An Interview With First Winner Of Tiny Library 2023 Architecture Competition - Bourgeois Lechasseur Architects

BLA- Bourgeois Lechasseur Architects was founded in 2011. Since then, our approach has been to seek out contemporary architecture that is both realistic and sensitive, drawing inspiration from key elements in the landscape. Subtle work on form guides each of our projects. For us, it's important not to reveal everything at first glance, and for architecture to offer several levels of interpretation. The element of surprise is fundamental to understanding a project. We work to optimize viewpoints, let in light, and protect against prevailing winds, while creating a succession of atmospheres.

BLA- We have completed several private residential projects in Eastern Canada. Few have been published internationally, including Residence des Forges and Cabine A. Our firm distinguished itself in 2011 by being named among the 20 of the world’s best emerging architects by Wallpaper magazine. In 2018 we won the competition for the Est-Nord-Est artist studios, a project completed the following year.

BLA- Taking part in an architectural ideas competition is an opportunity to explore and innovate in our relationship with the world and with space. It's an opportunity to take a committed, moving, and coherent theoretical and conceptual approach to a subject or situation at the source of the project. It also allows you to step out of your comfort zone and tackle unconventional design issues. Both the architectural product and its process become challenges that can be managed de facto for originality. 

Beyond the architectural product, participation in an architectural competition is beneficial for sharing ideas. As it sparks exchanges within the design team behind the project, it becomes an incubator for ideas that are sometimes divergent and sometimes convergent on an international scale. These exchanges provide food for thought and serve as inspiration for the agency's future projects.

BLA- Bridging the gap between the world of ideas, imagination and conceptual intentions and the physical, real and quantifiable world. And yet this is where the beauty of quality architecture lies: in anchoring the dream and its weightlessness to a site and its context. In other words, an essential challenge is the ability to link the conceptual impetus behind the project with a sensible construction that could eventually be feasible for the community of the chosen site.

BLA- While understanding and projecting the program in more detail is of the highest importance for accurately measuring and qualifying the space, the thought process began with the imaginary site. It is the spirit of the place - the genius loci - that sets the tone for the design direction. The sensitive connection between the programmatic demands and the site's potential helps to shape the user's experience and produce a coherent conceptual vision.

BLA- Several factors fueled our interest in taking part in this competition. In particular, the potential to innovate and integrate a theoretical approach in line with the objectives of the competition. Secondly, the possibility of creating exceptional spaces for users through tectonics, materials, spatial configuration, and landscapes. Finally, there was the appeal of choosing a site in a remote area with poor access to education and information. This site had a sentimental and poetic value for us. Some members of the team have also taken part in several library competitions in the past. This competition was a great opportunity to continue our reflection.

VZ- Where does your interest in design come from?

BLA- Our interest in design goes back a long way for all the designers at the agency. For each of us, it has been forged through study, travel, and exchange. It began at a very early age with a curiosity to understand the built world around us and its impact on landscapes. It develops over the course of projects as we slowly become aware of the power to create and shape the world that architecture allows us.

BLA- The relationship with people is fundamental to architectural design and the production of exceptional spaces. It is important that the space and its setting (the architecture) capture the emotions and immerse the occupant in a sensitive experience. It is also fundamental to reflect on and implement an architectural translation of the conceptual vision through the manipulation of relevant constructive thinking.

BLA- Threshold architecture was a source of inspiration for the project. The interaction between the built space and the landscape is a source of plenitude and immersion, conducive to reading. This relationship with the landscape allows the project to come alive both from the outside and the inside. In other words, the notion of the threshold has come to shape the way in which space is manipulated. Think of architects like RCR or Peter Zumthor, who stage architecture through a perceptual approach to the site and the imagination that accompanies it.

BLA- The meaning of space and the systemic coherence between dreams (the world of ideas) and reality (the built world). In other words, architecture should be the source of phenomena, experiences, and surprises. That it contributes to nourishing both the experience of the site and that of the library program.

BLA- Projecting into space. The key to the design process is spatial imagination. Being able to close your eyes and make design decisions based on the desired experience. Once this mental journey has been completed, it's just a matter of making it explicit through graphic documents that support the narrative. This narrative is the story we want to tell with the project. While the architecture is the protagonist, the documents, images, and illustrations seek to tell the story.

BLA- The most important tool behind the competition proposal is hand-drawing. In the pre-project phase, it translates ideas into space and geometry. It provides the momentum for iteration, so that the first decisive lines of the project can be drawn. Then, once the ideas have been put down on paper, it's time to represent them using perspectives and vector documents.