Claude Provencher: recipient of the OAQ Medal of Merit

The OAQ awards of excellence ceremony was held Friday, April 21, in Montréal. In attendance were Lucie Bouthillette, Claude’s spouse, in addition to the principal partners, including Sonia Gagné, Roch Cayouette, Benoit Laforest, and Claude Bourbeau, President of Provencher_Roy.

In 1983, Claude co-founded Provencher_Roy alongside Michel Roy. A firm believer in the architect’s role in adding value and contributing to the longevity of the built environment, he was consistently instrumental in fighting for acknowledgement of the status of the architecture profession in Québec.

Considered among the leaders of the new urban architecture movement of the late 1970s in Canada, Claude Provencher is recognized by his peers as being at once ambitious, contemporary, and respectful of the spirit of a place. His approach was illustrated by the World Trade Centre Montréal (WTCM), recipient of the Architecture Grand prix of the OAQ in 1992 and one of the most significant projects of the 1990s. In addition to the WTCM, Claude collaborated on several projects for HEC Montréal, the revamping of Place des Arts, Îlot Balmoral, and the lg2 creative agency offices (finalist in the OAQ awards of excellence in 2022).

For Claude Bourbeau, “Claude Provencher was an architect through and through, always. He inspired us and pushed us to surpass ourselves to create projects of exceptional architectural quality.”

Perceived by his colleagues as a conveyor of beauty and rouser of conscience, Claude infused his beloved Montréal metropolis with a new way of approaching the built environment. In 2011, he assisted with the creation of the Conseil du patrimoine culturel du Québec.

Cultivating a profound sense of commitment and practicing “engaged architecture” in continual dialogue with his surroundings, he combined rationality and boldness to conceive and develop living spaces that generate beauty, sociocultural richness, and collective well-being. Thanks to his pursuit of excellence and curiosity to push limits and forge new paths, Claude Provencher built the Provencher_Roy firm, which today is recognized for the richness and authenticity of its approach, in addition to its rigour, reliability, and the great quality of its realizations.

It’s therefore with immense gratitude that the OAQ has decided to award this Medal of Merit to Claude, in honour of his 40-year career serving the architectural community and the profession at large.

Read the news from the OAQ for more info : https://www.oaq.com/ordre/a-propos/actualites-et-evenements/lordre-decerne-la-medaille-du-merite-a-titre-posthume-a-larchitecte-claude-provencher/