Québec City, Québec, Canada

“Provencher_Roy opted for a sensitive and completely integrated intervention, by sliding the entire pavilion beneath the existing landscape and using the monumental staircase to establish a new entrance, to the pavilion itself and to the Parliament’s spaces,”  states Claude Provencher, co-founder of Provencher_Roy.

Inaugurated in May 2019, Québec’s National Assembly Reception Pavilion, designed by Provencher_Roy and GLCRM Inc. Architectes, constitutes a forward-facing political project aimed at transforming the ties between citizens and their representatives while showcasing Québec’s political heritage.

Reception Pavilion of Québec’s National Assembly has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

According to the architects, the creation of the pavilion required special reflection because of the Parliament Building’s exceptional architecture which had remained unchanged for more than a century.

Its façade, one of the rare façades in the world to depict an iconographic narrative, highly inspired the project’s guiding principles.

Inserted on either side of the site’s central axis, the pavilion is built completely underground, thus drawing the public to the façade, which becomes the starting point for a new experience of democracy.

Only the deployment of glazing underneath the monumental staircase, on either side of an oculus, signals the intervention.

The wood wall that encloses this scenographic trail continues the historical narrative inscribed on the Parliament Building, with modern milestones depicted by a series of engraved images that evoke notions of community and citizenship.

These images are revealed by the illumination of perforated panels that also play a technical role, enabling air circulation and ventilation.

The ramp is the centerpiece—a metaphor for free, direct access to Québec’s contemporary political system. Its gentle slope is usable by everyone, regardless of mobility level. 

At its center, the circular agora, open to all, evokes notions of neutrality, unity, and equality; its insertion at the base of the Parliament Building is a metaphor for these values as the very foundation of democracy.

Open on all sides, the agora fosters encounter and dialogue, with several levels of engagement according to one’s position within the space.

A giant oculus overhead provides illumination, framing the historical building while representing a window to the future.

Along the ramp, one finds spaces for reception, security, and check-in, cloakrooms, multifunctional rooms, and commission rooms.

Learning spaces allow visitors to discover not only the evolution of democracy but also it is functioning in real-time, through observation windows that offer an immersion into parliamentary debates.

The lighting imparts to the trail a museum-like quality, while the color scheme, shifting from white to blue to red, a reference to the National Assembly’s Salon bleu and Salon rouge, serves to orient the visitor.

A tunnel housing Jonathan Villeneuve’s work Le Spectre des Lumières links the pavilion with the existing structures of the Parliament Building.

Aside from integration into the landscape, underground construction is a simple, cost-effective solution for implementing the security measures and other program elements the building’s institutional status demands.

The absence of facade development generates significant energy efficiency, as evidenced by the building’s LEED Silver certification.

It also enables substantial savings in construction costs, due to the absence of siding materials, and maintenance costs.

Finally, underground construction ensures the longevity of the structures, as they are not subject to harsh weather conditions and other external factors.

Nevertheless, the project’s initial concept constitutes its most sustainable gesture, namely, the preservation of an exceptional heritage site through its integration into the dynamics of contemporary life.

Project: Reception Pavilion of Québec’s National Assembly
Architects: Provencher_Roy
Associate Architects: GLCRM Architectes Inc.
General Contractor: Pomerleau, Inc.
Client: Quebec’s National Assembly
Photographers: Olivier Blouin and Stéphane Groleau