Lab-École, a non-profit organization bringing multidisciplinary expertise to K-12 schools in Québec, has announced the launch of a design competition for five new schools in the province.
Driven by its three founding members—architect Pierre Thibault, professional athlete Pierre Lavoie, and chef Ricardo Larrivée—the organization aims to improve the province’s schools to encourage the health of students. The architectural competition will result in the first new building projects under the Lab-École banner.
“We determined the specifications of the different projects by consulting and working with stakeholders from all the communities selected to receive a Lab-École,” says Thibault. “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 includes five schools located in Gatineau, Shefford, Maskinongé, Saguenay and Rimouski.
As part of their mandate, Lab-École will coordinate the competitions and guide the school boards (who are the owners of the projects) up until the opening of the new schools.
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 procedures 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 (Commission scolaire des Phares), and Saguenay (Commission scolaire des Rives-du-Saguenay).
The panels will review the proposals and select four finalists for each project during stage 2. The finalists 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 under the Lab-École banner will open between September 2021 and September 2022.
Click here for more information.