 2024
École de l’Étincelle, un Lab-École
LOCATION Saguenay, Quebec | CLIENT centre de services Scolaire des Rives du Saguenay | ARCHITECTS Consortium Agence Spatiale – APPAREIL Architecture – BGLA Architecture | ARCHITECT TEAM Stéphan Gilbert (BGLA), Kim Pariseau (APPAREIL Architecture), Étienne Bernier (Agence Spatiale), Lydia Lavoie (BGLA), Marc-Olivier Champagne-Thomas (APPAREIL Architecture), Johanie Boivin (previously with Agence Spatiale), Jérôme Duval (Agence Spatiale), Pascal Drolet (BGLA) | ENGINEERS LGT (now WSP) | LANDSCAPE Collectif Escargo + Rousseau Lefebvre | ENVIRONMENT/SUSTAINABILITY Martin Roy & Associés | MEP Pro-Sag Mechanique Inc | ARTIST Mathieu Valade | AREA 3,577 m2 | BUDGET $16.75 M | COMPLETION September 2023
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