L'identite en projets : ville, architecture et patrimoine Analyse de concours a Quebec et a Toronto

This thesis examines the concept of identity, its definitions and uses in the debates and practices of the city, architecture and heritage. Interventions on historic buildings reveal as much the relationship between the identity of society and its history as with the contemporary world. This research studies architectural competitions in two Canadian cities that aspire to be international, one focusing on the contemporary and global aspect (Toronto) and the other on the historical and local aspect (Quebec City). The objective of this research is on the one hand, to unravel the process of identity construction of the contemporary city through architectural projects. On the other hand, it is to analyze the process of identification and the architectural identity in its relation to history and contemporaneity in architectural practice of historic buildings.;The methodology used in this study combines discourse analysis and analysis of the architecture and its representation. The choice of the competition of Place---Royale Interpretation center in Quebec City (1996) and the competition for the expansion of Royal Ontario Museum (2001) in Toronto reveals the concept of identity's different facets. The history of each competition and semantic analysis of the documentation clarify the relationship between processes and intentions and help to highlight local issues. The analysis of both textual and visual discourses of architects' proposals reveals the process of identification of the projects, the different types of references involved and the communication strategies employed. The analysis of the projects reflects the identity characteristics of contemporary architecture.;This research reveals the importance of discourses and communication in the construction of cities' identity, and the societal debates that these questions provoke. During the process of architectural identification, the specific approach of the brief, in the case of Quebec City, prompts a discourse with a historical focus by the architects. The proposed projects are presented within the historical setting and focus on the visual experience of visitors. In the Toronto case, the interest on the global and spectacular in the city's identity construction generates enthusiasm for an attractive representation of the projects and for iconic architecture.