Projects / Concours Lab-école - finalists projects
As part of the Lab-École competition, STGM developed three finalist projects illustrating a vision of schools focused on well-being, environmental responsibility, and community integration.
Lab-École competition — Three projects, one shared intention
The Lab-École competition invited architectural teams across Quebec to reimagine learning environments for today’s realities and tomorrow’s challenges. For STGM, this process was an opportunity to explore how schools can support well-being, community and a meaningful connection to the environment.
Three proposals — Gatineau, Rimouski and Maskinongé — were selected as finalists among 160 submissions. While none moved forward to construction, each reflects a thoughtful and grounded vision of what a contemporary educational setting can offer.
Gatineau — The garden school
A school structured around a generous, living garden that brings light, openness and continuity between indoors and outdoors. The garden becomes the heart of the project and a shared identity for the community.
The main entrance opens directly onto this landscaped heart, immediately asserting the role of nature as a defining identity marker of the place. By integrating a living space rich in memory, the school-community strengthens its sense of belonging and becomes part of a strong cultural and environmental continuity.
Rimouski — Between forest and fields
In Rimouski, the project is set between two distinct landscapes: the forest and the agricultural fields. This duality inspires a school that weaves together contemplation and activity, calm and movement.
Facing the forest, the building volumes create more intimate spaces filled with natural light and conducive to focus. On the field side, horizontal openings invite views toward the horizon and play. The architecture welcomes the territory both visually and physically, transforming the building into a place of transition between two complementary worlds.
Maskinongé — A village to raise a child
Inspired by the area’s agricultural heritage, the new Saint-Joseph School proposes a built ensemble that evokes a village: several distinct, juxtaposed volumes offering a diversity of learning spaces.
The heart of the school welcomes the Maskinongé community and becomes a shared place, both educational and extracurricular. Indoors and outdoors alike, the spaces encourage participation, curiosity, and collective life. The school is conceived as an evolving environment, capable of adapting and growing with those who inhabit it.
What STGM takes away from the experience
These three proposals provided an opportunity to explore, with sensitivity and rigor, the relationship between architecture, pedagogy, and place. They reaffirm the importance of designing schools where light, nature, adaptability, and community play a central role.
This participation in the Lab-École competition continues to inform our thinking for future projects: imagining environments where every detail contributes to better living, better learning, and better inhabiting our educational spaces.