Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Image 2 of 46Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Facade, WindowsPierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - FacadePierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Windows, Beam, HandrailPierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - More Images+ 41

Québec, Canada
  • Project: Expansion of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ)
  • Lead Design Architect: OMA
  • Partner In Charge: Shohei Shigematsu
  • Associate Architect: Provencher_Roy Architectes
  • Client: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
  • Team (Oma): Jason Long, Ceren Bingol, Patrick Hobgood, Luke Willis, Rami Abou-Khalil, Richard Sharam, Tsuyoshi Nakamoto, Sandy Yum, Sara Ines Ruas, Ted Lin, Markus von Dellingshausen, Andy Westner, Jackie Woon Bae, Carly Dean with Sue Lettieri, Michael Jefferson, Mathieu Lemieux Blanchard, Martin Raub, Demar Jones, Cass Nakashima, Rachel Robinson
  • Team (Provencher Roy Architectes): Michel Roy, Claude Provencher, Pascal Lessard, Jonathan Audet, Réal Baril, Anik Bastien-Thouin, Mélanie Caron, Véronique De Bellefeuille, Konstantin Demin, Danielle Dewar, Daniel Legault, Layla MacLeod, Sonia Mailloux, Guillaume Martel-Trudel, Céline Coralie Mertenat, Katell Meuric, Fanette Montmartin, Franck Murat, Audrey Piché Mandeville
  • Code: Technorm
  • Acoustics: Legault & Davidson
  • Cost Control: CHP Inc.
  • Façade Design: FRONT
  • Auditorium: Trizart Alliance
  • Local Advisor (Competition): Luc Lévesque
  • Code Consulting: Technorm Inc.
  • City: Québec
  • Country: Canada
More SpecsLess Specs
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Facade, Windows
© Bruce Damonte

Text description provided by the architects. The Pierre Lassonde Pavilion—the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec's fourth building is interconnected yet disparate—is a subtly ambitious, even stealthy, addition to the city. Rather than creating an iconic imposition, it forms new links between the park and the city, and brings coherence to the MNBAQ.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Image 22 of 46
Courtesy of OMA

The intricate and sensitive context of the new building generated the central questions underpinning the design: How to extend Parc des Champs-de-Bataille while inviting the city in? How to respect and preserve Saint Dominique church while creating a persuasive presence on Grande Allée? How to clarify the museum's organization while simultaneously adding to its scale?OMA’s solution was to stack the required new galleries in three volumes of decreasing size to house temporary exhibitions, permanent modern and contemporary collections, and Decorative Arts and design, as well as Inuit artworks, creating a cascade ascending from the park towards the city. The building aims to weave together the city, the park and the museum as an extension of all three simultaneously.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Cityscape, Windows
© Bruce Damonte
Ground Level Plan
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Facade
© Bruce Damonte

While they step down in section, the gallery boxes step out in plan, framing the existing courtyard of the church cloister and orienting the building towards the park. The park spills into the museum (through skylights and carefully curated windows) and the museum into the park (though the extension of exhibitions to the terraces and the outdoor pop-out staircase).

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Windows, Facade
© Bruce Damonte

The stacking creates a 12.6m-high (42 ft) Grand Hall, sheltered under a dramatic 20m (66 ft) large cantilever. The Grand Hall serves as an interface to the Grande Allée, an urban plaza for the museum's public functions, and a series of gateways into the galleries, courtyard and auditorium.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Facade
© Bruce Damonte
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Windows, Countertop
Courtesy of OMA
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Image 2 of 46
© Bruce Damonte

The cantilevered structure is supported by a hybrid steel truss system and accommodates galleries uninterrupted by columns. The layered façade is simultaneously structural, thermal and solar, addressing the seemingly contradictory needs of natural light and thermal insulation for Québec’s harsh winter climate. The triple layered glass façade is composed of a 2D printed frit that pattern mimics the truss structure, a 3D embossed glass, and a layer of diffuser glass. In the galleries, insulated walls are located behind the translucent glass system, with a gap between that lights the building at night like a lantern in the park. The Grand Hall is enclosed by a glass curtain wall with glass fins that allow virtually unobstructed and inviting views to the Charles Baillairgé pavilion through a glass wall and ceiling. The contrast between the translucent gallery boxes and clear grand hall reinforces the reading of the building’s stacking and cantilevering massing.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Steel
Courtesy of OMA

Complementing the quiet reflection of the gallery spaces, a chain of programs along the museum’s edge—foyers, lounges, shops, bridges, gardens—offer a hybrid of activities, art and public promenades. Along the way, orchestrated views from a monumental spiral stair and an exterior pop out stair reconnect the visitor with the park, the city, and the rest of the museum. Within the boxes, mezzanines and overlooks link the temporary and permanent exhibition spaces. On top of each of the gallery boxes, roof terraces provide space for outdoor displays and activities.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Windows, Facade
© Bruce Damonte

New exhibition spaces are connected to the museum's existing buildings by a 130m (427 ft) long passageway, creating a permanent home for the museum’s 40m (132 ft) "Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg" by Jean-Paul Riopelle. Through its sheer length and changes in elevation, the passage creates a surprising mixture of gallery spaces that lead the visitor, as if by chance, to the rest of the museum complex.

Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA - Windows
Courtesy of OMA

OMA wins competition for the Beaux Arts Museum in Quebec expansion

Project gallery

See allShow less
About this office
Cite: "Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec / OMA" 23 Jun 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/790116/pierre-lassonde-pavilion-mnbaq-oma-musee-nactioal-des-beaux-arts-quebec> ISSN 0719-8884

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.