Contest to integrate a work of art into the architecture of the future fire hall no. 8 in the Buckingham sector: the winner is Le Pont by Jean-Yves Vigneau

Gatineau is pleased to announce that Le Pont by local artist Jean-Yves Vigneau was selected as the winner of the contest to integrate art into architecture. This piece will become part of the future fire hall no. 8 in the Buckingham sector. The fire hall and Le Pont are to be officially inaugurated in 2011.

This piece will be an aluminium structure depicting a stream between two shorelines, reflective of the Brady Bridge, which spans the Lièvre river and connects residents in the Buckingham sector. The work, measuring 9.7 m in length, will arc up to a height of 2.7 m and will stand over a holding basin planned for the new ecological building. It will be made at Forge ornementale Lapointe, which is located in Quebec City.

The contest was open to artists in the Outaouais administrative region and four other neighbouring regions: Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Laurentides, Laval and Montréal, in an effort to encourage inter-regional diversity in practices and artistic styles.

PHD Architecture was the firm mandated by Gatineau to set up a framework for the contest specifications and process and to facilitate the jury deliberations and technical evaluations.

The jury consisted of the following individuals:

• Régina Czapiewska, multi-disciplinary artist and jury chair
• Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, municipal councillor for the Buckingham district, Ville de Gatineau
• Ann-Lynn St-Cyr, retired architect, specialist in the world of arts, land use and urban development
• Jacques Savard, architect with Savard Architectes, designer of fire hall no. 8
• Édouard La Rocque, directeur adjoint, prévention et soutien, Service de sécurité incendie de Gatineau and user of the fire hall.
• Stefan Psenak, municipal councillor for the Aylmer district and chair of the Commission des arts, de la culture et des lettres, Ville de Gatineau

Gatineau congratulates the winner, and would like to thank the jury members and the other two contenders Michèle Lapointe and Léopol Bourjoi, as well as all of the artists who responded to the call for entries.