Atelier Paul Laurendeau is an award-winning architecture studio established in Montreal in 2011 by Paul Laurendeau formerly practicing as Paul Laurendeau Architect since 1995.
In 2016, the office was awarded a prestigious Governor General’s Medal in Architecture of Canada for the design of the Cogeco Amphitheatre.
Paul Laurendeau works with clients from the arts and public sector. He participates in national and international architecture competitions, a tradition he kept from his professional internships in London (1989-1990) and Paris (1991-1994) while working for star architects like Francis Soler.
His studio is most interested in creative work of all scale with clients that seek a personal vision. In 2003, he was awarded a Prize of Excellence from the Order of Architects of Quebec for the conversion of an early modern car showroom to house a design agency. In 2005, he received another Prize of Excellence for the design of a video event in a decommissioned incinerator. In 2005, he won his first architectural competition to design a 500-seat theatre in Northern Quebec, reinterpreting the 19th century theatre typology in a contemporary language.
In 2011, he won the competition for the design of the Cogeco Amphitheatre in Trois-Rivières, Québec, a monumental 9000-seat 40 M$ cultural summer venue that redefines part of a city. The project was partially inaugurated in 2015 and finalized in 2016 with its landscape design.
Cumulating experience in theatre design, he presented in 2015 a counterproposal for the renovation of a 3000-seat summer amphitheatre in Montreal that integrated the park landscape in its design.
Atelier Paul Laurendeau is currently working on a stage/belvedere project for Montreal’s 375th anniversary and on giant rain screens for the Cogeco Amphitheatre as a series of panels made of glass and composite membrane.
His projects have won numerous prizes and are featured in architecture and design publications.
Paul Laurendeau has given conferences about his work, the latest being in November 2016 in Toronto where he presented the design process that guided the selection of colours for the Amphitheatre.