PROJECT Maisonneuve Library, restoration and extension

ARCHITECT EVOQ Architecture

PROJECT Octogone Library, transformation and extension

ARCHITECT Anne Carrier Architecture in consortium with Les architectes Labonté Marcil

TEXT Odile Hénault

PHOTOS Adrien Williams

Late last spring, as I was lining up outside Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, waiting for the doors to open, I started a casual conversation with the person nearest me. At one point, totally out of the blue, she asked: “Have you visited Montreal’s new libraries?” Before I had a chance to answer, she went on: “You know, they are the result of architectural competitions. A great system!” I couldn’t help laughing and thinking this was the moment I had long been waiting for… The word was spreading! The news was reaching the public! 

Over the past three decades, the Quebec government has gradually set in place an enviable competition system for cultural buildings—that is, museums, theatres, interpretation centres, and libraries. It results from a policy adopted in June 1992 by the province’s Ministry of Culture, which aimed at “holding public competitions for cultural facility projects presented by municipalities and organizations and produced with the assistance of government grants, the cost of which is over $2 million” (Ministère de la Culture du Québec, La politique culturelle du Québec, 1992). 

A new cultural landscape

Thanks to this policy, a new cultural landscape has gradually emerged across Quebec’s major cities as well as in its smaller municipalities. Competitions have been behind the design of at least 16 theatres, 20 museums of various sizes, and numerous interpretative pavilions. As far as libraries are concerned, the wave of competitions started in 2001 with the small Bibliothèque de Châteauguay (by Atelier TAG with JLP architectes). Since then, more than 20 libraries were the object of competitions. Several of these new cultural institutions have gone on to win awards, and to be covered in journals such as Canadian Architect. 

The benefits to the public are obvious, even though the average Montrealer (with the exception of my theatre-going friend) is mostly unaware of the competition process at work. Needless to say, architects have gained a lot from this policy, which has allowed them to explore ideas and concepts they might not have been able to address in a standard RFP system.  

Two competitions 

It is often presumed that while design competitions may be suitable for new-builds, the complexities of additions and renovations put them out of reach for competitions. However, the contrary is proving to be the case: quite a few of Quebec’s library competitions have been for additions or the quasi-total transformation of existing buildings. 

This is the case for two recently-inaugurated amenities in Montreal: the Maisonneuve Library and L’Octogone both fit into this latter category. They are also among the largest of the city’s 45 branch public libraries, including seven that were the objects of architectural competitions. Both Maisonneuve and L’Octogone existed as libraries before 2017, when separate competitions were launched to renovate and expand them. 

The Maisonneuve Library

The Maisonneuve Library is a rather unique case, since it is sited in a historic City Hall—part of a grand City Beautiful plan carried by a few enlightened entrepreneurs, who developed this sector of Montreal at the turn of the 20th century. Opened in 1912, their new City Hall only filled its role for a short period as the heavily indebted Cité de Maisonneuve was amalgamated to Montreal in 1918. The Beaux-Arts building, designed by architect Louis-Joseph Cajetan Dufort, remained standing through the last century, relatively unaltered—thankfully—by its successive occupants. In 1981, it became part of Montreal’s public library network.

Four teams were selected to take part in the Maisonneuve Library competition: in situ atelier d’architecture + DMA architects; Saucier + Perrotte/DFS inc.; Chevalier Morales Architectes; and Dan Hanganu architectes + EVOQ Architecture. All four teams are considered to be among Quebec’s most creative architectural firms, a reputation they acquired mostly through competitions. They were paid the pre-tax sum of $82,000 to take part in the competition, a sum which was included in the winning team’s eventual contract. 

The challenge for the four teams was to triple the size of the 1,240-square-metre original facility with a contemporary intervention that would pay homage to the former City Hall. The Hanganu-EVOQ team had a definite advantage, EVOQ being one of very few offices in Quebec with a strong expertise in heritage preservation. Their parti was therefore centred on restoring the historic building (then in an advanced state of disrepair) to its original splendour, and treating it as a jewel inserted at the centre of a sober, contemporary composition. The alignment of the new curtain walls and the rhythm of a brise-soleil took their cues from the existing neoclassical colonnade.

On the exterior, stone façades and monumental doors were carefully restored. On the interior, similar attention was paid to the original plaster mouldings, wood panelling, and mosaic floors. The former piano nobile’s marble staircase and its two imposing stained-glass features were painstakingly restored by a team of remarkable artisans, who still work using traditional construction methods. 

Every effort was made by EVOQ—which now includes the late Dan Hanganu’s former team—to ensure the library would be fully accessible to all. This led to the design of a circular entrance pavilion, projecting from the east wing. An architectural promenade takes one from the new entrance, through the historic building, and onwards to the west wing. A sheer delight. The subtly handled transition points between old and new celebrate the original 1900s monument and the skill of its builders.

Slightly less convincing is the west wing’s shelf wall, visible from Ontario Street. It reflects an influence from Sou Fujimoto Architects’ Musashino Art University Museum & Library in Tokyo (2010), with its striking wooden shelving doubling as wall structure. In both cases, aesthetics seem to have been chosen over utility as any books stored in these areas are challenging to access.

While intent on keeping alive the memory of the past, the local librarians simultaneously embraced the progressive outlook of the International Federation of Library Associations and Federations (IFLA). The Maisonneuve Library looks clearly to the future, particularly in its mission is to improve local levels of digital literacy. Gone are the administrative offices hidden away from the public: staff members wheel mobile stations around the building, plugging into a large array of floor outlets. The library’s offerings also now include a playful children’s area, a Media Lab, and a small roof garden. Silence is no longer the rule, except for in a few enclosed spaces. 

Octogone Library

Another major library competition was also launched in 2017: this one for Octogone Library, in a totally distinct environment situated towards the western tip of the Montreal Island. A suburban street pattern is prevalent in the borough and the site of the library is off a banal commercial strip. The area’s most interesting feature is perhaps the adjoining Parc Félix Leclerc, with its gentle landscape and large weeping willows. 

The original Octogone Library building was the outcome of decades-long advocacy efforts by the local community, which did, finally, lead to the government commitment for a public library in 1983. The following year, a low-scale, rather Brutalist building opened its doors to the public. The architects were Bisson, Hébert et Bertomeu. The long-awaited amenity was named Centre culturel de l’Octogone in reference to its role in the community and to its geometry. 

When the 2017 competition was launched for a renovation and addition to the existing building, the resulting proposals aimed to perpetuate the memory—and the name—of the 1984 building. Again, four teams were selected to participate in the competition: Atelier Big City with L’Oeuf; BGLA with Blouin Tardif architects; EVOQ Architecture with Groupe A; and finally, Anne Carrier architecture in consortium with Labonté Marcil, the winning team. The octagonal foundations were deemed solid enough to handle the loads of a new construction, but the existing walls presented competitors with a number of difficulties.

Carrier and Labonté Marcil’s entry was, as noted by the jury, a “vigorous” and “joyous” response to the program. The team had opted not to adhere too closely to the original octagonal plan and to refer instead to a far more significant symbol for LaSalle citizens, the 1827 Fleming Mill. The project’s most striking feature is a central helicoidal stair, or “hub”, which immediately attracts attention as one enters from either side of the new building. 

The second-level plan is laid out to evoke a mill’s three giant “blades” revolving around a central pivot, which culminates in a quiet, more secluded, circular space enlivened by an airy artwork. Produced by artist Karilee Fuglem, this piece alludes to L’Octogone’s extensive collection of graphic novels and comics—the largest such collection in Montreal’s library network.

Conclusion

While architectural competitions have yet to spread across Canada, Quebec can boast a rich repository of experience in this domain. At the end of three decades, and with dozens of projects successfully built through the competition process, the province’s landscape of libraries, theatres, and museums is obvious proof that competitions are worth the effort. 

Of course, there are improvements to be made. The process has gradually been burdened with overly complicated programmatic specifications—some preliminary documents are now up to several hundred pages long. The constraint of tight budgetary commitments in a highly volatile context can also seriously hinder creativity. But in the end, despite the need to revisit and simplify the process, a healthy competition culture has emerged, not just in Montreal and Quebec City, but all over the province. 

At 32 years old, Quebec’s architecture policy is entering middle-age, and it’s perhaps worth considering how it might be adjusted to prompt even more innovative, mature expressions of architecture. Can programs be loosened to allow for more daring concepts? Is there a place for open design competitions, creating opportunities for younger generations of architects? Despite some shortcomings experienced over the last three decades, Quebec has successfully put competitions to the test. And the rest of Canada could learn from it.

Odile Hénault is a contributing editor to Canadian Architect. She was the professional advisor for two pilot competitions that led to the adoption of the Quebec Ministry of Culture’s 1992 policy on architectural competitions.

