Pays Tribute to Women Architects of Change

UQAM's Centre de design is to host the internationally acclaimed architecture exhibition BUONE NUOVE for February 13 to April 6th, 2025. Originally produced by the MAXXI museum in Rome in 2021, the show documents the contribution of women to architecture over the last few century as well as highlighting the ways women are breathed new life into contemporary practice. The touring version of the show is now exhibited in Montreal, after having been presented in Stockholm (Sweden), Doha (Qatar), New Delhi (India), Berlin (Germany) and Toronto (Canada).

Photo credit: UQAM's Design centre

The exhibition presents the works and words of dozens of Italian, Quebecois, Canadian and international women architects who have changed the field of architecture. By showing how women and women-led collectives have raised the quality of modern and contemporary design, BUONE NUOVE: Women Architects of Change aims to present inspiring role models for a new generation of city builders. The Montreal edition of the show presented at the Centre adds two new sections to complete the exhibition:

• A selection of Quebec practices led by women
• A collection of furniture designed by Italian architects from the golden age of design.

BESIDE HABITAT
Angled view of the west façade, Chalet Beside Le Terre-à-Terre (type IV) Architect Kim Pariseau
Photo credit:
© Félix Michaud

RAYMOND-LÉVESQUE LIBRARY
Conceptual drawing “le livre et le bois”: competition phase. Architect: Manon Asselin
Photo credit: Atelier TAG + Jodoin Lamarre Pratte Architectes in consortium

MoDus, Damiani Holz&Ko Office Building, Bressanone, Italy, 2010-2011
Photo credit:
© Gunther Wett Collezione MAXXI Architettura, Fondo MoDus

BUONE NUOVE / Women architects of change: an exhibition in four sections

Stories of Italian Architects presents the achievements of 21 remarkable Italian women who have left their mark and helped transform the profession. From Lina Bo Bardi to Gae Aulenti, from the internationally-renowned designers of the post-war period to emerging female practitioners, this section is told through a sequence of four large tables featuring sketches, drawings, videos and various documents. Each table reflects a chronological progression in the evolution of women's contribution to architecture:

• The Pioneers of the discipline in Italy at the beginning of the 20th century
• The Golden Age of Design where women architects rethought domestic space and furniture in a modern, functional way
• Design in Context, where female designers explored space beyond the home to address historical, urban or natural contexts
• And finally, New Generations which presents contemporary Italian practices producing high-quality architecture.

MONTREAL PORT TOWER
View of the Port Tower looking east. Architect: Sonia Gagné
Photo credit: © Kenan Alboshi

SERVICE CENTERS OF MONT-ORFORD NATIONAL PARK
Northwest façade from the lake – Le Cerisier. Architect: Anne Carrier
Photo credit:
© Stéphane Groleau

LAUBERIVIÈRE
Partial elevation of the south façade, sunshade and privacy screen detail. Architect: Anne Côté
Photo credit:
© Charles O’Hara

Alongside the Golden Age of Design component, a selection of furniture by designers and architects Gae Aulenti, Nanda Vigo, Anna Ferrieri Castelli, Franca Helg and Cini Boeri illustrates the very broad definition of the architect's work in post-war Italy.

LE DIAMANT
View of Place d’Youville. Architects: Annie Lebel et Marie-Chantal Croft
Photo credit: © Stéphane Groleau

WONG DAI SIN TEMPLE
A modern sacred space that houses a dynamic Taoist community committed to their inner spiritual development through the ancient physical practice of Tai Chi. Architect: Brigitte Shim
Photo credit: © James Dow

Portrait of Egle Renata Trincanato
Photo credit: Courtesy Collezione Emiliano Balistreri

The touring section also presents Practices in Italy, which focuses on the important contributions of six internationally renowned architects who completed significant projects in Italy during the first two decades of the 21st century. This section includes the work of Zaha Hadid, Liz Diller and Kazuyo Sejima.

Egle Renata Trincanato, Installation of the exhibition “Venezia viva”, Venice, Italy, 1954
Photo credit: Courtesy Iuav University of Venice

SHOOTING HUNGER
View from the entryway of the architect Farida Abu-Bakare standing at the centre of the structure.
Photo credit: © Farida Abu-Bakare

Primavera armchair designed by Franca Helg for Bonacina in 1967. Structure in folded cane and hand-woven rattan.
Photo credit: Franca Helg for Bonacina

A series of video interviews are also included in the touring section to present the stories and visions of women who are transforming architecture through practices of activism, scholarship, writing, curating, academic leadership and philanthropy, as well as explorations of the relationship between gender and space, created as part of MAXXI's Architecture Film Summer School 2021.

During the exhibition's run at TMU in September 2024, a local component, Inspiring Practices, profiled fifteen Toronto women architects. For the Montreal edition of the show, sixteen exemplary Quebec women architects have been showcased alongside an example of their work. The originality and quality of the Quebec practices are showcased through the presentation of one of their recent projects.