The Government of Canada has officially launched an international design competition seeking companies to breathe new life into Ottawa’s Block 2, an approximately 108,000 square foot redevelopment area facing Parliament Hill consisting of two vacant lots and 11 buildings existing ones of different sizes. While some of the buildings in question are heritage listed, all are underused and ripe for revitalization.

With the announcement that a Drawing contest block 2 transformative mixed-use reimagining research officially initiated and approved by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (IRAC), the 12 qualified companies selected by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to participate in the process were also revealed. According to a press release issued by PSPC, the companies that obtained the highest marks among the applications received during a Qualification Request Process (RFQ), were officially invited to submit initial design concepts as part of the first phase of the competition. A multidisciplinarity competition jury, organized in collaboration with the RAIC, will review the submissions and form a shortlist of six design proposals to move to the second stage.

The long list of the contest, shared in full below, is sure to be a blockbuster, and there are plenty of familiar names leading the dozen teams or serving as collaboration partners. Canadian companies are well represented as the 12 teams include at least one national partner, all from Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal. Among them: Partisans, Quadrangle BDP, Diamond Schmitt Architects, Provencher Roy + Associés Architects Inc., and KPMB, the latter two constituting the only single-company teams in the competition. The handful of competing teams led by non-Canadian firms (with Canadian partners) include the New York office of British firm Grimshaw Architects, the Hassell Ltd.., and WilkinsonEyre and Hopkins Architects, both based in London. Foster + Partners, Bjarke Ingels Group, David Chipperfield Architects, Herzog & de Meuron and Renzo Piano Building Workshop are other notable non-Canadian companies featured in the team roster.

“The site facing Parliament Hill is of national significance, and the construction program includes many critical issues for today’s society: urban revitalization, heritage integration, cultural reconciliation, sustainability and the 21st century workplace, ”said Peter Ortved, architect and professional advisor. for the RAIC. “A competition will certainly attract the best answers. “

Bounded by Wellington, Sparks, Metcalfe and O’Connor streets, the redevelopment site sits firmly within Canada’s Parliamentary Precinct and will include a mix of building restoration / modernization projects and new construction that PSPC says will “transform this mix of buildings in an innovative complex that will create a balance between heritage, accessibility, safety and sustainability.

At the heart of Block 2’s $ 356 million redevelopment is the creation of new office space for the Senate and House of Commons while work is underway in other outdated buildings in the Parliamentary Precinct, as well as a design plan that allows “the future consolidation of the premises, including space for the Library of Parliament, into state-owned property,” according to PSPC. The agency acts, among other things, as a purchasing center and property manager for the various agencies and departments of the Canadian government.

As indicated in the press announcement, the preservation of the area’s historic streetscape will be integrated into the extensive redevelopment works, and the Indigenous peoples space, located in the Parliamentary Precinct, “is independent of the design competition” and all construction / renovation work “will honor and respect the importance of this site”.

Through The Architects Journal, the dozen shortlisted teams will each receive just under $ 100,000 while the six shortlisted finalists, to be announced later this year, will receive approximately $ 137,000 to further refine their submissions. The winning team will receive a prize of over US $ 187,000.

• Architecture49 (Ottawa) in joint venture with Foster + Partners (London) in association with DFS Architecture & Design (Montreal)
• BDP Quadrangle (Toronto) in joint venture with Herzog & de Meuron (Basel, Switzerland)
• Diamond Schmitt Architects (Toronto) in joint venture with Bjarke Ingels Group (New York), KWC Architects (Ottawa) and ERA Architects (Toronto)
• Grimshaw Architects (New York) in association with Daoust Lestage Lizotte Stecker (Montreal)
• Hassell (Melbourne) in association with Partisans (Toronto)
• Hopkins Architects (London) in association with CORE Architects (Toronto)
• KPMB Architects (Toronto)
• NEUF Architects (Ottawa) in joint venture with Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Paris)
• Provencher Roy + Associates Architects (Montreal)
• Joint venture Watson MacEwen Teramura Architects (Ottawa) with Behnisch Architekten (Boston)
• WilkinsonEyre (London) in association with IDEA (Ottawa)
• Zeidler Architecture (Toronto) in association with David Chipperfield Architects (London)