Maisonneuve Library

CLIENTS Ville de Montréal and Arrondissement Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve | ARCHITECT TEAM EVOQ—Gilles Prud’homme, Sylvie Peguiron, Marianne Leroux, Georges Drolet, Nathan Godlovitch, Anne-Catherine Richard, Lynda Labrecque, Simona Rusu, Alexis Charbonneau | ARCHITECT (HISTORIC BUILDING, 1911) Louis-Joseph Cajetan Dufort | LANDSCAPE civiliti | ENVELOPE ULYS Collectif  | STRUCTURAL NCK | CIVIL Génipur | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Pageau Morel | ENVELOPE/QUALITY CONTROL UL CLEB | ELEVATOR EXIM | DOORS, HARDWARE SPECIALISTS ARD | COMMISSIONING Cima+ | FURNITURE/SIGNAGE/MULTIMEDIA GSMProject | ERGONOMICS Vincent Ergonomie | LIGHTING LightFactor | SUSTAINABILITY WSP | ACOUSTICS Octave | METAL/HISTORIC DOORS M&B Métalliers | MOSAIC Artès Métiers d’art | ORNAMENTAL PLASTERS Plâtres Artefact | MASONRY Maçonnerie Rainville et Frères | CONSERVATOR/MASONRY Trevor Gillingwater  | STONECUTTERS Alexandre, Tailleurs de pierres + sculpteurs | STAINED GLASS Studio du verre  | ARTIST (PUBLIC ART) Clément de Gaulejac | AREA 3,594 m2 | construction bUDGET $38.6 M | COMPLETION June 2023

Octogone Library

CLIENTS Ville de Montréal and arrondissement lasalle | ARCHITECT TEAM AC/A—Anne Carrier (FIRAC), Robert Boily, Martin L’Hébreux, Patricia Pronovost, Mathieu St-Amant, Andrée-Ève Gaudreault, Brenda Côté. LES ARCHITECTES LABONTÉ MARCIL IN CONSORTIUM—Pierre Labonté, Jean Marcil, Andréanne Gaudet, MICHEL DESMARAIS | Structural/mechanical/electrical EXP | LANDSCAPE Rousseau Lefevre  | INTERIORS Anne Carrier Architecture/les Architectes Labonté Marcil en consortium | CONTRACTOR Décarel | ergonomics VINCENT ERGONOMIE | acoustics Octave | SCENOGRAPHY GO MULTIMEDIA | aRTISTS (PUBLIC ART) CLAUDE LAMARCHE (1984), KARILEE FUGLEM (2024) | AREA 4,500 m2 | BUDGET $28.6 M | COMPLETION October 2024

As appeared in the November 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazine

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PROJECT Historians’ Library and Residence

ARCHITECT Dowling Architects

TEXT Zaven Titizian

PHOTOS Henry Dowling & Paul Dowling

“During the construction of the library, I often felt like a medieval bishop,” joked Robert Jan van Pelt—an architectural historian and tenured professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. “I had sold the last of my religious treasures, all for the cathedral envisioned by my master builder, Paul, in whom I had absolute faith.” 

Architect Paul Dowling laughed when I told him that. He had spent the last five years designing and building a private library and residence extension for Robert Jan and fellow historian Miriam Greenbaum. Paul was more humble when describing the project, which for him is “a simple building to house a complex client—and a deeply meaningful library.”

A Simple Building and a Complex Client

The design of the detached, backyard library began, like most projects do, with a simple list of requirements. It should safely enclose the historians’ collection—a sober fonds focused on Holocaust history, concentration camps, and military barracks. It should have a space for Miriam and Robert Jan to work, with accessible storage for ongoing research and oversized folios. Finally, it should include a small washroom, and a sofa for the occasional overnight guest.

In addition to these programmatic requirements, there were other, less tangible requests that arose from conversations between Paul and the historians. Sometimes this came in the form of a literary excerpt—for instance, a description of the snug, seafaring cabin of Dr. Clawbonny from Jules Verne’s The Adventures of Captain Hatteras—or a personal memory, like of the German bunkers Robert Jan played in as a child. These musings inspired, rather than prescribed, what would become characteristic elements of the library such as its deep wall section, horizontal slot window, and shell-like enclosure.

Paul worked extensively with physical models to conceptualize the contemporary design within the compact yard of the historians’ existing single-storey home—a white stucco residence which has stood in the historic community of Galt in Cambridge, Ontario, since the 1860s. The bungalow was originally built as a domicile for the farmhand who tended the properties of a large hilltop residence nearby. Paul sought to honour the patinaed quality of the existing site by choosing materials and finishes intended to age over time and weather alongside the home. Paul saw working in model form as an important first step in the project’s realization, with a clear progression of tactile design development that continued through fabrication drawings and mockups towards a building which is comprehensive in its approach to details, materials, and site context.

While some designers might pass off work to a contractor once the initial design is complete, for Paul, this is when “most of the invention begins—and it’s too interesting not to be involved in that part of the work.” For the past 30 years, Paul and his partner, Catherine Dowling, have used their home and studio as a testing ground for architectural experiments. By combining their self-build experience with knowledge of construction management from past projects, they created a company called BUILD to act as the design–builder for the library. Paul said that the project size and client–architect relationship was perfectly aligned for them to take on this role. It allowed them to do the majority of concrete, framing, roofing, and millwork construction themselves, and facilitated in situ design decisions while working alongside skilled tradespeople for the excavation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and steel fabrication.

The library itself is a simple rectangular volume located along the long edge of the deep, narrow yard. A corrugated metal roof folds around a white-oak-batten-clad frame and cantilevers out over the fenestrated ends. Site-cast concrete foundations are revealed across the hillside site and extend into patios below the exterior overhangs. The primary entry is partially sunk below grade to mediate the sloping site. Central to the project is a large slot window running more than half the length of the building, looking out over a wild, rocky garden and stealing views and speckled shade from the neighbouring trees.

Partway through the construction, Robert Jan and Miriam decided that they would leave their home in Toronto and settle permanently in their Galt residence. They expanded Paul’s scope to include an extension to their home, adding a washroom with a shower, stair access to the basement utilities, and relocating the front entrance to a red cedar volume at the side of the house. The library was temporarily put on hold, but the newly enclosed space became Paul’s workshop during the pandemic.

From this library-turned-workshop, Paul could mock up one-to-one details in situ as the finishing touches were being made to the library. Paul sketched plans for the residence extension on the stud framing of the library for his clients. He remembers holding up full-scale mockups of the library’s custom wood mullions, giving Robert Jan and Miriam a sense of how materials would react to the lighting on site. “I think it is the experimentation involved in the making that appeals to us so strongly,” Paul explained. “Being influenced by both materials and workmanship, to discover how we can achieve architectural ideas of form and experience. It’s difficult to achieve that working only on paper or the computer screen.”

Entering into the finished library is like stepping into a Willem van Haecht painting: it feels both intimate and infinite. Books pulled flush with the built-in millwork shelves look like masonry blocks stacked from floor to ceiling, holding up a slatted wood soffit. The warm,
unfinished Douglas fir bookshelves flank either side of a single, uninterrupted axis that runs from one end of the library to the other. The space is furnished by a patchwork of rugs and Dutch armchairs laid out over the polished concrete floor. Carved into the poché of bookshelves is an interior niche divided by a structural board-form concrete wall which separates a daybed from a massive black walnut desktop, set perfectly flush with the central slot window.

Exemplifying the kind of thoughtful diligence that went into each detail of the construction is the bespoke shutter system for the slot window. Paul recalls that “the glazing was much too large for any kind of traditional folding shutter, but sliding, overhead panels could be recessed into [the] thick wall section.” Since the shutter needed to be as light as possible, it was built like a hollow core door, using lightweight interior framing, 1/4” Douglas fir plywood skins, and a bottom edge reinforced with aluminum plate to provide lateral stiffness. 

The shutter design is based on traditional counterweighted sash windows, though the main challenge came from its long horizontal proportions. Threaded rods extend down into the panel framing and connect to stainless steel aircraft cables, which run over ball bearing pulleys to a bundle of steel reinforcing rods. Racking is prevented by spring-loaded wheels that run in tracks along each vertical edge. “[The shutter] was particularly satisfying to see in place, as the design evolved over a long period of time, and I kept coming back to it over the course of the project,” says Paul.

The building’s enclosure is also particularly clever. Based on Passivhaus standards, Paul included insulation in the framing layer and a robust smart vapour control membrane, which protects against condensation, allows drying of the assembly, and provides a very airtight enclosure. Similarly, the heated concrete slab rests on a thick layer of EPS foam insulation to allow a continuous thermal break at walls, roof and floor. The bookcases comprising the long south wall are hung from the service framing, which in turn rests on the floating slab. “Minimal thermal bridges occur where wood beams supporting the upper bookcases connect to primary structure at the east and west walls,” Paul explains, “and insulated foundations for the concrete and wood interior shear walls project through the concrete slab.” Temperature, fresh air, and humidity are controlled to residential standards with a heated floor, energy recovery ventilator, and cooling unit.

There is a simplicity to the building that only comes from a patient, uncompromising attention to each detail—all in service of a greater whole—without ever losing sight of the complexities that make the project so meaningful.

A Deeply Meaningful Library

Paul and Robert Jan both teach at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, which is only a ten minute walk from the library. From its inception, the library and residence were intended to extend themselves, at times, to the school, its students, and visiting scholars. Prior to the library’s design, Paul had helped set up a design-build program for the university. For the library’s construction, Paul hired several undergraduate students who were involved in the design–build program, and mentored them through various phases in the project.

The consensus that emerged when I spoke to some of these students was that they learned more from their time under Paul—helping pour foundations and set concrete, framing and enclosing the library, and crafting millwork details—than they had at any other point in their academic career. The experience had a profound impact on the students, many of whom have gone on to become successful advocates for the importance of designing through craft.

Robert Jan and Miriam hope that the library can continue to be a teaching moment for young prospective architects at the university. It is one of only a few examples of exemplary contemporary design in Galt, and a demonstrably successful precedent for a process that we rarely see in Canada: the architect working as a craftsperson. Paul’s slow and exacting process is an important counterpoint to the aggressive, rapid development that otherwise surrounds the library. After the time I have spent with Paul and this project, I can’t help but return to what Robert Jan said when we first met. Maybe there is some truth in that joke. Maybe the role of master builder hasn’t been completely lost to history.

