Pierre Lassonde Pavilion / OMA

Architects: OMA
Area: 14,900 m²
Year: 2016
Photography: Bruce Damonte
Lead Architects: Ceren Bingol, Luke Willis
Partner In Charge: Shohei Shigematsu, Jason Long
Associate Architect: Provencher Roy + Associés
MEP: Bouthillette Parizeau / Teknika HBA
Lighting: Buro Happold
Contractor: EBC
Vertical Transport: Exim
Structure: SNC Lavalin
Acoustics: Legault & Davidson
Cost Control: CHP Inc.
Façade Design: FRONT
Façade Engineering: Patenaude Trempe Inc., Albert Eskenazi, CPA structural Glass
Auditorium: Trizart Alliance
Code Consulting: Technorm Inc.
Client: Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec
City: Québec
Country: Canada

The Pierre Lassonde Pavilion at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec, designed by OMA, integrates the park and city, creating coherence for the museum. Completed in 2016, the pavilion’s design includes stacked gallery volumes, a 12.6m-high Grand Hall, and a cantilevered structure supported by a hybrid steel truss system. The layered glass facade addresses natural light and thermal insulation needs. The building features a passageway connecting new and existing exhibition spaces, enhancing the museum’s scale and organization while respecting its context.

The Pierre Lassonde Pavilion—the Musée National des beaux-arts du Québec’s fourth building—interconnects the museum with the city and park. Designed by OMA, the pavilion is subtly ambitious, enhancing coherence for the MNBAQ without imposing an iconic presence.

The design extends Parc des Champs-de-Bataille and invites the city in, respecting and preserving Saint Dominique church while creating a persuasive presence on Grande Allée.

The design questions were how to extend the park, respect the church, and clarify the museum’s organization while adding to its scale. OMA’s solution stacks new galleries in three volumes of decreasing size, housing temporary exhibitions, permanent modern and contemporary collections, Decorative Arts and design, and Inuit artworks. This creates a cascade from the park towards the city, weaving the city, park, and museum together.

The gallery boxes step out in plan, framing the church courtyard and orienting the building towards the park. The park spills into the museum through skylights and windows, while the museum extends into the park with terrace exhibitions and an outdoor staircase. The stacking creates a 12.6m-high Grand Hall under a 20m cantilever. The Grand Hall serves as an interface to Grande Allée, an urban plaza for public functions, and gateways into the galleries, courtyard, and auditorium.

The cantilevered structure, supported by a hybrid steel truss system, allows column-free galleries. The layered facade is structural, thermal, and solar, balancing natural light and insulation for Québec’s harsh winters. The triple-layered glass facade includes a 2D printed frit pattern, 3D embossed glass, and diffuser glass. Insulated walls behind the translucent glass system light the building at night. The Grand Hall’s glass curtain wall with fins provides unobstructed views to the Charles Baillairgé pavilion. The contrast between the translucent gallery boxes and clear Grand Hall highlights the building’s stacking and cantilevering.

A chain of programs along the museum’s edge—foyers, lounges, shops, bridges, gardens—offer activities, art, and promenades. Orchestrated views from a spiral stair and exterior stair reconnect visitors with the park, city, and museum. Within the boxes, mezzanines and overlooks link the temporary and permanent exhibition spaces. Roof terraces on top of the gallery boxes provide space for outdoor displays and activities.

The new exhibition spaces connect to the museum’s existing buildings by a 130m-long passageway, housing Jean-Paul Riopelle’s “Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg.” The passage’s length and elevation changes create a surprising mix of gallery spaces leading visitors to the rest of the museum complex.