Beaux Arts Museum in Quebec by OMA Tops Out

OMA’s first Canadian project, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) expansion has reached its highest point. Extending from Quebec’s Parc des Champs-de-Bataille to the Grande-allée, the cascading gallery’s three stacked volumes have taken full form as the museum works towards completion in early 2016.

Overview. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Permanent and temporary galleries form the museum’s lower half, as the Pavilion Charles-Baillairge takes shape on top, cantilevering over a 14-meter-tall grand hall on the street below. Inside, a large elevator and spiraling staircase, complemented by a cantilevering exterior stair, provides a number of potential routes with orchestrated views of the city and nearby park.

“Seeking to reveal rather than overwhelm,” as OMA describes, MNBAQ submits to the adjacent St. Dominique church, allowing it to continue to be the icon of the area.

Shohei Shigematsu partner-in-charge says “Beyond a museum extension, our ambition was to provide an extension to the city and the park. Like the topography of the hills beyond, the gallery boxes and the inhabitable roof form a landslide that extends the museum to the park. The galleries float above the Grand Hall that will serve as an urban plaza for the museum’s public functions.” and Shigematsu add, “Our ambition is to create a dramatic new presence for the city, while maintaining a respectful, even stealthy approach to the museum’s neighbors and the existing museum. The resulting form of cascading gallery boxes enhances the museum experience by creating a clarity in circulation and curation while allowing abundant natural light into the galleries,”

OMA New York won the design competition for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in 2010. The project began construction in September 2013 and is expected to open to the public in early 2016.

CREDITS.-

Architects.- OMA. Architect in Charge.- Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas.
Associate in charge.- Jason Long. Team.- Patrick Hobgood, Ceren Bingol, Luke Willis, Rami Abou-Khalil, Richard Sharam, Tsuyoshi Nakamoto, Sara Ines Ruas, Ted Lin, Markus von Dellingshausen, Andy Westner. With.- Sue Lettieri, Michael Jefferson, Mathieu Lemieux Blanchard, Martin Raub, Demar Jones, Cass Nakashima, Rachel Robinson.
Collaborators.- Local advisor.- Luc Lévesque. Associate architect.- Provencher Roy + associés Architectes (Montreal): Michel Roy, Hélène Gauthier Roy, Claude Bourbeau. Engineers.-Buro Happold Consulting (New York): Mark Malekshahi, Gijs Libourel, Ana Serra, Gabe Guilliams.
Location.- Parc des Champs-de-Bataille. Discovery Pavilion of the Plains of Abraham, 835 Avenue Wilfrid-Laurier, Québec, QC G1R 5H8, Canada
Completed Year.- 2016
Client.- Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

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Gallery Cantilever over Grand Hall. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Gallery Cantilever over Grand Hall. View from Grand-Allée. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Exterior Stair view. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

West Elevation. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

City View from inside. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Atrium Stair: View from below. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Atrium Stair: View from above. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Grand Hall: Main Entry & Connection with existing presbytery. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Park View from inside. Photography © Idra Labrie. Courtesy of MNBAQ.

Winner Project. Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, Canada, Quebec City, 2010 by OMA. © OMA / Luxigon. Image courtesy of OMA.

Winner Project. Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, Canada, Quebec City, 2010 by OMA. Image courtesy of OMA.

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OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond.

OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.

OMA’s completed projects include Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux (2024), LANTERN in Detroit (2024), Mangalem 21 in Tirana (2023), Aviva Studios – Factory International in Manchester (2023), Apollolaan 171 in Amsterdam (2023), Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo (2023), Toranomon Hills Station Tower in Tokyo (2023), Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU.

AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

Office for Metropolitan Architecture OMA, New York

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practicing architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA's buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by ten partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten, Chris van Duijn, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Jason Long and Michael Kokora – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai.

Responsible for OMA’s operations in America, OMA New York was established in 2001 and has since overseen the successful completion of several buildings across the country including Milstein Hall at Cornell University (2011); the Wyly Theater in Dallas (2009); the Seattle Central Library (2004); the IIT Campus Center in Chicago (2003); and Prada’s Epicenter in New York (2001). The office is currently overseeing the construction of three cultural projects, including the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec and the Faena Arts District in Miami Beach – both scheduled for completion in 2016 – as well as a studio expansion for artist Cai Guo Qiang in New York. The New York office has most recently been commissioned to design a number of residential towers in San Francisco, New York, and Miami, as well as two projects in Los Angeles; the Plaza at Santa Monica, a mixed use complex in Los Angeles, and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple.

OMA New York’s ongoing engagements with urban conditions around the world include a new civic center in Bogota, Colombia; a post-Hurricane Sandy, urban water strategy for New Jersey; the 11th Street Bridge Park and RFK Stadium-Armory Campus Masterplan in Washington, DC; and a food hub in West Louisville, Kentucky.