Zaven Titizian is an architectural designer, writer, and researcher based in Tiohti:áke (Montréal), Canada. His M.Arch thesis at the University of Waterloo was supervised by Robert Jan van Pelt.

CLIENT Robert Jan van Pelt and Miriam Greenbaum | ARCHITECT TEAM Paul Dowling, Catherine Dowling, Henry Dowling | STRUCTURAL Blackwell | CONTRACTOR BUILD  (Paul Dowling) | STUDENTS Mark Clubine, Joshua Giovinazzo, Magnus Glennie, Joshua MacDonald, Sarah Mason, Ethan Paddock, Salman Rauf, Yannik Sigouin, Conrad Speckert, Jonathan Subendran, Levi Van Weerden, Colin Williams | AREA 43 m2 (library); 27 m2 (new addition to residence)  | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION December 2021

The post Books as Building Stones: Historians’ Library and Residence, Cambridge, Ontario appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Calgary’s Central Public Library, designed by DIALOG with Snøhetta, is one of those special places that has been beloved by both architects and residents since the day of its opening in 2018.

Touring the building earlier this year at the RAIC Conference, I learned that the project also shares the distinction of being led by a largely female team. On the client side, this included Kate Thompson, President and CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) and Sarah Meilleur, CEO of the Calgary Public Library. On the design side, the project architect was DIALOG principal Janice Liebe, while Snøhetta’s lead architect was Vanessa Kassabian and its lead landscape architect was Michelle Delk. Carolyn Haddock of Colliers Project Leaders (formerly MHPM) was instrumental in the cultural makeup and direction of the project.

Unpacking what a feminist perspective brings to a project necessitates generalities, but in hearing from Thompson, Liebe, and Meilleur, who led the tour I attended, it was clear that an emphasis on relationship-building, rather than power hierarchies, contributed significantly—if also quietly—to the project’s success.

When the city first began discussing a new central library, DIALOG’s Calgary principals immediately recognized that they headed one of the few firms positioned to be the executive architect on such a project. After a careful consideration of who they would like to work with as a design architect, they reached out to Oslo-based Snøhetta to broach the idea of partnering. This was a full five years before the design competition was announced, says Liebe, who recalls fielding many calls following the competition launch from international firms expecting to find an eager partner in DIALOG, rather than a firm whose joint venture had already been long established.

The idea of nurturing strong relationships continued in a study tour that was part of the design phase. This included not only the architects and clients, but also leads from contractor Stuart Olson’s team. It was a daring decision, says Thompson, as it meant having to justify touring a dozen people across Europe on public money—but it paid off in developing a common understanding of references shared by all key players. Some of the direct effects of this, for instance, were the shared conviction that the library would have wood ceilings throughout, and a feel for the slope and proportions of the ramps ascending through the building.

As the construction progressed, Meilleur’s focus turned to nurturing a sense of ownership for the library’s staff, who would become the building’s prime custodians and ambassadors. Weekly Friday construction site tours allowed every member of the central library’s staff to see the project taking shape. Their evident excitement, in turn, lent construction workers a sense of purpose. Says Meilleur, meeting with the librarians inspired one tradesperson to switch from telling people he was “working in construction” to saying he was “teaching kids to read.” The library’s future patrons were also invited to be part of the wind-up to opening: the furniture for the teen area, for instance, was tested and selected by adolescent volunteers.

“Everybody belongs at the Library, because the Library belongs to you,” declares the Calgary Public Library’s website. That focus is evidenced in the final library: a beehive of multi-generational activity, from a play area and Lego zone my six-year-old would happily suffer a cross-country journey to visit, to jigsaw and board game areas, to a 330-seat performance hall. The building is crowned by a grand reading room, which patrons have intuitively designated as a quiet zone.

But perhaps one of the Calgary Public Library’s most unique offerings—and one that underscores the theme of connection—is its one-on-one-consultation program, which Thomp­son describes as “taking out a person,” or a chance to consult with an expert, instead of with a book. And where to meet for that conversation? There’s a place for that at the Central Public Library.

The post Editorial: Cultivating Connection at the Calgary Central Public Library appeared first on Canadian Architect.

PROJECT Calder Branch Library

ARCHITECTS Atelier TAG and the marc boutin architectural collaborative

PHOTOS Adrien Williams

PROJECT Capilano Library

ARCHITECTS Patkau Architects + Group2

PHOTOS James Dow

TEXT Greg Whistance-Smith

The public library is a uniquely democratic space. Regardless of socio-economic status, visitors are invited to partake in the incredible abundance of modern media: books, films, music, video games, magazines, manga, and more. While “institutional architecture” often carries the negative association of faceless bureaucracies, the space of public libraries suggests a different—and far more egalitarian—world, with a luxurious public realm.

The Edmonton Public Library (EPL)’s progressive spirit is reflected in the range of exceptional libraries constructed in the city in recent years, many of which have already graced these pages. A sprawling city like Edmonton requires a decentralized architectural response, and the EPL has woven itself into the life of the city by deeply investing in its branch libraries.

Edmonton’s collection of new libraries invites a comparative view: how can the architecture of the branch library best embody the contemporary vision of a community gathering place that gives access to diverse media and forms of expression? Two libraries that opened just before the pandemic, Calder and Capilano, have many things in common—total areas of around 1,000 square metres, budgets of about $11 million, similar programs, sites in postwar suburban neighbourhoods, and even expressive metal-clad forms—while offering distinct architectural approaches to this question.

A Floating World of Media

Designed by Atelier TAG and the Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative, Calder Library is located in Edmonton’s northwest, sharing a large suburban park with a school, community hall, and playground. Despite its relatively compact size, “we wanted the library to feel like an expansive place,” says Atelier TAG principal and co-founder Manon Asselin. 

This initial impulse pushed the designers to explore a building that branches out on its site, resulting in an iteration on the hub-and-spoke floor plans often found in libraries—“our little flower in the landscape,” says Asselin. The asterisk-like plan simultaneously defines outdoor areas around the building, allows for acoustically cloistered zones that are visually connected, and generates an interior experience where the space of the library feels like a superimposition of layers.

While developing the project, the architects also uncovered resonances between their design and the area’s history. The branching plan recalls the network of the Grand Trunk Railway that spurred the creation of Calder in 1910, and the intimate interior nods back to a converted tram car that once served as a bookmobile to the neighbourhood.

Approaching the building, one is struck by its sense of elegant rest, floating between earth and sky. Calder’s façade is a refined grid of metallic panels, often with glazing below; its peaceful simplicity serves as a counterpoint to the dynamic plan and interior. The panels are further animated by a back-lit metal mesh that creates a sense of visual diffusion, particularly during Edmonton’s long winter nights.

Visitors arrive at the library through an eastern plaza defined by two wings. The entrance is highlighted with soft pink panels behind the grey mesh—a colour that recalls the winter sky at dawn and dusk, and Alberta’s provincial flower, the wild rose. Cherry trees dot the plaza, amplifying this pink with their blossoms each spring. 

Once inside, visitors find themselves at heart of the library, with program areas fanning out in all directions. A circular information desk is located at this convergence, but its central position is intentionally diffused by the space-age fireplace suspended from the ceiling nearby. “The plan has a weaker centre than a library with a central control point,” says Asselin. Surrounded by lounge chairs, the fireplace suggests that the library is to be enjoyed as a community living room.

Calder’s clean interior has a limited palette of white, grey, and metallic-framed glass: the walls, faceted ceiling, and much of the furniture are all bright white. This was intended to allow the changing tones of Edmonton’s natural light to define the space. However, the bold patches of colour provided by EPL’s wall graphics, some seating, and the library’s collection result in a layered, graphic quality. Scanning the room feels akin to flipping through a magazine or scrolling a website, and Calder’s architecture invites visitors to wander this floating world of information and expression.

A Folded Profile Among the Trees

Heading east of Edmonton’s downtown, Capilano is sited in a mature suburb along an orphaned ravine that once connected to the North Saskatchewan River Valley. Designed by Patkau Architects and Group2, it embraces the found potential of this site by pairing a bold sectional profile with a linear plan that gets as close to the ravine and road as the city would permit.

While Calder branches out in plan, Capilano is boldly sectional: its folded profile is extruded 77 metres along the ravine with articulation only present at the ends, resulting in a monolithic form grounded in its landscape. This sense of repose is strengthened by the slanted wall facing the neighbourhood, whose street-level windows have been cleverly screened with perforated metal panels that emphasize the mass and modulate views.

Aiming to both protect the ravine and extend its ecosystem towards the street, Capilano’s monolithic form will fade into the trees as the landscaping grows in. The strategy was influenced by John and Patricia Patkau’s years living in Edmonton early in their careers. “Edmonton has a limited landscape palette, and it takes a long time to establish a mature landscape there,” says John Patkau. “We [principal Greg Boothroyd and I] had a strong reaction during the initial site visit that the building should serve as a buffer to help preserve the ravine.” This becomes particularly clear in winter storms: the western façade gains a thin layer of snow in blowing wet conditions, transforming the library into a landform.

