In 1958, three young architects ­– Louis-Joseph Papineau, Guy Gérin-Lajoie and Michel Le Blanc – joined forces to establish Papineau, Gérin-Lajoie, Le Blanc, architectes (PGL). The firm would create some of the most technically innovative, visually memorable and symbolically charged buildings in Québec’s modern architectural movement. The public is invited to discover these buildings in the exhibit titled Papineau, Gérin-Lajoie, Le Blanc: Une architecture du Québec moderne, 1958-1974, opening November 12 at the UQAM Centre de Design.

Papineau Gérin-Lajoie Le Blanc
Une architecture du Québec moderne, 1958-1974

Through an examination of nine exemplary projects designed between 1958 and 1974, this exhibition explores the firm’s work that was instrumental in creating their personal architectural language. Well known to architects, but far less so to the general public, PGL, embodied a modern architectural didactic and produced an outstanding body of public facilities, exhibiting typological, formal and constructive innovation.

The exhibition will focus particularly on the work of the firm’s chief designer, Louis-Joseph Papineau. It will examine architectural practice as a research process, with its deviations and successes, and will present the firm’s most significant projects conceived during the Quiet Revolution.

Acknowledgements

This exhibition received financial assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ordre des Architectes du Québec. The research for this project was made possible through the support of the Laboratoire d'étude de l'architecture potentielle [LEAP] of the Université de Montréal, the UQAM Institut du patrimoine, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, and the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

Address and opening hours

UQAM Centre de Design
1440 Sanguinet (corner of Sainte-Catherine East)
Montreal (Berri-UQAM metro)
Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.
free admission

Information

Phone: 514-987-3395
www.centrededesign.uqam.ca
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