Patrick Marmen appointed Chief of Staff of the Bureau du design
Dear design community,
A few weeks ago, Marie-Josée Lacroix, Montréal’s first design commissioner, announced her departure, and it is with both enthusiasm and humility that I will take her place as Bureau du design chief of staff starting June 7, 2021. I would like to thank Véronique Doucet, head of the Service du développement économique, for her trust in me.
I also wish to warmly thank Marie-Josée for making design quality a priority at the municipal level. Her visionary work cleared the path upon which we walk today in defending quality in design and architecture. Her considerable legacy also includes Montréal’s designation as a UNESCO City of Design, the Montréal 2030 Agenda for Quality and Exemplarity in Design and Architecture, and the accumulation of considerable expertise, within the Bureau, in promoting design quality.
For the past 15 years, I have played an active role in developing design quality processes, in particular by overseeing design competitions and panels, but also as a member of municipal advisory committees (for the Sud-Ouest borough and the Jacques-Viger committee). My contact with the Bureau du design through these projects, along with my recent experience with the Bureau’s staff, have given me an appreciation of their energy, discipline, and commitment to the projects they implement. I am thus immensely proud to represent and defend their work on both the local and international stage.
Montréal’s status as a UNESCO City of Design is a call for improved municipal design and greater reliance on designers and architects. More than ever, in the face of the multiple and complex challenges of Montréal’s green transition and post-pandemic economic renewal, the role of designers in creating the city must be brought to the forefront. So I plan to immediately get down to business, in partnership with Caroline Dubuc, Sylvie Champeau, and Emeric Boucher, to achieve the ambitions set out in the Montréal 2030 Agenda for Quality and Exemplarity in Design and Architecture and to continue the remarkable work done by the Bureau du design team.
I look forward to working with you all,
Patrick Marmen
Chief of Staff and Design Commissioner