Arriving from the road or parking lot, visitors encounter Capilano’s evocative profile, here carved out to form a generous entry canopy that gives a taste of the warmth to be found inside. The inner surface of the folded roof is lined in a beautifully rhythmic pattern of Douglas fir, using the woven wood vocabulary developed in Patkau Architects’ material research and also explored in their Whistler and Thunder Bay art galleries. The wood effectively recontextualizes the metal envelope in these projects, resulting in an aesthetic pairing of organic and industrial that speaks to life in the Canadian Northwest.

Capilano’s section brilliantly organizes its plan while washing the interior in warm light. Responding to the flexibility desired by modern libraries, its peaks create three zones that carry through the building: an intimate strip facing the ravine, an airy hall down the middle, and a residential-scaled area facing the suburb. The program areas naturally gravitate to their appropriate zones, and the consistent section belies the lovely spatial diversity to be found inside. Perhaps most surprisingly, Capilano’s design can be read as a nave with aisles, and it brings the pleasant modulation of scale that this ancient form offers.

In a move recalling the light monitors of Aalto’s libraries, strips of west-facing windows are located along two roof peaks to capture the low winter sun. The wooden screen filter creates a spectacular display of light and shadow in the interior that evokes the qualities of Edmonton’s forests in the warm hues of autumn. Circular columns echo the dimensions of nearby trees, and a radiant red carpet grounds the interior like the dogwood underbrush of the ravine, reinforcing the library’s warm embrace.

Two Visions

While Calder imagines the library as a diffuse space of abundant media, Capilano settles into its ravine-side location, offering a sheltered oasis to read, study, and enjoy views of nature. Both respond to the need for contemporary branch libraries to be robust community spaces with diverse media, rather than simply repositories of books, and both offer visitors a strong sense of place. As young Edmontonians grow up with these exceptional buildings, one hopes they will develop a passion for the library as prior generations have, guiding its evolution through this century and beyond. 

Greg Whistance-Smith is an Intern Architect in Edmonton, and author of the recent book Expressive Space: Embodying Meaning in Video Game Environments (De Gruyter, 2022).

Calder Branch Library

CLIENT City of Edmonton | ARCHITECT TEAM Atelier TAG—Manon Asselin (FRAIC), Katsuhiro Yamazaki, Jason Treherne, Ange Sauvage. MBAC—Marc Boutin (FRAIC), Nathaniel Wagenaar | STRUCTURAL Fast + Epp | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Williams Engineering | LANDSCAPE PFS Studio | INTERIORS Atelier TAG and MBAC | CONTRACTOR EllisDon | LEED Morrison Hershfield | AREA 935 M2 | BUDGET $6.1 M | COMPLETION September 2019

Capilano Library

CLIENT City of Edmonton | ARCHITECT TEAM Patkau—Greg Boothroyd (FRAIC), Shane O’Neill, John Patkau (FRAIC), Patricia Patkau (FRAIC), Thomas Schroeder. Group2—Anneliese Fris, Eric Hui, Gareth Leach, Jennifer Nederpel | STRUCTURAL Fast + Epp | MECHANICAL Williams Engineering | ELECTRICAL WSP | LANDSCAPE Design North | INTERIORS Patkau Architects | CONTRACTOR PCL Constructors | TRAFFIC Acumen, Bunt & Associates | CIVIL ISL | ACOUSTICS RWDI | AREA 1,130 M2 | BUDGET $11.8 M | COMPLETION November 2018

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 107 kWh/m2/year

The post The Community Library, in Plan and Section: Calder Library and Capilano Library, Edmonton, Alberta appeared first on Canadian Architect.

PROJECT Toronto Public Library Albert Campbell Branch, Scarborough, Ontario

ARCHITECT LGA Architectural Partners

TEXT Emily Macrae

PHOTOS Doublespace Photography

There are two benches at the entrance of the Toronto Public Library’s recently renovated Albert Campbell branch. One is nestled inside the door, another sits just outside. These subtle seating options offer library patrons the choice of sheltering from the weather while waiting for a ride, or perching outside, where they can also catch wi-fi after hours. It’s a sensitive response to the many roles that this library plays in a car-oriented neighbourhood. Taken together, the benches signal the attention to detail and commitment to flexible use that define LGA Architectural Partners’ renovation of the 50-year-old building.  

The original library—a strident, brutalist composition in grey concrete block and fire-truck-red metal curves—was designed by Fairfield and DuBois Architects and opened in 1971. After a three-year renovation, the library now boasts a much enlarged area for public use, a new abundance of natural light, and improved accessibility and safety. 

Library staff found it difficult to imagine how the modernist building, with its narrow stairwells and sparse windows, could be transformed, and the library originally believed that an expansion or replacement would be necessary. But careful study by LGA identified that 25 percent of the back-of-house spaces could be repurposed for public use, and imagined how existing motifs could be developed to enhance wayfinding within the building. It’s a bold renovation with beautiful results. LGA restores dignity to a public building that serves a diverse community.

Choosing renovation over replacement was an opportunity to realize environmental benefits and make a broader point about the potential of reuse. Renovation cut the embodied carbon of the project, while the concrete shell was an obvious candidate for improved insulation. Says LGA partner Brock James, “You just cannot ignore the carbon capital that existing buildings represent.”

To recover the use of the previously buried ground floor, the renovation lowered the topography of the site. Instead of entering on the second floor into a more compressed building, visitors now descend through a ramped garden to enter through an area that was formerly a mechanical room.

From the new entrance, library users can see straight through to the back of the building, where LGA added a window overlooking a schoolyard. Approaching the rear, interior glazing exposes a previously limited-access double-height community room. Moving from the front doors towards the back window, it felt somewhat jarring to see the floor fall away to reveal a basement below. But for James, the high-ceilinged room is one of the “gems” that guided LGA’s approach to repurposing the library. 

The formerly subterranean room has now been turned into a spacious, light-flooded atrium for teen programming and special events. The creation of this space hinted at the potential of the building and confirmed the need to introduce light and create connections across the interior. To do the latter, an undulating ceiling bridges the ground floor and the basement, then ripples upward to the second and third floors. The original building also featured a curved ceiling—red accents throughout the renovated library nod to the previous metal slats—but the new ceiling is defined by wood. Thin strips in blond tones bring warmth to the concrete building, and create a unifying motif across all four floors.  

In the renovated children’s area, just past the main entrance, the ceiling’s wave geometry takes risks and reaps rewards. Peaks and valleys are designed to accommodate mechanical elements. At points, the ceiling dips to just 2.4 metres high, but the waves of wood create a sense of space on a human scale that offsets the legacy of brutalist monumentalism. 

Relocating the children’s area and teen programming responded to public feedback to create zones for library users of different ages. Continuing up the stairs from the main floor, older generations are welcomed by ample seating next to magazine racks, public computer stations, counters for laptops, and glassed-in study rooms. The area is bright throughout the day, thanks to large windows added to the east and west façades. Teens have additional space to sprawl on the west side of the second floor, and the third floor offers quieter seating. 

Yet even the calmest corners of the third floor never feel isolated from the rest of the library: the renovation created clear sightlines across the building and between the floors. The Toronto Public Library has shifted towards lower bookshelves, which make it easier to reach books and provide for greater visibility, and this branch is no exception. 

Reinforcing the importance of sightlines, LGA cut away the second floor to create a clear view of most of the library from the ground floor entrance. Anyone entering the building is greeted by library staff at the main service desk, and the second floor service desk is also visible from the ground floor. This approach makes the library easier for community members to navigate, while also increasing safety for library staff. 

Another safety improvement is the redesign of the washrooms. The former stall washrooms, perceived unsafe in public feedback, have been replaced with nine individual-use washrooms throughout the building, including one on each level that provides barrier-free access. 

Throughout, the renovation pays tribute to the library’s past. Marks on the concrete floor show the location of the original entrance. Tonal differences on the walls reveal the previous ceiling geometry. Most importantly, the spirit of the library’s original design radiates throughout the reinvented spaces. This deference to change allows the library to continue to evolve. Staff are still refining plans for the rooftop terrace and an Indigenous smudging room, but community members have already made the library their own: a teen sneaks snacks by the computers, a display case shares traditions associated with Bengali New Year, and a kid clambers over a reading nook. 

From the front door to the back corners, this branch embodies how far libraries have come from being repositories for books. The flexibility and elegance of the design also shows how much is possible when library staff, neighbours of all ages and architects collaborate to renew a neighbourhood institution.

Emily Macrae is a writer and organizer working to build accessible digital and urban environments. 

CLIENT Toronto Public Library | ARCHITECT TEAM Brock James (MRAIC), Daniel Comerford, Allison Janes (MRAIC), Charlotte Cossette, José Castel-Branco (MRAIC), Kara Burman, Nevil Wood (MRAIC), Charlotte Cossette, Natalia Semenova, Billy Chung, Eveline Lam | STRUCTURAL Blackwell | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Enso Systems Inc. | CONTRACTOR Pre-Eng Contracting | LANDSCAPE Aboud and Associates | INDIGENOUS CONSULTANT Trina Moyan, Bell and Bernard Ltd. | INDIGENOUS GARDEN DESIGN AND INSTALLATION Miinikaan Innovation and Design | CIVIL EMC Group | CODE David Hine Engineering | BUILDING SCIENCE RDH | ACOUSTICS Thornton Tomasetti | A/V Smith + Andersen | CIVIL Solucore | MURAL WALL Red Urban Nation Artist Collective | AREA 2,370 m2 | BUDGET $21.4 M | COMPLETION Fall 2022 

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 269 ekWh/m2/year

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Concept designs of Saskatoon’s new central library have been released. The 136,000 square foot library will be located in downtown Saskatoon at 321 2nd Avenue North, with plans to open in 2026.

