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As part of a research partnership funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and numerous partners, the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competition and Quality at the Université de Montréal, under the direction of Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin, brought together 14 universities and more than 60 academics. Together, they convinced the Rick Hansen Foundation, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and more than 60 citizen groups, professional organizations, and municipal services to form 15 collaborative research teams, including a team of young Indigenous leaders.

In May 2025, these cross-sector groups presented an initial status report on their roadmaps toward more equitable, sustainable, and socially valuable quality at the annual convention at the University of Toronto and then, in June, at Place Bonaventure during the RAIC’s annual conference.

In Room 2081 of the Faculty of Environmental Design, from August 29 to September 19, 2025, this exhibition of work in progress provides an overview of research undertaken since 2022 and which will continue until 2027. This is an ongoing national project and not a finished product. Videos made by students accompany the panels, which summarize the major issues of quality, the steps taken, and the actions proposed.

A roadmap outlines key elements such as the initial problem, overall objectives, resources, process steps, and proposed short-, medium-, and long-term actions. There are many gray areas in our current definitions of quality: accessible quality, adaptive reuse, participatory processes, resilient parks, inclusive schools, integrated biodiversity, etc. Following a bottom-up process, these stakeholder teams conduct analyses and consultations in specific contexts, addressing issues that challenge current definitions of quality in architecture, landscape, design, and urban planning. The research highlights the importance of collecting lived experiences to break down silos while updating expertise.

The exhibition vernissage, held on September 10, 2025, also marked the launch of ArchiQualiData.ca, the resource platform on quality, experience, and awards of excellence in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban design in Canada.

 Conference by Florian Hertweck, Université du Luxembourg

Date: Tuesday, September 16th at 5:30 pm.

Location: Amphitheatre 1120, Faculté de l’aménagement, Université de Montréal

Lecture series of the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle

 

URBANIZE, DEMOLISH, REPAIR

Architecture in the Age of Ecological Reproducibility

 

Summary:

In the face of climate change and resource scarcity, two practices that have been commonplace in spatial development until now seem obsolete: the expansion of urban areas and the demolition of existing buildings in order to build denser and more modern structures.

Does this spell the end of architecture?

This conference explores how it is still possible to produce architecture under these conditions and on what theoretical basis a socio-ecological architecture can be founded.

 

Florian Hertweck is a professor of architecture at the University of Luxembourg and co-founder of Less Yellow architecture urbanisme. He has led consortiums of architects, urban planners, and researchers for the Luxembourg in Transition and Greater Geneva Consultation foresight programs. He is a member of the Luxembourg Higher Council for Spatial Planning and the scientific committee of the German Institute for Energy Transition Research (IKEM). Among other projects, he designed the Luxembourg pavilion for the 16th Architecture Biennale and the exhibition The Great Repair at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris. He is also an organizing member of the European initiative HouseEurope! against demolition and for renovation. Hertweck is the author of numerous publications on the socio-ecological production of space, the most recent of which are The Great Repair. Politics of the Repair Society (Spector Books 2023) and Architecture on Common Ground. Positions and Models on the Question of Land (Lars Müller Publishers 2020).

Traveling exhibition showcasing the work in progress on roadmaps developed by 15 cross-sector teams from coast to coast

As part of a research partnership funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and numerous partners, the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competition and Quality at the Université de Montréal, under the direction of Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin, brought together 14 universities and more than 60 academics. Together, they convinced the Rick Hansen Foundation, Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and more than 60 citizen groups, professional organizations, and municipal services to form 15 collaborative research teams, including a team of young Indigenous leaders.

In May 2025, these cross-sector groups presented an initial status report on their roadmaps toward more equitable, sustainable, and socially valuable quality at the annual convention at the University of Toronto and then, in June, at Place Bonaventure during the RAIC’s annual conference.

In Room 2081 of the Faculty of Environmental Design, from August 29 to September 19, 2025, this exhibition of work in progress provides an overview of research undertaken since 2022 and which will continue until 2027. This is an ongoing national project and not a finished product. Videos made by students accompany the panels, which summarize the major issues of quality, the steps taken, and the actions proposed.

A roadmap outlines key elements such as the initial problem, overall objectives, resources, process steps, and proposed short-, medium-, and long-term actions. There are many gray areas in our current definitions of quality: accessible quality, adaptive reuse, participatory processes, resilient parks, inclusive schools, integrated biodiversity, etc. Following a bottom-up process, these stakeholder teams conduct analyses and consultations in specific contexts, addressing issues that challenge current definitions of quality in architecture, landscape, design, and urban planning. The research highlights the importance of collecting lived experiences to break down silos while updating expertise.Don’t miss the launch of the ArchiQualiData.ca platform on September 10 at 5:15 p.m.

On Wednesday, September 10, at 5:15 p.m. in rooms 2081 and 2083 of the Faculty of Environmental Design, the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competition, and Quality, led by Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin at the University of Montreal, will present the large open-access digital platform: ArchiQualiData.

ArchiQualiData is being launched as part of the traveling exhibition “Quality Issues in Canada’s Built Environment,” on display from August 29 to September 19.

ArchiQualiData is the resource platform for quality, lived experience, and awards of excellence in architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban design in Canada.

This major national collaboration has received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Quebec Ministry of Education, the University of Montreal, the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

ArchiQualiData is hosted on the secure servers of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.

• Using filters, ArchiQualiData reveals more than 4,000 award-winning projects with links to design and architecture firms and agencies, as well as a map-based tracking system.
• You can also discover an initial collection of more than 160 “positive experiences of quality” that provide a better understanding of what users and citizens feel and appreciate in public places (some award-winning, some lesser known, but always worth discovering), whether they are buildings or public spaces.
• Finally, month after month, visitors will discover all the case studies, analyses, action plans, conferences, courses, and round tables, as well as, perhaps most importantly, roadmaps toward a more equitable, inclusive, and socially valuable quality. The ArchiQualiData platform is powered by researchers, students, and professional and social partners brought together in the Canada-wide SSHRC Partnership on Quality under the scientific direction of Professor Chupin.

