Québec Pavilion

The Québec Pavilion was a pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal on Notre Dame Island.

Overview

Modern lines were a notable feature of the Québec Pavilion's architecture. Its exterior walls were made of glass, appearing as large rectangular mirrors during the day and becoming an illuminated display case at night. The structure was accessible by a footbridge.

The pavilion's modern design and exhibits contrasted with the traditional image of Quebec. Focused on urbanization, industrialization, business, and education, the displays positioned the province as forward-looking. Natural resources, forestry and water in particular were also presented as growth industries. In this reflection of Quebec society, the minimalist display methods themselves were an attraction.

Architecture and exhibition design

The Québec Pavilion had a minimal approach to form. The construction, by Montreal architects Papineau Gérin-Lajoie Le Blanc and Luc Durand, was composed of concrete floors and Vierendeel structural steel supported by four steel towers.

The design of the Québec Pavilion's exhibition was done by Swiss designer, Gustave Maeder. The themes were integrated to the pavilion's the modern architecture through cubic modules. The cubes became the receptacles for exhibition items or became themselves the object of the exhibits through sculptural form. The themes explored, ''Man's Challenge'', ''Man's Struggle'', and ''Drive'', defined the beginning of Quebec's people's trajectory towards the future. The 4,200 x 24 inch (60cm) sided steel cubes took on different shapes.

The theme of ''Challenge'' was experienced by the visitors as they were taken up the cylindrical elevators up to the mezzanine floor. From the mezzanine, visitors got an overview of the theme of ''Struggle'' by walking the downward sloping ramp. In clockwise order, the visitor saw representations of Quebec's Conquest of nature; its Water, Forest, Earth, and Underground which would subsequently be transformed by Industry. Once on the ground floor, the visitor found himself in visiting the contemporary lifestyle of Montreal, Canada's metropolis. Finally, visitors would wander through the exhibits and at the center of the pavilion was the theme ''Drive''; a look into the province's potential. The path the visitors walked took on an important meaning, they were led on a promenade that allowed them to experience Quebec's history. Films, photographs and transparencies were also used to visualize Quebec's social, political, cultural and economical ripening.

Recognition

Visiting Montreal in April 1967, Ada Louise Huxtable, The New York Times architecture critic praised the Québec Pavilion calling it the Barcelona Pavilion of Expo 67:

"Quebec is the Barcelona Pavilion of 1967... he Quebec Pavilion/nowiki> combines an exceptionally refined work of contemporary architecture with an exhibition design that is a three-dimensional sensory abstraction of sight and electronic sound that says, suddenly, and stunningly, what a 1967 exhibit should be".

Toronto Star's Robert Fulford called it:

"Cool and restrained and sophisticated…Rarely can there ever have been a large exhibition so pure, so rarified as this one… The severe spirit of Mondrian fills the Quebec Pavilion".

Gallery

Later use

The building and the adjacent French pavilion are now part of the Montreal Casino.

References

Bibliography

*Lownsbrough, John (2012). ''The History of Canada Series: The Best Place To Be: Expo '67 And Its Time'', Penguin Canada,
*Hénault, Odile (2016).
Architects of the Quiet Revolution
', Canadian Architect.

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Quebec Pavilion
1960s in Quebec
Buildings and structures completed in 1967
Buildings and structures in Montreal
Expo 67
Modernist architecture in Canada
World's fair architecture in Montreal