Designed by Formline Architecture, Chevalier Morales, and Architecture 49, the project draws inspiration from First Nation and Métis architecture. The exterior of the building references the traditional Plains First Nations tipi, while the interior mass timber structure references the Métis’ log cabin.

The building is targeting LEED Gold and Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification.

The exterior of the library is made up of flat modular insulated metal panels that will create a curved appearance. The transparent panels are triple glazed with a ceramic frit to prevent bird strikes. The interior is supported by a secondary wood and steel structure, with exposed wood columns and wood ceilings.

An atrium meanders up through the building, creating a cascade of spaces. Above the atrium, a clerestory window brings natural light into the building.

The building also includes a café,  auditorium, programming rooms, and exterior plaza. On the main level, retractable partitions enable partial library operations outside of regular opening hours. 

The Children’s Library is a key component of the New Central Library and is prominently located on Level 2. Directly accessible from the main public stairs and elevators, the Children’s Library is oriented south for maximum natural light and views. It includes a large play area, a story room, an art lab and family washrooms.

The Innovation Lab is a technology-focused, animated hub located in the centre of Level 2. The labs are enclosed by a wood screen that offers various levels of transparency and enclosure. 

The Teen Area is at the north end of Level 2, and includes individual study carrels, computers, group study booths and casual seating around the perimeter.
Specialized areas also include spaces for a Knowledge Keeper in Residence, Writer in Residence,  Gallery, Storytelling & Learning Circle, Local History area, and a consultation room where patrons can meet with library employees.



On Level 4, a Reading Room overlooks the outdoor plaza. A Storytelling & Learning Circle is being designed in consultation with Knowledge Keepers as an enclosed circular room with a foyer at the entrance and movable benches and seating. It will be ventilated for ceremonies and has a skylight overhead. The Gallery space will feature the work of new and emerging artists, and is designed to allow for flexibility in how exhibitions are displayed.

The post Saskatoon Public Library unveils design for new central library appeared first on Canadian Architect.

PROJECT Cornish Library, Winnipeg, Manitoba

ARCHITECT Public City Architecture

TEXT Lawrence Bird

PHOTOS Lindsay Reid Photography

For Public City Architecture, all projects begin with the urban condition. In their renovation of Winnipeg’s Cornish Public Library, the firm had to negotiate a particularly tricky situation. The library sits on the edge of a privileged neighbourhood—Armstrong’s Point—whose residents are highly aware of the heritage value of “their” library, and resistant to changes to its front entrance. Behind the library, people sleep rough under the Maryland Bridge on the Assiniboine River. A daily flood of commuters cross the same bridge, with a view only of the library’s rear elevation, not of its front.

The firm has solved accessibility issues (the original remit of the project) through a subtle front ramp and deftly integrated elevator and universal washroom; they also restored heritage woodwork. But the project’s most clever gesture is completely new: the addition of a reading room which appears, at first, to be a simple glass prism. Closer examination reveals a clever reconciliation of the contradictory geometries of
existing building and adjacent road. The solution also goes some ways towards reconciling more difficult aspects of the city.

Public City has oriented two of the room’s glass walls to the road and bridge, where they draw the eye of commuters passing through this urban gateway. But more importantly, and subtly, those walls reshape the library’s relationship to a contentious public space: the space under the bridge, where people, tents and collections of personal belongings accumulate in warmer months. A fence used to separate the public space under the bridge from the garden at the rear of the library, keeping itinerants out of the latter. At the designers’ urging, that fence is gone. In its place, Public City placed their reading room, dramatically raised up on a single concrete column. The eye flows under the glass volume, across a landscape striated by limestone slabs, some of which serve as benches. An outdoor faucet, too, is a simple gesture of welcome, providing a source of clean water for drinking, cooking, and washing up.

The eye also slips easily from inside to out. A glazed curtain wall opens the interior to garden, river, and bridge. Privacy is modulated by the slight smoking of the lower edge of the glass. Floor and ceiling are clad with identical wood flooring—emphasizing them as planes. To similar effect, columns are articulated at base and cap, where the circular sections become cruciform (a nod to Mies).

Inside the reading room, the skew of walls forces perspective, creating a space which, while small, has great presence. Its focal point is the kinetic sculpture Four Flowers by Michael Dumontier, one of the founding members of Winnipeg’s The Royal Art Lodge, a collaborative which helped put Winnipeg’s contemporary art scene on the map. Dumontier builds on the motif of the supportive column, adding his own column bedecked with a cluster of petals afloat in the circulating air. The artwork was intended to have a presence both within and beneath the reading room–and sure enough, at the base of the concrete column lies the rusted disk of a lonesome petal.

This library was originally funded by Andrew Carnegie, at a time of great socioeconomic disparities. For some, our time has started to resemble his. Despite the contradiction with his own treatment of labourers, Carnegie’s libraries were attempts to mitigate those inequities: open to the general public, even children, at no cost. Public City’s renovation is a fitting complement to that ethos. It engages heritage and art, and quietly accommodates function—all while presenting a bold face to the city and bravely engaging a difficult urban condition.

Lawrence Bird (MRAIC) is an architect, urban designer and visual artist. He works in Winnipeg at Sputnik Architecture Inc.

CLIENT The City of Winnipeg | ARCHITECT TEAM Peter Sampson, Liz Wreford, Andrew Lewth-waite, Taylor LaRocque, Dirk Blouw, Leanne Muir, Matt Piller, Monica Hutton, Russel Krepart, Tim Horton | STRUCTURAL Wolfrom Engineering Ltd. | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL MCW / AGE | LANDSCAPE Public City Architecture | INTERIORS Public City Architecture | CONTRACTOR ConPro Industries | AREA 458 m2 | BUDGET $1.25 M | COMPLETION June 2021

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PROJECT Clearview Library—Stayner Branch, Stayner, Ontario

ARCHITECT Lebel & Bouliane Inc.

PHOTOS Tom Arban. unless otherwise noted

Context is typically a catalyst for architecture. But when the context is a standard-issue hockey arena and its adjoining box of a community centre, surrounded by acres of parking lots and playing fields, where’s the generating concept? That was the big question for Lebel & Bouliane at the outset of designing Clearview Public Library’s new branch in Stayner, Ontario, a small but rapidly growing town 100 km northwest of Toronto.

The answer, in a word, was: light. “We thought about how to create a space that generated the best light for the library’s needs,” says architect Luc Bouliane. With that thought, and some riffing on how the same type of standing-seam metal that clads the arena could be bent and twisted into something livelier than a straight-ahead shed, a modest but captivating library began to take shape.

Positioning the library east of the community centre and angled away from it, on the north/south axis, enabled the design team to work with the site’s full potential for natural light. At the south end, a deep, zigzagging canopy shields the entrance to a new atrium shared by the library and community centre. From this compact lobby, a view opens through the library to its glazed north wall, which spikes up to the west and faces onto farmland. To the east, large windows punctuate bookshelf-lined walls, offering long-range views of park space and playing fields. The northern exposure provides optimal ambient light for reading and study, while the windows along the east side bring morning sun into the children’s section, a lounge area with a fireplace, and the staff area.

Rotating the library away from the community centre created space for a line of west-facing clerestories, allowing late-day sunlight to stream in without causing glare. A dynamic roofline makes the library visually arresting from the outside and comfortably bright inside: three south-facing light monitors echo the arena roof’s peaked form and draw indirect light deep into the building.

Stayner’s snow-belt location also factored into the roof’s design—multiple slopes encourage the white stuff to slide off rather than accumulate. Pale, prefinished cedar cladding on the exterior walls contrasts cleanly with the dark roof; the cedar’s tactile surface, reminiscent of barn board, humanizes the toughness of the standing-seam metal.

All of this helps explain why the building—the first new-construction library designed by Bouliane after leaving Teeple Architects and establishing a practice with Natasha Lebel—received a 2021 Architectural and Design Transformation Award from the Ontario Library Association. But the Stayner Branch’s success also comes from how it handles larger shifts in this building typology.

Today’s libraries are so much more than book lenders and places for quiet study. They’re where people gather for everything from crafting sessions to ESL classes. They’re where an ex-convict might check in with her parole officer, or where teenagers might play video games with their friends after school. These needs require flexible spaces, with room for more people rather than more books.

The new Stayner branch replaces a tiny downtown library with ineradicable, budget-hoovering condition issues. “The original concept the board looked at was putting up a two-storey building on the existing site, but the cost was going to be astronomical,” says Clearview Public Library CEO Jennifer La Chapelle. Relocating to the ex-urban site next to the community centre and arena was a fiscally responsible choice that enabled shared-use efficiencies. The library can hold its largest events, such as lectures, in community-centre spaces. And the new boardroom in the atrium is for library and community-centre use.

Due to factors including the digitization of media, accessibility requirements for greater between-shelves space, and a shift to lower-height stacks for improved sightlines, the Stayner branch’s physical collection is 25 percent smaller now than in its previous location, even though the new library is three times larger. La Chapelle says Lebel & Bouliane did an exemplary job of “listening to our concerns and ideas and turning them into a functional, visually appealing library.” The space allocation will continue to change over time. Bouliane believes that pressure on libraries to provide many different types of space for community use will increase. He designs libraries with an eye to facilitating the conversion of some collection space to community programming space five or ten years from now.

