Winners of the Le Taxi Prend Ses Aires! Ideas Competition

Winners of the Le Taxi Prend Ses Aires! Ideas Competition

Launched last spring, Le Taxi Prend Ses Aires! Ideas Competition was designed to get people thinking about how to improve existing taxi stands in Montreal, keeping both taxi drivers and customers in mind. Members of the public and taxi drivers were asked to speak out by voting for their favourite concept among the five winning proposals selected by the jury.

"This competition enabled Montreal designers to share their visions with us by suggesting solutions for enhancing the taxi-stand experience and stimulate debate and interest in the quality of these urban public spaces," said Helen Fotopulos, City of Montreal Executive Committee Member Responsible for Culture, Heritage, Design. "The burst of creativity generated by all those ideas contributes to the promotion of Montreal, UNESCO City of Design."

"Recognised in our Transportation Plan as a key component of our collective transport system, the Montreal taxi industry is currently making significant efforts in order to refresh and enliven its image. We want to work closely with the industry to propose modern and dynamic waiting areas to the taxi drivers and their clients," noted Manon Barbe, Executive Committee Member Responsible for Transportation.

Louis Gagnon Seguin and Bhavesh Mistry, Montreal
Grand Prix du jury

The jury noted the great refinement and simplicity in the Moai Statues proposal by Louis Gagnon-Seguin and Bhavesh Mistry, with its various elements that allow for harmonious integration with the city, regardless of a taxi stand's scale, while bringing out the new taxis signature and logo. The sculptural character and subtlety in the surface play of the monolithic pillars are perfectly in accordance with the formal language of the benches and other elements. The concept's universality, the fixture's fine details and the parentheses demarcating the zones at ground level are among the aspects that pleased the jury. "The intelligent and skilful use of light helps maximise visibility and confers an agreeable presence on the benches, which seem to come alive on the spot," stated jury Chair Patrick Messier, an industrial designer with Messier Designers Inc.

Genevieve Trudel, Montreal; Thomas-Eric Beliveau and Philipp Schaake, SensidStudio, Berlin
Grand Prix du public and Coup de coeur de l'industrie du taxi

Members of the public and taxi drivers were asked to express themselves by voting for their favourite concept among the five winning proposals, and they had the chance to win a number of participation prizes. Nearly 3000 votes were submitted from 5 July - 30 August.

Both the public and the taxi industry were attracted by the Folium proposal developed by industrial designers Geneviève Trudel, Thomas-Éric Beliveau and Philipp Schaake. Their concept integrates various functions in relatively simple fixtures: an iconic beacon column, roof, folding seat, display panel, lighting, markers, interfaces, etc. The jury members found their integration of the call buttons for various needs to be astute. They also noted the concept's intelligence and its strong signal as a distinctive urban fixture easily identifiable by taxi users, whether local residents or people visiting the city.