Recently, more than 500 people participated in the first edition of Facteur D at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, whose objective is to help companies and organizations to better understand the economic and social benefits of architecture, design and urban planning: the D Factor (the significant effect design has on projects).
At the end of the event, seven Facteur D Awards were handed out in front of a crowd of 350 spectators at the Facteur D Soirée. The award recognizes the best of the year’s projects, among the 47 finalists presented before an impartial international jury during the day’s event. Deliberations were based not only on design quality, but measuring the economic and social impacts of the projects. Reflecting this, both the designers/ architects/ planners and their clients of the winning projects received a trophy, a production in aluminum by Alto Design.
The winners are:
Architecture Category
The City of Longueuil and Manon Asselin | Jodoin Lamarre Pratte | architects in consortium for:
Bibliothèque Raymond-Lévesque
Landscape Architecture Category
Société de développement commercial (SDC) du Village and Claude Cormier + Associés inc. for: Pink Balls
Graphic Design Category
Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) and Sid Lee for: Mouvement collectif: new branding for STM
Industrial Design Category
Picard Ovens and Alto Design for: Revolution Oven and Modulux
Interior Design Category:
Astral Media and Lemay for: Astral Media offices
Planning/ Urban Design Category
The City of Montréal and Daoust Lestage inc. for: Quartier des spectacles | Secteur Place des Arts
Multidisciplinary Design Category
Bota Bota and Sid Lee Architecture for: Bota Bota floating Spa
“Mission Design has no interest in handing out yet another design prize for the trendiest projects. What we want to emphasize is the successful collaboration between business and design; beyond the quality of the design, we want to reward results and the measurable impacts of a project” explains Alain Dufour, executive director of Mission Design.
The Facteur D Soirée was also an occasion to celebrate excellence in design with the following awards: Alcoa Canada Groupe produits Primaires Award “The Table is Set for Aluminum,” Fondation CLU Awards and Jean-Paul L’Allier Award.
A tribute was also paid to the Honourable Charles Lapointe, CEO of Tourisme Montreal for the role he has played championing the design industry in Quebec.
Alongside the 47 parallel project presentations, three lectures by leading international experts in architecture, design and urbanism were given during Facteur D:
- The D Factor: Design. Gets Business Going: a panel composed of members of the international jury explored what the “D Factor” is for them, and how design is a key factor for development. The panel included: Flemming Borreskov, president of the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) and CEO of Realdania (Denmark); Paddy Harrington, executive creative director, Bruce Mau Design (Canada); and co-founder of Pentagram and president, Mervyn Kurlansky Design (Denmark).
- Bridges: For an Architectural Identity: How can the re-construction of the Champlain Bridge push us to innovate and create an architectural landmark for Montreal? Three international architects specializing in bridge design exchanged on the subject, including: Andy Bow of Foster+Partners (UK); Poul Ove Jensen of Dissing+Weitling (Danemark); Sébastien Ricard of Wilkinson Eyre Architects (UK).
- Cities for People: Jan Gehl, renowned Danish architect and urban planner, presented a conference inspired by his book Cities for People, in which he outlines the importance of the concept of human scale in cities.