Stayner’s new library was nearing completion just as Ontario’s first Covid-19 lockdown commenced. Nearly two years later, operations revert to curb-side pickup when pandemic-related school closures occur, and at other times there’s a one-hour limit on library visits. Meeting rooms cannot be booked. The branch’s official opening has been postponed to May 2022. Bouliane is particularly eager to see how this library gets used when the pandemic retreats. Previously, whenever someone in the family had ice time, lots of Stayner kids and parents ended up, by default, in the arena. For many, this bright and accommodating new library will provide welcome alternative options to watching the home team chase the puck.

Pamela Young is a Toronto-based writer and communications manager.

CLIENT Clearview Public Library | ARCHITECT TEAM Luc Bouliane (MRAIC), Natasha Lebel, Thilani Rajarathna, Tiffany Tse | STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL R. J. Burnside & Associates Ltd. | LANDSCAPE Envision – Tatham | INTERIORS Lebel & Bouliane Ltd. | CONTRACTOR Corebuild Construction Ltd. | AREA 1,110 m2 | BUDGET $4.3 M | COMPLETION March 2020

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PROJECT Windsor Public Library—John Muir Branch, Windsor, Ontario

ARCHITECT studio g+G inc.

PHOTOS Jason Grossi

Established in 1797, Olde Sandwich Towne is located on the west side of Windsor, and is home to some of Ontario’s oldest heritage buildings. One of those gems is the 1921 Windsor Fire Hall No. 6, and its adjoining mid-nineteenth-century stable—one of few to survive from the era when fire engines were pulled by horses. In 2016, the City of Windsor and Windsor Public Library Board purchased both buildings, aiming to adaptively reuse them for a new library space.

For locals, the resulting John Muir Branch is more than a useful community amenity, and a sensitive piece of heritage restoration—it’s a work of art in itself.

The project was designed by architect Jason Grossi of Studio g+G and completed by Intrepid General Limited contractors. The contractors lived up to their name, as the project proved complex from the start. The sandy soil of the building site haunted the team throughout the project, requiring foundation underpinning and shoring to support a new elevator. The disparate floor elevations of the fire hall and stable also created challenges: in the contemporary addition that links the two historic structures, a suspended walkway on a slight incline connects one building’s upper floor to the other.

Connections to local heritage pervade the project. In front, a ramp and piazza are paved with cobbles from the original entrance of the Ambassador Bridge joining Windsor and Detroit. The brickwork on the exterior walls was preserved; during the reconstruction, sand and aggregates were collected from the site to use in the mortar repointing. Extra Douglas Fir boards were found in the building during renovations, so Grossi used them to clad the interior of the new addition, specifying the same wood type to frame its multi-paned windows. The stable’s original roof was salvaged and restored; the walls were unsalvageable, and were reconstructed with cedar shiplap siding and a limewash finish.

Inside the branch, part of the fire hall’s second floor was removed to create an atrium; natural light flows through a generous skylight and windows. Tin tiles—reproduced from originals recovered in the renovation—cover the main room’s ceiling. Salt-and-pepper concrete flooring allows sound to travel through this space, one of several areas designed to have specific acoustic qualities by Grossi, who has a parallel career as a composer and classical guitarist. Sounds are more muted in the front section of the library, ideal for library users looking for a quieter library experience. Mobile furniture—from seating to the circulation desk—provides opportunities for performances and other community programs. Most of the collection is housed in shelf-lined walls and stacks on the first floor of the contemporary addition, with the suspended walkway dancing overhead.

On the second floor, visitors can find the non-fiction and young adult collections, as well as a charred, exposed wooden beam across the ceiling—a relic from a 1940 fire that struck when the firefighters were out responding to a call and destroyed most of the second floor. Visitors can also walk up another flight to the tower where firehoses were once hung to dry, now home to a colourful beacon light and lookout.

Upon opening in the fall of 2019, the branch quickly became a favourite meeting place for the community, and the unique programs created by library staff were widely successful. Six months later, this momentum halted as the world locked down. When the branches in the Windsor Public Library system reopened with limited services, the open-concept, flexible design of the John Muir Branch allowed for easier physical distancing within the branch. As the project team had hoped, the building continues to adapt to changing user needs—both long- and short-term.

Rebekah Mayer (MLIS) is a public service librarian at Windsor Public Library’s downtown branch.

CLIENT City of Windsor / Windsor Public Library | ARCHITECT TEAM Jason Grossi | STRUCTURAL Haddad Morgan and Associates Ltd. | MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL Stantec Consulting | LANDSCAPE Bezair and White | INTERIORS studio g+G inc.| CONTRACTOR Intrepid General Limited | AREA 687 m2 | BUDGET $4.6 M | COMPLETION 2020

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The Guelph Public Library Board of Directors has approved the schematic design for the new central library designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects Diamond Schmitt. The new library will anchor the Baker District Redevelopment, a collaborative partnership between the City of Guelph and Windmill Development Group.

The new library is designed to accommodate future growth in Guelph by providing collections, archives, and community amenities in a contemporary facility. The three-storey, 85,000-sq.-ft. building includes 160 below-grade parking spots. Construction is expected to start in late 2023.

“Understanding the vision for the Baker District redevelopment and based on community input received, we’ve designed a striking, contemporary building that draws on the history of Guelph, and at the same time, catapults us into the future.” said Duncan Bates, Associate, Diamond Schmitt. “This new library will provide tremendous social and economic benefits to the broader community of Guelph and the downtown neighbourhood.

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Stunning architecture, connections with local histories, and providing communities with exciting spaces are just a few notables aspects of the recipients of the 2021 Ontario Library Association Library Architectural and Design Transformation Award. The award presentation was made at the OLA Annual Institute on the Library as Place event, held virtually on July 14, 2021.

The OLA Library Architectural and Design Transformation Award encourages and showcases excellence in additions, renovations, restorations, conversion to library use, and interior redesign and refurnishing in the architectural design of libraries in Ontario.

“Libraries are places for people to participate in programs, to study, learn and read. Now, more than ever, people need welcoming, inspiring and well-designed spaces,” said Shelagh Paterson, Executive Director of OLA. “This category challenges communities to not only think about the current needs of their library, but the library of the future.”

The Ontario Library Association (OLA) is pleased to announce three recipients of the 2021 Library Architectural and Design Transformation Award:

University of Toronto – University College, Kohn Shnier + ERA Architects in Association

From the jury: “This project is a beautiful and skilled renovation of a significant heritage building. The new elements of the library are considerately designed to draw on and respect their context in the fabric of the carefully restored existing building. The modern re-creation of the mezzanine provides an opportunity to create a variety of new spaces that highlight elements of the historic fabric.”

Windsor Public Library – John Muir Branch, studio g+G architecture

From the jury: “The renovation of the historic fire hall, with its glazed lantern on the hose tower and bay doors, creates a beacon and a welcoming façade to the community. The interior of the library provides a spacious flexible main space that welcomes you to explore the surrounding semi-private spaces and integrated restored 19^th Century stable building. The restoration and linking of the two heritage buildings have created a contemporary branch library that welcomes its community.”

Clearview Public Library – Stayner Branch, Lebel & Bouliane

From the jury: “The seam metal cladding system deployed by the architects effectively integrates the exterior of the library with the adjacent arena and community hall complex. The overall form of the building subtly reflects the shed/barn roof typology that is native to the region. The siting of the building, in combination with large north-facing windows and south-facing roof-top light monitors, flood the library’s interior with natural light.”

The OLA salutes this year’s award recipients’ dedication to meeting the demand for multi-functional library buildings that serve the needs of their communities.

The OLA Library Building Award encourages and showcases excellence in the architectural design and planning of libraries in Ontario. The award is divided into two alternating categories (Library Architectural and Design Transformation and New Library Buildings). Each runs every three years.

The call for applications for the OLA Library Building Awards, New Library Building category, will be open spring 2022.

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A new roof garden has been announced to open at the Vancouver Central Library over two decades after its completion. The joint venture architectural team of Moshe Safdie and DA Architects and landscape architect Cornelia Oberlander reunited to fulfill the original design intent of a public roof garden.

The new 40,000 sq. ft. indoor spaces include an 80 seat theatre, a feature wood bleacher/stair combination, a quiet reading room, art exhibition area, eating area, multipurpose rooms and offices. The total public exterior space totalled 20,000 sq. ft.

The design team describes the challenges to overcome the project as “daunting.” The Provincial Government Offices had no connection to the lower floors of the library, the two main elevators stopped just below the offices, and two small express elevators were previously used by the Provincial Government staff. The resolution was to extend the two main elevators and to cut a hole in the concrete floor of level 8 in order to add escalators.

 The escalators that were to be added between the 7th floor of the library and level 8 needed to be brought into the occupied building. The solution formulated by the contractor Smith Brothers Wilson was to temporarily remove portions of the existing skylight and to cover the gaping hole with a temporary telescoping tent structure.

The existing green roof was accessed only by a ship’s ladder, the elevator could not easily be extended to the roof and there were no interior spaces associated with the green roof. The roof garden was moved from its original rooftop position on level 10 to a position at level 9 that was contiguous with interior space. This would allow the surveillance that the library was insisting on. In order to create sufficient space to hold gatherings, a portion of the existing building would have to be carved away.

The project required the conversion of 7300 square feet of the interior space into an exterior garden.Over the course of 20 years, the role of the library has drastically changed. The idea of a roof garden for the Vancouver Central Library was now desired whereas originally the concern for the well-being of the books themselves was paramount.

