Montréal, le 10 mars 2010 – La Ville de Montréal annonce la tenue d’un concours d’idées sur l’aménagement des postes d’attente de taxis. Les concepteurs de toutes disciplines sont invités à proposer des solutions novatrices pour enrichir l’expérience de cet espace public partagé par le client et le chauffeur de taxi.

Le poste d’attente actuel présente de nombreuses lacunes, tant pour le chauffeur de taxi que pour le client. Le manque de visibilité et d’identité propre à ces lieux fait en sorte que la notion même de ces postes d’attente est abstraite aux yeux des citoyens et qu’ils restent à définir, voire à créer. L’objectif général du concours est de stimuler le débat et l’intérêt pour la qualité des espaces publics à Montréal et de permettre aux concepteurs de proposer leur vision d’aménagement de cet espace. Le concours d’idées vise donc à nourrir la réflexion sur cette problématique.

Le concours Le taxi prend ses aires! est l’un des cinq shuko, ou défis de création initiés par le maire de Montréal dans le cadre de la soirée Pecha Kucha des élus, le 30 septembre 2008. Il s’inscrit directement dans la poursuite des engagements pris par la Ville et les partenaires du Plan d’action 2007-2017 – Montréal, métropole culturelle visant, entre autres, à promouvoir l’excellence en architecture et en design. Rappelons que la Ville a lancé plusieurs concours de design au cours des derniers mois notamment pour le développement d’éléments de mobilier urbain amovibles à l’usage des festivals, la conception d’un nouvel abribus et l’aménagement des abords de la station de métro Champ-de-Mars.

Montréal, March 10, 2010 – Helen Fotopulos, member of the Executive Committee responsible for culture, heritage, design and the status of women, along with her colleague Manon Barbe, Executive Committee member responsible for transportation, are pleased to announce the launch of an ideas competition for the development of new taxi stands. Designers in all disciplines are invited to propose innovative solutions for enhancing taxi customers’ and drivers’ experience of this public space they share. A total prize purse of up to $40,000 will be awarded to the competition winners.

“This competition once again demonstrates our administration’s desire to encourage creativity in design and architecture in Montréal, and open up access to public design commissions to a broader range of practitioners,” Ms. Fotopulos said. “As a UNESCO City of Design, Montréal is perfectly positioned to ensure enrichment of its public spaces and incorporate them into a vision for the future. We are once again providing an opportunity for Québec creators to demonstrate their talents.”

For her part, Ms. Barbe added: “In Montréal’s Transportation Plan, the taxi industry is recognized as a vital component of the mass transit system. This industry is currently engaged in extensive efforts to refresh and revitalize its image. We want to provide both passengers and drivers with an enjoyable experience that starts with pleasant, user-friendly taxi stands, because these will eventually serve as recharging stations for future electric cars.”

The general objective of the competition is to spur debate around, and interest in, the quality of public spaces in Montréal, and to enable designers to offer their visions for development of these spaces. The ideas competition therefore aims to nurture reflection on the issue posed by the existing taxi stands, which have several shortcomings from the point of view of both drivers and users.

The Le taxi prend ses aires! competition is one of the five shukôs, or creative challenges, that the Mayor of Montréal issued during the Pecha Kucha Night for Elected Officials on September 30, 2008. It is directly in line with the ongoing commitments made by the Ville de Montréal and its partners in the Action Plan 2007–2017 – Montréal, Cultural Metropolis, the goals of which include the promotion of excellence in architecture and design. The City has launched several other design competitions in recent months, including for the development of mobile street furniture for use by festivals, the design of a new bus shelter, and the redevelopment of the area surrounding Champ-de-Mars métro station.

Les membres du Jury / Jury members:

Jean-Guy Chabauty, Industrial Designer, Moderno;
Michel Dufresne, Urban Planner, Groupe Cardinal-Hardy;
Carl Gagnon, President, Imago;
Lucy Mungiovi, Director of Convention Services, Tourisme Montréal;
Isabelle D’Astous, Co-creative Director, Sid Lee;
Dory Saliba, President, Proprio Taxi;
Sylvain Villeneuve, Urban Planner, Division Chief, Urban Planning, Ville-Marie Borough, Ville de Montréal.

L’inscription est gratuite et obligatoire. Chaque concurrent doit remplir le formulaire en ligne avant le 20 avril 2010.Téléchargez le règlement du concours.

Les propositions doivent être acheminées avant le 18 mai 2010 à midi (heure locale) à l’adresse suivante :

Registration is free and mandatory. Each entrant must complete the form available here, by April 20, 2010.Download the competition regulations here.

Proposals must then be submitted before noon on May 18, 2010, to the following address:

Concours d’idées
Le taxi prend ses aires!
A/S de Véronique Rioux, conseillère professionnelle
Bureau Design Montréal
303, rue Notre-Dame Est, 6e étage
Montréal (Québec) H2Y 3Y8

Prospective entrants who have questions may submit them to the competition’s professional advisor, Véronique Rioux, by e-mail at veronique.rioux@sympatico.ca, by April 20, 2010. The design competition is being administered by the Design Montréal office of the Ville de Montréal with the co-operation of the Bureau du taxi et du remorquage de la Ville de Montréal and support from the taxi industry.

Source: Bernard Larin
Office of the Mayor and the Executive Committee
514 872-9998

Information: Stéphanie Jecrois
Design Montréal
514 872-5388

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