401 SAINT PAUL
A joint expertise between Humà and Régis to bring new life to the vacant building at 401 rue St-Paul in Quebec, formerly occupied by the Château Champlain hotel and more recently, by the Lauberivière organization.
CLIENT :
Lacodev
LOCATION :
The City of Québec, CA
YEAR :
2024-estimated summer 2027
AREA:
11,760 m2 on 4 floors
DISCIPLINE :
ARCHITECTURE
PHOTO/3D :
Lorelei L'Affeter
At the western gateway to Old Québec, the site of the former Château Champlain Hotel marks the boundary with the St-Roch district. Near the elevated transitways of Honoré-Mercier Avenue, this part of the city is less well-defined and creates a gap in the pedestrian route connecting the two neighborhoods. Located across from Place Jean Pelletier and the magnificent Gare du Palais, the project becomes a pivotal point for people frequently traveling outside the city. Carried out with respect and in keeping with the site's heritage, the project is based on the creation of a quality living environment.
The architecture of the site is part of a dialogue with history. The sobriety of the expansion's architectural expression highlights the original building through the balance and proportions that punctuate the facades.
TECHNICAL INNOVATION: Energy performance: Nearly 40% reduction in the building's basic energy requirements for heating and domestic hot water through the use of a centralized system and geothermal wells, combined with passive design techniques and a high-performance envelope.
Steel circularity: Parts of the building with little heritage value will be deconstructed, and the steel resulting from this process will be recovered, recertified, and reintegrated into the new construction.
Steel requalification is not currently a known practice; the research and practices implemented will therefore be data that can be used for future projects. The requalification process, unlike other projects, encourages us to deconstruct rather than demolish, thus reducing the project's carbon footprint. In collaboration with Canam, an Environmental Product Declaration will be developed so that this strategy can be reused in future projects.
BCZ Certification: The circularity of steel and the reuse of existing buildings make it possible to target the embodied carbon emission threshold required by the Canada Green Building Council standard. This standard is constantly evolving and is slowly attracting developers and professionals alike thanks to its potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings while lowering operating expenses due to low energy consumption.