Enjoy your discovery and, above all, learn to share your own experience of quality so that disciplines, professions, and decision-makers can think about and produce the built environment beyond silos and habits, in increasingly inclusive and sustainable ways.

Letʼs build a map of Canadaʼs public buildings and places that incorporates your own experience of quality!

Why does your experience matter to improve quality?

Our buildings, parcs and cities are still designed and based on visions that poorly consider the diverse experiences of the public. By informing decision-makers,students and designers, your voice can help make public buildings and places more inclusive, more valuable and more sustainable.

3 ways to contribute:

📷 Take a picture showing what you like in a public building or public space, along with a short description (300 words).

🎤 Record a voice message on your phone while experiencing the place you like and take a picture.

🎥 Take a short video and record your voice describing the place you like and take a picture.

Carly Ziter holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Urban Ecology and Sustainability (2021-2026)

New article published in Le Devoir by Yolene Handabaka Ames, student of the individualized doctorate in architecture at the École d’architecture de la Faculté de l’aménagement: What’s behind the demolition of Chocolats favoris’ building in Vieux-Lévis?

“The case of the imminent demolition of Chocolats favoris has been making headlines since October 2023, when a public notice of demolition request from the City of Lévis was posted on the building’s façade.

The saga, which lasted almost two years, revealed recurring conservation issues surrounding Quebec’s built heritage. So much so that the Lévis residence has become an emblematic case of what lies behind most heritage building demolition projects: the social value of a “living” heritage.

In autumn 2022, the house that had housed Chocolats favoris since 1996 was closed due to water infiltration and deteriorating masonry. After professional appraisals, letters signed by heritage advocates, requests for review and the active participation of Lévis residents at public hearings, demolition was approved on December 16. A request for a one-year moratorium did not change the building’s fate either. On June 19, at a regular meeting of the municipal council, elected officials voted against accepting the request. The house of Chocolats favoris will soon fall under the demolition pick… ”

Read more on Le Devoir’s website.

Photo by René Bélanger (Flickr).

The Atlas of Research on Exemplarity in Architecture and the Built Environment (AREA-BE) is an open construction site!

 

AREA-BE is an initiative of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations for Excellence (CRC-ACME), held by Jean-Pierre Chupin, Ph.D. , architect MOAQ, MIRAC, DPLG, DipArch (2), Professor at Université de Montréal. This initiative is actively supported by a network of Canadian and international scholars.

The current website of the AREA (www.architecture-excellence.org) has been officially launched in November 2019 for information purposes.

The AREA website foreshadows an important documentation and research platform to be launched in 2021 / 2022

This long-term initiative is supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the Canada Research Chairs Program.

In the coming years, the establishment of an AREA partnership of researchers based in Canadian schools of architecture and research universities will ensure the reliability, regular updating and sustainability of this scientific platform regrouping resources, knowledge transfers and analyzes on best examples of architectural design, landscape design and urban design in Canada.

Thanks to the contribution of institutions delivering awards and to professional teams giving access to data on projects and buildings, researchers and students will be able to contribute to a better understanding of the current evolution of quality in the built environment. The data, information, analyzes, comparisons, visualizations that will be progressively delivered – in open access – on the AREA platform will take advantage of award-winning projects and buildings in Canada, from year to year, in order to identify and better understand best practices.

The AREA collective platform will be meant to provide scientific data in order to support education, policies, actions and mediations aiming at excellence in the built environment.

Jean-Pierre Chupin (Université de Montréal)

The ArchiQualiData database provides analyses and studies of exemplary and award-winning living environments, real-life experiences and case studies.

DISCOVER detailed studies conducted by researchers, providing unique insights into exceptional buildings and places.

ACCESS testimonials from people who have directly interacted with these entities, enriching understanding through authentic stories.

FIND precise information on each exemplary entity, thanks to a simple interface and advanced search system.

 

Toronto 2025 Convention Program : Toward a White Paper on Quality…

DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM IN PDF FORMAT The final program for the 2025 Annual Convention is now available. From April 30 to May 2 in Toronto, the event will bring together experts, researchers, and practitioners to advance a national strategy for quality in Canada’s built environment. We are happy to share with you this program and hope you are as excited as we are for those great speakers, roundtables discussions and site visits that will take place during the convention.

 

Jean-Pierre Chupin, PhD, Professor, Architect MOAQ, MIRAC. Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence at Université de Montréal and Principal Investigator of the SSHRC Research Partnership on Quality in Canada’s Built Environment.

 Conference by Léa-Catherine Szacka , University of Manchester

Date: Tuesday, April 1st at 5:30 pm.

Location: Amphitheatre 1120, Faculté de l’aménagement, Université de Montréal

Lecture series of the Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle

 

Crossed Histories

Phyllis Lambert, Ada Louise Huxtable and Gae Aulenti on architecture and the city

 

Summary:

Born in the 1920s, architects Gae Aulenti and Phyllis Lambert and critic Ada Louise Huxtable were among the most influential figures in post-war architecture and design. Pioneers in a largely male-dominated field at the time, and key players in the transition from modernism to postmodernism, they set out to conquer and shape public space. This talk retraces the history and careers of these three women, who are the focus of the exhibition Crossed Histories, presented until May 2025 at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.

 

Léa-Catherine Szacka:

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Architectural Studies, University of Manchester
Director of the Manchester Architecture Research Group (MARG)
Vice-President, European Architectural History Network (EAHN)
Co-Founder, PASZA – Platform for Architectural Research