Canadian Architect 2008 Awards of Excellence
Marie-Gil Blanchette (M.Arch. 2008) has won one of four Canadian Architect 2008 Student Awards of Excellence. Her project Watercycle seeks to rethink water management specifically within the context of the city of Montreal. It attempts to create a link between the functional water treatment in the city - often invisible to the public eye - and the poetic celebration of water. This prototypical project treats snow, recycles residual grey water, and creates a new type of urban park. The spaces guide the visitor along a journey through which one discovers the process of filtration. Jury members Bing Thom, Siamak Hariri, and Christine Macy were effusive in their praise for Blanchette's project. Hariri wrote, "The beauty of this project is that the architect solves a very real problem." Macy characterized it as "sophisticated, forward-thinking and creative." And Thom commented, "This project speaks of how to adopt another perspective on waste, and how to make something beautiful out of it."