Honouring excellence at UQAM's École de design
Yesterday, at UQAM's École de design, we had the honour of presenting two distinctions to graduating students of the bachelor's program in environmental design: the Design and Construction Excellence Scholarship to Joachim Audy, and the Design Excellence Award to the project "Dévoiement" by Nicolas Martin, Océanne Renaud and Diego Santos.
Created in 2024 to recognize and celebrate education in environmental design, the Design and Construction Excellence Scholarship (Bourse d'excellence Design et construction) is awarded to the student who has most distinguished themselves in the "Design and Construction" course. This course was not chosen at random: a thorough knowledge of materials and a fine understanding of their fabrication and assembly processes lie at the foundation of any rigorous architectural design practice. By supporting this teaching, we wish to highlight the importance of technical knowledge and exploration as drivers of critical thinking and inventive constructive strategies. It is precisely where formal intent, structure, envelope and detail meet that the richness of an architectural project reveals itself, in our view.
Also established in 2024, our Design Excellence Award (Prix d'excellence en conception) celebrates a graduating project distinguished by the intelligence and originality of its concept, the rigour of its presentation, its commitment to sustainable development and, above all, the scope of its impact on the community. Our jury commended the sensitivity with which "Dévoiement" engages with its built context, as well as the thoughtfulness of its architectural gesture. By transforming the monumentality of the infrastructure into a human-scale experience — notably through a treatment of concrete handled as an expressive, almost pliable material — the project demonstrates genuine inventiveness in its exploration of architectural language. This ability to combine conceptual exploration, sensitivity to context and generosity toward the community is, in our view, what gives the project its value.
Congratulations to Joachim, Nicolas, Océanne and Diego, and our thanks to UQAM's École de design and its faculty for the quality of the education they offer to the next generation.