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AZ Awards 2026 People's Choice in Concepts: Église Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague

When architect Étienne Bernier acquired this abandoned 1961 church in rural Quebec, he wasn’t just saving a building — he was rescuing one of
Jean-Marie Roy’s most inventive works. Built for $90,000 in reinforced concrete and crowned with a thin hyperbolic paraboloid shell, the structure has the formal daring of its era and the fragility to match. Bernier’s firm, Agence Spatiale, proposes its transformation into a hybrid cultural and hospitality space of artist residences, creative retreats, a café and short-term accommodations — including compact rooms inserted along the perimeter that echo the former confessionals — while the soaring central volume remains open and adaptable. New additions preserve the spatial integrity of Roy’s building and return it to the village that once gathered beneath its roof.

AZ Awards 2026 People's Choice in Concepts: Église Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague
Award of Merit: Concepts
Église Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague
Agence Spatiale proposes the transformation of an abandoned church into a hybrid cultural and hospitality space of artist residences, creative retreats, a café and short-term accommodations.

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2026
Award of MeritConcepts
Location
Winnipeg, Canada
Firm
5468796 Architecture, Winnipeg, Canada
2017
Award of MeritUnbuilt Projects
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Ahmedabad, India
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Sanjay Puri Architects, India
2015
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Firm
CORE
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Liepāja, Latvia