Press Kit | no. 916-20
The New École Secondaire du Bosquet
ABCP | Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux | Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes
A School in a Forest
The quality of architecture is closely linked to the quality of life. Society needs innovative architecture that tells a story and inspires excellence. This statement, a leitmotif of the architect's work, has, since 2020, been explicitly emphasized by the Quebec government in a vision and architectural signature aimed at framing the creation of a new generation of schools.
And so, in the wake of this transformative social momentum, École secondaire du Bosquet, a project by ABCP | Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux | Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes, welcomed its first students in autumn 2024. Located in Drummondville's Saint-Nicéphore district, on the edge of a wooded area that played a key role in the architectural design, the new school provides an inspiring setting to positively support students on their educational path.
The primary architectural intention was to let the woodland take center stage, to let the forest blend into the project: the new school is at one with nature and immerses itself in the essence of the place. To accentuate this privileged relationship with nature, we composed the volumetry so that it recalls the stratification of the land,” explains Jean-Pierre LeTourneux, senior associate architect and lead designer. “The materiality, for its part, combines both transparency and vertical relief, evoking the full-empty play of the wood's edge. The light and energy that nature and the forest can provide are also enhanced by abundant fenestration.”
A footpath, a trail
On entering the site, the visitor is in a forest: Biophilic Square [the signature space for this school connected to nature] and the benches constitute a public gathering space. They open up perspectives and assert the omnipresence of nature at the heart of the project. At the second level, this architectural ramble continues, to include an auditorium and a central walk-about area in front of the vast light-filled library. Each area is interconnected with nature, with the grandeur and majesty of the forest.
The many windows in all the façades and the built-in sunscreen in the bronze-coloured aluminum panels matching the woodland hues subtly evoke the dappled warm light that filters through the treetops. As for the richly planted outdoor spaces seem to reflect the adjacent woodland. From the public square in front of the school to the inner courtyard, passing through a wide stepped opening between the sports complex and the main building, everything is intertwined with, enveloped in nature. Within this environment, school and forest are as one.
Technical sheet
Project Team – Architecture
ABCP | Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux | Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes
Lead Designer: Jean-Pierre LeTourneux
Designers: Thibault Bayard, Matthieu Nicolas Devito et Pierre Guimont
Project Manager: François Moreau
Assistant Project Manager: Pascale Ouellet-Dompierre
Principal-in-Charge: Anik Shooner
In charge of site supervision: Jean-Sébastien Gravel
Director of Sustainable Development: Nadia Bini
Project Team – Others
Client: Centre de services scolaire des Chênes
Mechanical/Electrical Engineers: EXP | LGT
Structure/Civil: CIMA+
Construction manager: EBC
Landscape architecture: Projet Paysage
Photographer: Stéphane Brügger
Name: École secondaire du Bosquet
Location: Drummondville (Saint-Nicéphore sector), Quebec, Canada
Area: 19,319 m2
Program: 43 classrooms, 6 science labs, 8 arts facilities, 400-seat auditorium, 5 sports facilities, including a quadruple gymnasium, and numerous collaborative spaces.
LEED® v4 Silver certification targeted
First school year: August 2024
Inauguration: November 4, 2024
Awards received:
- Distinction Award, Association de l’enveloppe et des revêtements muraux du Québec, 2024
- Platinum Winner - Architecture, Concept & Unbuilt, Grands Prix du Design
About MSDL Architectes
Since 1994, Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes has placed people at the heart of the projects it designs, creating innovative architecture with a focus on sustainable development and the longevity of the built environment. Over the years, the team has worked to create exceptional living environments in the institutional, residential, commercial, cultural, and corporate sectors. On numerous occasions, the firm has received some of the most prestigious architectural awards, highlighting the know-how and talent of its team. The firm has therefore forged a reputation for excellence in architectural design and has a proven track record in delivering complex projects of all sizes. MSDL Architects has completed numerous major projects for renowned Canadian and international institutions and companies, including the Casino de Montréal, Université de Montréal, EY, Ericsson, Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Concordia University, National Bank of Canada, Pfizer, several school service centers and others.
About ABCP architecture
Founded in 1987, ABCP architecture is renowned provincially, nationally and internationally for its original, structuring projects. The firm has completed over 150 school architecture projects of all sizes: primary and secondary schools, CEGEPs and university pavilions, many of which have won awards for their quality, innovative approach or ecological design. A founding member of the Canada Green Building Council, ABCP strives to create buildings and environments that are healthy, integrated into their surroundings and with a reduced environmental footprint. It is also a leader in institutional wood construction, applying this expertise to the design of school and sports facilities in particular. The ABCP architecture team has received more than 125 awards for architectural excellence, including the Governor General's Medal for the Caisse Desjardins de Lévis head office project, and other distinctions for the Centre Vidéotron, Monastère des Augustines, École de la Myriade, Telus Stadium and many others.
About Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes
Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes, named after the founders of our three branches, Jean-François Bilodeau (Trois-Rivières, 1998), Denis Baril (Drummondville, 1983) and James R. Leeming (Lévis, 2007), was established in 1983. Architects and associates Jean-François Bilodeau, James R. Leeming, Nicolas Bilodeau, Mario St-Laurent, Jean-Sébastien Gravel, Émilie Caron and their team are bound by the complementarity and similarity of their experience to offer, through their buildings, environments and living spaces adapted to the human race and the challenges of everyday life. The firm operates in the educational, medical, industrial, corporate, multi-residential, mining, port and heritage sectors in Quebec and throughout Eastern Canada, accompanying its customers with rigor, ingenuity, talent and proactivity, while leading multidisciplinary teams towards the desired result. The design of the projects for which we are commissioned is oriented towards customer satisfaction, high conceptual and technical quality, and a concern for the quality of human environments.
For more information
Media contact
-
MSDL Architectes
- Jacinthe Barabé, Communications Coordinator
- jacinthe.barabe@msdl.ca
-
514 866 7291 (255)
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ABCP | Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux | Bilodeau Baril Leeming Architectes
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