Architectural competition

Founded in Montréal for over sixty years but known as Les architectes fabg since 1988, the Québec firm is reputed for the quality of its achievements, for which it has received nearly 50 awards and mentions in Québec and around the world. Under the direction of Éric Gauthier, winner of the Prix Ernest-Cormier, the most prestigious award bestowed by the Government of Québec in architecture, the firm has overseen technically and environmentally innovative projects such as the headquarters of the Cirque du Soleil, the head office of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (with Lemay), the Théâtre de Quat’Sous, and the Auditorium de Verdun.

The firm has recently received the Grand Prix d’excellence of the Ordre des architectes du Québec and has particulary stood out in the museum sector, by transforming the Musée d’art de Joliette, restoring the Stewart Museum, converting the former US pavilion by Buckminster Fuller at Expo 67 into the Biosphere, an environmental museum, and creating the Montreal Science Centre in warehouses in the Old Port of Montréal.

“Our first objective was to harmonize with Riopelle. Inspired by a revealing expression of the artist who said that he was constantly fleeing, we wanted to create a building that reflects his work in perpetual motion.” – Éric Gauthier, architect and partner from the winning firm

The architecture will lend itself to numerous interpretations through its terracing in keeping with neighbouring buildings that sometimes evokes the artist’s studio with its wooden ceilings and sometimes the northern environment and the Isle-Aux-Grues landscape with its green terraces displaying varied species. Natural light will bathe the proposed circuit, which will culminate in the circular space devoted to Riopelle’s masterpiece L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (1992), where the public will also be able to admire spectacular views on the Plains of Abraham and the majestic Saint Laurence River.

“The notion of territory, indissociable from Québec’s identity and Riopelle’s works, also admirably inspired the winning firm. Both the works in the Québec collection and those recently donated by patrons of the arts will broaden the influence of Jean Paul Riopelle’s monumental work and the new pavilion will make the overall experience of the MNBAQ even more memorable. The future Riopelle Space will become a genuine source of collective pride.” – Christiane Germain, Chair of the Board of Directors of the MNBAQ