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PROJECT Stanley A. Milner Library Renewal, Edmonton, Alberta

ARCHITECTS Teeple Architects (Design Architect) with Stantec (Architect of Record, formerly Architecture | Tkalcic Bengert)

TEXT Trevor Boddy

PHOTOS Andrew Latreille

After nearly a decade of design and construction, the Stanley A. Milner main branch of the Edmonton Public Library, by Teeple Architects in association with Stantec, finally opened last September, with pandemic precautions in place. One of our few major public buildings to open in 2020, the design may also be Canada’s truest indicator of where library architecture is headed. The direction it proposes, though, may not please fans of heroic made-from-scratch architecture, or for that matter, books. Here is my explanation of this unsettling conjunction.

Unlike other major downtown central library designs in Canada, the reopened Stanley A. Milner is a revamp of an existing structure, rather than a new build. And yet, its contents are a far cry from its predecessor. A large part of its second floor is devoted to makerspaces: a digital milling and printing lab; textile layout zones; sound recording and mixing studios; e-sports lounges; a teaching kitchen; video editing suites, and so on. Yes, there are rows of book stacks outside these, but the gathered machines are clearly the stars of this show. They’re swamped by eager young users after school ever since opening, many of them previously reluctant to darken the door of any library, and unable to afford even the most basic of this suite of largely digital tools. Moreover, there is a new breed of librarian at the ready to assist them, helping patrons operate the machines, locate online sources for ideas, and occasionally even suggesting references from a pulp-and-paper database—that is to say, a book!

As an Edmonton teenager who made a weekly pilgrimage to what was then called the Centennial Library, I would have been delighted with the prospect of this range of machines and minders to learn from. Lest I be typed as some dusty “keeper of the books,” one of the main reasons for my Saturday trips was the Centennial Library’s huge lending library of vinyl LPs, one of the largest on the continent. I loaded up every week with King Crimson, Thelonious Monk, Richard Thompson and my other faves. The building encouraged lingering with plush carpets, skylights and what had to be the first Barcelona Chairs in any Alberta public building—rehabilitated, they are still in use in the updated building.

Back then, the Edmonton Public Library was advanced in its embrace of technology and a social mission to spread knowledge to all citizens. It remains so today—their system was named “Best in North America” by Library Journal in 2014. I have no doubt that the tech-driven knowledge on offer to anyone with an Edmonton library card will spark careers for talented future designers—if there is to be an Alberta post-oil creative economy, it will be more likely born at the Milner Library than in any legislative corridor. Moreover, as a profession, architects hardly need convincing that knowledge can be created and transmitted in the form of materials, not just through words on a page. Our design schools talked a lot about phenomenology during the 1990s, but this new shift from passive reading to embodied activity marks a significant change. The maker-centric approach may be at the vanguard of larger changes in libraries, too. Raymond Moriyama’s 1969 Ontario Science Centre inspired experience-based, populist science museums around the world. In a similar way, the new Edmonton building—along with other projects of its type, such as RDHA’s Old Post Office in Cambridge, Ontario—could be signposts for a shift to experience-based large public facilities. A new word may be needed for buildings like this, instead of “library.” Time to bring back Buckminster Fuller’s “sensorium”?

The new Stanley A. Milner library is the product of two powerful and relentless personalities—Toronto architect Stephen Teeple and Edmonton Public Libraries CEO Pilar Martinez. Their collaboration began almost a decade ago, when Edmonton’s City Architect, Carol Belanger, catalyzed the choice of Teeple’s firm for what was initially thought to be merely a re-skinning of the 1967 building, designed by Fred Minsos. The Centennial Library was a graceful modernist-classical pavilion, disfigured by a gawky 1999 PoMo addition on its Churchill Square elevation. When design started for Teeple and associate architect Stantec, Martinez was a senior librarian on the building committee. As the project progressed from technical and program evaluation, through budget cutbacks and changes of government, she was eventually appointed to the top job—in large part to get the project done. Teeple had designed the immense Clareview Recreation Centre in northeast Edmonton, which included a large branch library, earning the firm points with clients at city hall and at Edmonton Public Libraries. Indicating how much things have changed in but a few years, that branch did not feature a single makerspace gizmo when it opened in 2014.

Like many other tendencies in Canadian public buildings, rethought downtown libraries here begin with a Raymond Moriyama and Ted Teshima design, the 1977 Toronto Reference Library, with its generous light and atrium. The next major downtown libraries are a mixed pair: Moshe Safdie’s popular/populist Vancouver Library Square, compelled by a shopping mall public vote to Colosseum-imagism; and the Patkau’s Grande Bibliothèque de Montreal (completed with Menkès Shooner Dagenais Le Tourneux and Croft Pelletier), a fine design bedevilled by technical issues. Schmidt Hammer Lassen and Fowler Baud & Mitchell’s Halifax Public Library was one of the first, and likely best transmission to Canada of the Nordic massing gimmick of displaced cantilevered boxes. The crown of the latest run of central libraries in Canada is Snøhetta and DIALOG’s Calgary Public Library, achieved with top drawer Nordic hutzpah, resulting in a rounded volume hovering over an active LRT line. Warmly finished and filled with light, it shone as a venue for a 2019 David Adjaye public talk I attended. The all-new Calgary library and the radically renovated library in Edmonton both have a similar floor area, at approximately 22,000 square metres and 15,000 square metres respectively. However, at $245 million, the Calgary library budget was nearly three times the $84.5-milllion cost of the Stanley Milner Library.

Armed with facts like this stark contrast between Calgary and Edmonton construction budgets, architects need to be increasingly skeptical whenever they hear claims that renovating an old building would cost more than building anew. After much discussion about demolition and a re-start de novo, the Edmonton clients and design team decided to remove all exterior windows and walls, while conserving the 1967 building’s concrete frame right down to the parking garage and foundations below. The finished design retains existing floors, elevator shafts, even escalator and skylight locales, plus much of the existing mechanical system. On the Churchill Square side, the library is expanded and wrapped with a new high-performance envelope. (Overall, the building attains LEED Silver.) There is no doubt that the interior finishes are banal, and the rhomboid zinc-clad exterior overexuberant. That said, with its programmatic tilt to makerspaces, its extreme parsimony with public funds, and the embodied energy conserved by recycling much of the old library, Edmonton’s example is much more the library of the future than Calgary’s, which history may soon regard as the extravagant final creation of that city’s greatest building boom.

As the gun-metal grey Azengar zinc panel cladding started to be installed during late construction in 2019, a rare-in-Canada public debate about design erupted, ignited by a critical broadside from Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples. Television and social media soon chimed in, bringing with it a battle of metaphors, with hundreds of online speculations as to whether Teeple’s chamfered and faceted metallic design more resembled a Star Wars galactic cruiser or an Eastern Bloc tank. Martinez and her team realized they could not win against this type of media frenzy, so wisely turned it on its head. With cheeky advertisements and a social media handle of #THINKTANK, Edmonton’s clever librarians gave as good as they got. “The building opens up curiosity,” says Martinez, concluding that Teeple’s design is “a phenomenal space to inspire learning creativity and imagination.”    

The renovated library clearly draws inspiration from the aggressively angled massing of OMA’s 2004 Seattle Public Library. The most striking interior space of the #THINKTANK is its splayed and splined atrium, new construction pushed out along a narrow zone in front of the Centennial Library’s structure. The addition forms a better locale of orientation and entry than any space in Koolhaas’ design. Fast + Epp engineers were charged to find a way to hang the addition’s structure off the existing building’s frame and foundations, resulting in one of the building’s visual highlights—a storey-high truss exploding out of the most acute-angled corner and set on elegant Y-frame columns, their engineering logic vitalizing the entire room. However, this atrium that is so heroic up top comes with a distraction at its bottom, in the form of a storey-high interactive video screen—a digital embellishment at architectural scale.

When I returned a few weeks after the press preview to see the library in public use, that big screen was tuned dully to an educational television station, with noone watching anywhere along the ramps, balconies and gathering zones of the atrium. The questionability of the trying-too-hard populism of this mega-screen was doubled by the adjacent super-graphic designed by library staff (not Teeple’s office) proclaiming “IMAGINE” in six-foot-high cut-out letters. I cannot think of anything less likely to inspire my mind to ‘imagine’ than a big sign ordering me to do so, with a TV running mindlessly next to it, as in pandemic living rooms. Similarly oversized, multicoloured letters are installed in corridors outside the basement public meeting rooms. Likely, library staff have overreacted to the public critique of the sterility and monochromia of Teeple’s design. When visiting, look up from there to enjoy the atrium and its inspiring conjunction of Teeple’s spatial legerdemain, Fast + Epp’s structural brilliance, plus Things I Knew to be True, Peter von Tiesenhausen’s wall-mounted public art at top—consisting of various figure-like recycled steel elements, grouped into glyphic ‘words’ and ‘sentences.’

