Autor: Atelier Paul Laurendeau
Atelier Paul Laurendeau is an award-winning architecture studio established in Montreal in 2011 by Paul Laurendeau formerly practicing as Paul Laurendeau Architect since 1995.
In 2016, the office was awarded a prestigious Governor General’s Medal in Architecture of Canada for the design of the Cogeco Amphitheatre.
Paul Laurendeau works with clients from the arts and public sectors. He participates in national and international architecture competitions, a tradition kept from his professional internships in London (1989-1990) and Paris (1991-1994) while working for star architects like Francis Soler.
His studio is most interested in creative work of all scale with clients that seek a personal approach. In 2003, his project for the conversion of an early modern car showroom to house a design agency was awarded a Prize of Excellence from the Order of Architects of Quebec. In 2005, he designed the scenography for the design of a video event in a decommissioned incinerator that received an OAQ Prize of Excellence. In 2005, he won his first architectural competition to design a 500-seat theatre in Northern Quebec, reinterpreting the 19th century theatre typology in a contemporary language.
In 2011, the Cogeco Amphitheatre in Trois-Rivières, Québec, represents his most important project, a winning competition entry to design a monumental 9,000-seat, 40 M$ cultural summer venue that redefines part of a city. The building was partially inaugurated in 2015 and finalized in 2016 with its landscape and urban design.
Cumulating experience in theatre design, he presented in 2015 a counterproposal for the renovation of a 3,000-seat summer amphitheatre in Montreal that needed to be integrated in a park environment.
Atelier Paul Laurendeau is currently working on a stage/belvedere project for Montreal’s 375th anniversary and on giant rain screens for the Cogeco Amphitheatre as a series of glass and composite membrane panels.
His projects have won numerous prizes and are featured in architecture and design publications.
Paul Laurendeau has given conferences on his work, the latest in November 2016 in Toronto where he presented the design process for the selection of colours for the Amphitheatre.