HEC Montréal receives an Excellence in Architecture Award for its renovations to the Decelles building

July 25, 2013

The quality of the renovations recently carried out on the 3^rd and 4^th floors of the Decelles building earned the School an Excellence in Architecture Award as part of the annual competition held by the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). It will receive the Honour Award in the “Renovation” category in late July, at the annual SCUP convention, to be held in San Diego.

The Decelles building was inaugurated in 1970 and has been extensively upgraded over the past decade. The most recent phase involved renovating the 3^rd and 4^th floors, which are largely devoted to teaching. The architectural choices have breathed new life into the building, while respecting its original style.

To add more windows and bring more natural light into the corridors and work areas, five large bay windows on the 3^rd floor and a skylight on the 4^th floor were seamlessly inserted in the building’s concrete envelope.

Inside, the different-sized classrooms enhance visitors’ experience of the space. The architecture of the classrooms themselves helps to create a flexible learning environment – they lend themselves to both traditional lecture-style or interactive teaching, through the use of new technologies or different seating configurations. The 3^rd and 4^th floor renovations were carried out between February 2010 and February 2012 and also included the addition of or upgrades to an amphitheatre, 24 classrooms, an interuniversity debate room, two computer laboratories and 22 study rooms.

According to Loretta Cianci, Director, Campus Development, “This work was primarily intended to create a dynamic learning environment on the cutting edge of management teaching needs. Our watchwords – innovation, movement and openness to the world – are reflected in the three murals produced by the EN MASSE artists’ collective and incorporated in the project. The SCUP award is prestigious recognition. It rewards our efforts to create an avant-garde learning environment and the ingenuity of the architects from Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes responsible for it.”

Remember that in 2012, the Centre for Effective Learning Environments (CELE), part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) and the European Investment Bank (BEI), included the renovations to the Decelles building in their Best Practices in Educational Facilities Investment database. Moreover, HEC Montréal and Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes were among the seven finalists in the Architecture category of the Facteur D contest for their renovations to the 3^rd and 4^th floors of the Decelles building.