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The architecture of the Stanley A. Milner Library is perhaps blunt and forcefully ungainly—but then again, these qualities are often thought to be virtues by the Prairie psyche—hey, they propel us through those snowdrifts! With huge oil refinery and petro-chemical complexes clearly visible to the east from downtown, a metallic palette makes sense in Edmonton. The provincial mammal may be the bighorn sheep, but the animals closest to the Albertan soul are the larger-than-life dinosaurs. Indeed, the architecture surrounding Sir Winston Churchill Square is the most diverse single collection of large buildings after modernism in our nation—a heroic dinosaur park for the architectural ideas of the past half century, even more interesting in its agglomeration than in its individual pieces. There is the triceratops of the voluptuous corner curves of the Art Gallery of Alberta, the late Randall Stout’s homage to former employer Frank Gehry. There is the Edmontosaurus of the Kahn-inflected City Hall by Gene Dub. Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s Edmonton Centre is the brontosaurus of the bunch, and the glassy wings of Diamond and Myers’ original Citadel Theatre take flight as a pterodactyl. Not surprising—because it comes from the talent who designed a fine Alberta museum for thunder-lizards—Stephen Teeple’s latest addition, a well-armoured and bold stegosaurus, fits right in.

Trevor Boddy (FRAIC) recently co-wrote and produced, with Barry Johns (FRAIC), a 30-minute video on a 1962 “missing minor masterpiece” by Arthur Erickson, located outside Edmonton. The Dyde House and Garden is being presented in virtual screenings with live commentary at architecture schools and professional associations in 2021.

CLIENT City of Edmonton; Edmonton Public Library | ARCHITECT TEAM Teeple Architects—Stephen Teeple (FRAIC), Richard Lai, Christian Joakim, Avery Guthrie (MRAIC), Omar Aljebouri, Will Elsworthy, Mahsa Majidian (MRAIC), James Janzer, Rob Cheung, Petra Bogias, Tomer Diamant, Sahel Tahvildari, Julie Jira, Tara Selvaraj, Dhroov Patel, Fadi Salib, Eric Boelling, Marine de Carbonnieres, Ali Aurangozeb. Stantec / Architecture | Tkalcic Bengert—Brian Bengert, Dawna Moen, Kristi Olson, Shaune Smith, Ian Colville, Carol Regino, Alyssa Haas, Derrik Kennedy, Ana Borovac, Ben Brackett, Joseph Chan, Ted Fast, Erika Hostede, Matt Roper, Bryanne Larsen, Taylor Bengert | STRUCTURAL Fast & Epp | MECHANICAL Arrow Engineering | ELECTRICAL AECOM | LANDSCAPE Scatliff+ Miller+Murray | INTERIORS Teeple Architects | CONTRACTOR Clark Builders | CIVIL AECOM | FAÇADE RJC | LEED WSP (Formerly Enermodal) | ACOUSTICS SLR Consulting (Canada) | ENVIRONMENTAL Gradient Wind | TRANSPORTATION Vinspec | CODE Kim Karn Consulting | AREA 15,326 m2 | BUDGET $84.5 M | COMPLETION September 2020

ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 120 ekWh/m2/year | BENCHMARK (NRCAN 2014, non-healthcare institutional buildings after 2010) 278 kWh/m2/year | WATER USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 0.1186 m3/m2/year | BENCHMARK (REALPAC 2011) 0.98 m3/m2/year

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The renovation and addition to the main branch of the Peterborough Public Library exemplifies an important trend in urban living, explains Peter Berton of +VG Architects, Partner-in-Charge of the project. “It’s a very big thing. More than just a library with books and internet, this is a community hub.”

The original facility, by Moriyama & Teshima Architects, opened in 1978 on Aylmer Street, west of the city centre, and had a protective, enclosed appearance with its masonry wall punctuated by narrow strip windows.

“We proposed to add on to the front and redo the entire facade of the building, which was predominantly solid brick and not very engaging with the street,” says Mr. Berton. “Now the front brings in more daylight and makes a connection with the downtown. Our design is all about opening up to the community and revealing the culture of the building so that people can see what’s there and feel like going in. That’s the big story here.”

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WINNER OF A 2020 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL IN ARCHITECTURE

LOCATION Drummondville, Quebec
ARCHITECT Chevalier Morales and DMA architectes in consortium

Two hundred years ago, a garrison of soldiers-turned-farmers founded Drummondville, Quebec. Later, a railway bridge was constructed over the nearby St. François River. Beginning in 1919, a series of hydroelectric dams on that same river allowed the city to develop an industrial economy, serviced by rail and powered by turbines.

In recent years, the city has made a difficult economic transition. Drummondville’s new library is a symbol and a synthesis of these redevelopment efforts, embodying the municipality’s forward-looking attitude.

The library is closely connected to a neighbouring ice rink—an important locus of identity for a municipality that is the hometown of over a dozen professional hockey players. A heat exchange loop links the rink’s compressors and the library’s heating system. The rink and its surrounding outdoor space accommodate a variety of seasonal uses, including festivals, day camps, Christmas markets and concerts.

Inside, the building features a vast double-height space with a grand stair, inspired by the local turbines. Ascending the two off-centre helical staircases allows for views towards the exhibition areas, a garden adjacent the periodical lounge, and other parts of the library. A large intermediate landing serves a double function: it provides a literal overview of the library’s collections, while also inviting visitors to pause, converse or change direction.

A duo of reading gardens extends up to the second level, forming an axis that divides the floor into two zones. To the north is the fiction collection; to the south, the adult non-fiction collection. A set of bleachers, set alongside the teen area, connects the youth and adult sections, providing a space for families with a privileged view of the outdoor rink and its winter sports.

The exterior cladding of the building includes a glass envelope that gives the project a smooth, continuous appearance. In order to optimize energy performance, three different types of glass panels are used: opaque glass panels that conceal insulated walls, fritted glass panels to control solar gain, and transparent panels to frame views of the site and provide natural light for work, lounge and reading areas. Perforated steel panels are installed behind fritted and transparent glass panels in select parts of the envelope, creating visual depth and speaking to the city’s industrial past.

:: Jury Comments ::  The jury applauds the local authorities who commissioned this detailed, delicate and well-resolved building. Placed next to a suburban hockey arena, the library uses stylized curves to great effect. The design benefits from robust visual and physical connections that unite architectural experiences inside the library with the landscaping. The all-white interior offers graceful swoops of walls and stairs, all raked by sweeps of natural light.

Read the Canadian Architect review of this project here.

PROJECT TEAM Chevalier Morales architectes—Stephan Chevalier, Sergio Morales, Alexandre Massé, Ève Beaumont-Cousineau. DMA architectes—Céline Leclerc, François Lemoine, Michèle Malette | CLIENT Ville de Drummondville—Marie-Ève Berthiaume, bibliothécaire, service au public | OCCUPANCY September 7, 2017 | BUDGET $21 M

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WINNER OF A 2020 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL IN ARCHITECTURE

LOCATION Brampton, Ontario
ARCHITECT RDH Architects (RDHA)

The Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park provides the community of Brampton, west of Toronto, with an inclusive gathering place. A progressive architectural counterpoint to the typical suburban setting, it has become a place of pride for the city.

The site is framed by a commercial plaza to the east, a major artery to the south, and a natural ravine to the north and west. The architects strategically positioned the library as close to the road as possible. This placement solidifies the building’s street presence, preserves the site’s natural topography and irrigation patterns, and directs interior views towards the ravine. The siting also allowed for parking and drop-off areas with canopied entry forecourts, and maximized room for a neighborhood park.

For the architects, the project is as much about the building as it is about establishing a landscape. At the library’s edge, an organically shaped perimeter joins the building and its two courtyards. Across the site, an undulating topography includes a fluidly shaped ceiling inside and mountainous green roof outside, while the sloping floor slab of the interior connects with the flat landscape of the park.

The neighbourhood park includes a splashpad, children’s play area, and series of terraced contemplative gardens for older users. The splashpad and play area have been organized around the word “Imagine,” spelled out in five-metre-high letters. The oversized letters are oriented in both horizontal and vertical planes, becoming an interactive feature for children to discover.

RDHA design partner Tyler Sharp collaborated with University of Toronto assistant professor Brady Peters, a generative design specialist, to create a solar-responsive ceramic frit pattern for the building’s glazed surfaces. Its striated patterns are rendered in white to dark gray tones; the spacing expands and contracts based on solar orientation. The vertical frit visually merges with a series of stainless-steel rods that support slender canopies and form the courtyard enclosures. Together, these elements evoke the turning pages of a library book, or the tree trunks in a forest.

The new building reflects the vision of an institution that strives for inclusivity, innovation, dedication to learning, collaboration, curiosity, courage and accountability. As a librarian puts it, “The stunning architectural features of Springdale Branch Library stand out, raising awareness and building excitement for what libraries do.”

:: Jury Comments ::  The jury lauded the element of joyful surprise in this suburban library. Outside, visitors can appreciate the thoughtful attention to refined details: the slenderness of the columns, the thinness of the roof. The three courtyards orchestrate strategies for echoing the landscaping inside and capturing different types of experience. Inside, the building offers unexpected encounters with the oculi and magical views across the interior. By not being shy about celebrating the suburbs, this confident and competent design makes a civic contribution the local authorities in Brampton should be proud of.

Read the Canadian Architect review of this project here.

PROJECT TEAM Tyler Sharp, Bob Goyeche, Sanjoy Pal, Shelley Vanderwal, Carlos Tavares, Juan Caballero, Soo-Jin Rim, Gladys Cheung, Lisa Sato, Simon Routh, Anton Freundorfer | CLIENT The City of Brampton and the Brampton Library | STRUCTURAL WSP / Halsall Ltd. | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/LEED Jain Associates | LANDSCAPE NAK Design | CIVIL Valdor Engineering | WATER FEATURES Resicom | SPECIFICATIONS DGS Consulting services | CONTRACTOR Aquicon Construction | OCCUPANCY June 30, 2019 | BUDGET $16.67M

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