Reinventing our Rivers: Call for Ideas

Ville de Québec, Canada
The City of Québec
Competition, Landscape Architecture
Ville de Québec, Canada, 2017-06-14 –

The city of Québec is launching an international ideas competition, Rêvons nos rivières/Reinventing our Rivers, soliciting original and distinctive proposals to enhance the city’s four St. Lawrence River tributaries: the Saint-Charles, Montmorency, Cap Rouge and Beauport rivers.

Each of the four rivers has its own distinctive physical features, historical significance, potential and challenges. They also share a rich heritage as tributaries to the mighty St. Lawrence River, on whose banks the city of Québec stands, and which has shaped the city’s identity since its founding in 1608.

The objective for the competition is to generate ideas for projects that can inspire the municipality to rethink the future revitalization of its rivers and shape its new master plan. Through this competition, the city is seeking original ideas that will add depth to the local authorities’ thinking about riverbank development. There are currently no plans to implement the proposals to be considered by the jury; the competition is restricted to ideas, not detailed designs or architecture. The City will consider all proposals received, including those that do not win a prize. The aim is to revitalize and re-energize the four tributaries.

Contest type

The competition is open, multi-disciplinary, international and single-phase. It is aimed at landscape architects, urban designers, urban planners and other environmental design professionals who are able to develop ideas – both ambitious and realistic – for the transformation and conservation of the city of Québec’s rivers, riverbanks and adjacent areas, whether natural or urban. There will be no remuneration and no registration fee. Three prizes valued at $40,000 to $100,000 will be awarded. The competition’s bilingual website is designed to help specialized firms around the world find all the information they need for preparing their submissions: revonsnosrivieres.com.

Eligibility

Each multidisciplinary team must include professionals working in the following three disciplines: landscape architecture, urban design and environmental design. It is, however, possible for a person to represent more than one discipline. Two-person teams are therefore allowed (provided they meet the minimum multidisciplinarity requirement), to the extent that the members collectively have the ability to address the issues specific to the three above-mentioned disciplines.

Registration

In order to enter the competition, online registration is mandatory via revonsnosrivieres.com.

Once registered, each team will receive, within 24 hours, a confirmation including an identification number to ensure the anonymity of their entry. The identification number must appear on each page of materials submitted. If no confirmation is received, the registration was not correctly submitted and the process will have to be repeated. Note that participants must not put their name or that of their firm on their materials; the names of team members are to be entered only on the online registration form. Full details and addenda can be found at revonsnosrivieres.com.

All questions about this competition should be sent to Info.Revonsnosrivieres@ville.quebec.qc.ca. Answers will be published on revonsnosrivieres.com and not sent by email.

Jury

The jury members are:
Jandirk Hoeskstra, Landscape Architect, H+N+S Landscape Architects, Rotterdam, Jury chair
Claude Cormier, Landscape Architect, Claude Cormier + Associés, Montreal
Jérôme Dupras, Ecologist and professor, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Gatineau
Ken Greenberg, Urban Designer and professor, Ryerson University, Toronto
Julie Lemieux, Vice-Chair, Executive Committee, Ville de Québec
Jacques Soignon, Director, Parks and Environment, Nantes, France
Annie Tardivon, Landscape designer, urbanist and lecturer, Agence INUITS, Paris