It was through a curious set of circumstances, a little too long to explain, that we discovered, several weeks after everyone else, that two of our projects, carried out in collaboration with IDEA, our interior design division, had stood out. during the presentation of the Grands Prix du Design last September. Indeed, Reflet Clinique is a Platinum winner in the Education, institution & health / Health office & clinic category. For its part, the PX3 Project, the pan-Canadian training center in Pomerleau, won Gold in the Signage and branding of places category and Silver in the Office, Agile environment category.
The belated discovery that our projects had won these awards gave us pause. Since their inauguration, these two small projects have given us a lot of satisfaction and pride because they have contributed to significantly improving the lives of their users who visit them day after day. And because our first objective when we design projects is to improve people's lives, we were therefore already fully satisfied and very proud of it.
The fact that our work was recognized made us laugh at first, by the fact that we had completely missed the news, but obviously we were very happy and flattered. But before these optional recognitions, these projects were the same they did not change, they were already the joy of the users as well as our pride.
Like the siren song, architectural awards are an alluring but potentially dangerous trap. Recognition by our peers should be neither the goal nor an end. Too many price-covered projects have made their users miserable. Comfort and well-being of the occupants, functionality, positive contribution to the community, technical and aesthetic sustainability, respect for the client's budgets and the environment are just some of the objectives that architects must first and foremost aim for. . Winning a prize should be just a tiny icing on a great and hearty sundae.
