The Louis-Jacques-Casault Pavilion currently houses the music students of Université Laval. However, the building is not particularly conducive to its program for a variety of reasons, including the lack of natural light and the programmatic fragmentation within an overly large volume, which diminishes opportunities for human interaction. Given the strong association of student life with Québec City's Old Town, it seemed appropriate to bring students closer to the city center and reconnect them with the cultural heart of the city.

  The project therefore proposes a new school of music for Université Laval, as well as housing for students from the three university facilities located in Old Québec: the proposed School of Music, the School of Architecture, and La Fabrique, the School of Arts and Design. In a subsequent phase, a Music Hall was also envisioned to complement the ensemble.

  The former Lauberivière building, abandoned for nearly three years, is transformed. Stripped to its core, it initially consists of little more than a masonry shell devoid of thermal insulation, enclosing a steel structure and four concrete floor slabs.

  The plans for the school draw inspiration from graphic musical scores. By associating the structural grid with a traditional musical staff, it became possible to imagine a future framework resembling a contemporary graphic composition. Independent volumes, thermally and acoustically insulated with cellulose fibre sandwiched between two layers of hemp concrete, are inserted freely throughout the existing structural grid. Their dynamic arrangement maximizes opportunities for interaction and creates a flexible environment for artists.

  This arrangement of volumes enables selective insulation throughout the building according to the thermal requirements of each space. Practice rooms and lecture halls form more heavily insulated clusters, while circulation areas function as intermediate spaces. As a result, transition spaces offer a lower level of thermal comfort, a condition that is intentionally celebrated through the contrast experienced when entering enclosed spaces where occupants spend significantly more time.

  These principles of selective insulation help minimize active heating demands. Since the existing exterior masonry walls remain untouched, both to preserve their original character and to avoid the risks associated with insulating historic masonry, the insulation of classrooms and practice rooms distributed throughout the building, combined with an infrared heating system, reduces both energy consumption and operating costs. The system is divided into multiple zones, allowing only occupied areas to be heated when needed. Aluminum curtains installed throughout the building can either block solar infrared radiation or reflect infrared heat emitted by occupants and radiant heating systems, depending on seasonal thermal requirements.

  The student residences continue these architectural intentions through a rhythmic composition expressed both in the façade and in the floor plan. The residence building is a new construction located on a portion of the site freed by the demolition of deteriorated garages and warehouses, creating a protected interior courtyard in the process.

The dormitory envelope consists of a double-skin glass façade containing all circulation spaces. At its center are the residential units, whose walls are insulated with cellulose fibre. Exterior finishing plywood, combined with the mass timber structure supporting the access galleries, contributes warmth and character to the building. The roof is both accessible and vegetated, helping to reduce the urban heat island effect, enhance urban biodiversity, improve roof insulation, and provide occupants with moments of tranquility surrounded by nature.

Overall, the building's design is based on bioclimatic principles that maximize the use of passive and natural systems, including winter solar gains, summer solar protection, natural cross-ventilation, thermal mass, thermal lag, daylighting, double-skin envelopes, and other passive environmental strategies.