Québec Pavilion

The Québec Pavilion was one of the exhibits at Expo 67, in Montreal on Notre Dame Island.^[1]

The Québec Pavilion in 1967

Overview

Modern lines were a notable feature of the Québec Pavilion's architecture. Its exterior walls were made of glass, appearing as large rectangular mirrors during the day and becoming an illuminated display case at night. The structure was accessible by a footbridge.

The pavilion's modern design and exhibits contrasted with the traditional image of Quebec. Focused on urbanization, industrialization, business, and education, the displays positioned the province as forward-looking.^[2] Natural resources, forestry and water in particular were also presented as growth industries. In this reflection of Quebec society, the minimalist display methods themselves were an attraction.^[3]

Architecture and exhibition design

The Québec Pavilion had a minimal approach to form. The construction, by Montreal architects Papineau Gérin-Lajoie Le Blanc and Luc Durand, was composed of concrete floors and Vierendeel structural steel supported by four steel towers.

The design of the Québec Pavilion's exhibition was done by Swiss designer, Gustave Maeder. The themes were integrated to the pavilion's the modern architecture through cubic modules. The cubes became the receptacles for exhibition items or became themselves the object of the exhibits through sculptural form. The themes explored, Man's Challenge, Man's Struggle, and Drive, defined the beginning of Quebec's people's trajectory towards the future. The 4,200 x 24 inch (60 cm) sided steel cubes took on different shapes.

The theme of Challenge was experienced by the visitors as they were taken up the cylindrical elevators up to the mezzanine floor. From the mezzanine, visitors got an overview of the theme of Struggle by walking the downward sloping ramp. In clockwise order, the visitor saw representations of Quebec's Conquest of nature; its Water, Forest, Earth, and Underground which would subsequently be transformed by Industry. Once on the ground floor, the visitor found himself in visiting the contemporary lifestyle of Montreal, Canada's metropolis. Finally, visitors would wander through the exhibits and at the center of the pavilion was the theme Drive; a look into the province's potential. The path the visitors walked took on an important meaning, they were led on a promenade that allowed them to experience Quebec's history. Films, photographs and transparencies were also used to visualize Quebec's social, political, cultural and economical ripening.^[4]

Recognition

The Quebec Pavilion Exhibition in 1967

Visiting Montreal in April 1967, Ada Louise Huxtable, The New York Times architecture critic praised the Québec Pavilion calling it the Barcelona Pavilion of Expo 67:^[5]

"Quebec is the Barcelona Pavilion of 1967... [The Quebec Pavilion] combines an exceptionally refined work of contemporary architecture with an exhibition design that is a three-dimensional sensory abstraction of sight and electronic sound that says, suddenly, and stunningly, what a 1967 exhibit should be."

Toronto Star's Robert Fulford called it:^[6]

"Cool and restrained and sophisticated…Rarely can there ever have been a large exhibition so pure, so rarified as this one… The severe spirit of Mondrian fills the Quebec Pavilion".

Gallery

Photos from the Quebec Pavilion's exhibition at Expo 67^[7]

• 
  Filled cubes on a grid representing the map of the province of Quebec in the Challenge sector
• 
  Blast in an open sky mine in the Struggle sector
• 
  Turbines representing the pulp industry in the Struggle sector
• 
  Copper rock and machine shopped parts in the Struggle sector
• 
  Quebec flags representing the province's political aspirations in the Drive sector

Later use

The Québec Pavilion in 2023, as part of the Montreal Casino

The building and the adjacent French pavilion are now part of the Montreal Casino.