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Architects: Croft Pelletier, Menkès Shooner Dagenais Le Tourneux Architectes, Patkau Architects: Patkau Architects in collaboration with Croft Pelletier and Menkès Shooner Dagenais architectes associés, Scheme Consultants
- Area: 350 ft²
- Year: 2005
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Photographs:Bernard Fougeres, James Dow
Text description provided by the architects. The Grand Library of Québec consolidates a number of collections dispersed throughout the province to create a resource library for the region as well as a central public library for the city of Montreal. The building contains four major components: a general library, a children's library, the collection Québécoise (historic documents pertaining to Quebec), and an assortment of public spaces outside the library control zone.
The two major library collections, the general library and the collection Québécoise, are housed within large-scale wooden containers on the upper floors. Linking the wood-clad collections to the floors below is a promenade that rises from the library entrance to circumnavigate the general library through a series of reading rooms. Views of the city unfold as the route ascends. Complementing the promenade is an efficient central circulation system.
A glass and copper building envelope represents the library as a whole. Opaque in some places, diaphanous in others, the facade offers enticing glimpses of the library to the city.
