WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF MERITThe jury appreciated the architects structural, spatial, and compositional commitment to an organizing grid. This design approach can be relentless or unremarkable when handled without variation. This projects strategy yields a range of nuanced spaces with different light conditions, offering an alternative to overglazed public spaces. DArcy Jones, jurorThe reciprocal frame creates a waffle-slab-like grid of wood ceilings, visible throughout the interior.LOCATION Mont Laurier, QuebecNestled in the heart of the Hautes-Laurentides region, at the gate to northwestern Quebec, Mont Laurier is a municipality of 15,000 surrounded by forests and mountains. The regions growth was historically driven by the provinces developing forestry industryan industry celebrated in Mont Laurier Librarys innovative use of wood.ScreenshotThe design features local engineered wood in an exposed reciprocal waffle frame, the first of its kind for a cultural building in Canada. The reciprocal framing system is a repetitive assembly of short glulam beams of identical eight-foot (2440 mm) lengths. These members, which are tied together by simple connections, cross and support each other in a balancing act that is then delicately placed on round, pin-like columns.ScreenshotThe bi-directional structural pattern of wood is organized in a rigorous four-foot (1220 mm) grid. This measurement is the width of the standard sheets of plywood used as the architectural decking of the system. Overall, the system is designed to minimize waste and maximize the use of the primary resource of local engineered product. The criss-cross woven wood beams are fully visible on the library ceiling, appearing like a pixelated quilt.The buildings cladding includes steel fins that emphasize the interior structural frameworks four-foot grid.The gridded framing system architecturally integrates services including lighting, fire protection, acoustics, and IT. It is mirrored by the use of a raised floor system, which includes a displacement ventilation and air-conditioning system, optimizing thermal comfort for occupants. Through the design process, meticulous attention was paid to the efficiency of the programmatic layout, and its alignments with the grids of the both the structure and floor.The wood ceiling grid integrates acoustics, lighting, fire protection, and other services. A courtyard brings natural light and vegetation deep into the floorplate of the library.This reciprocal framing concept is conceived as a full-scale prototype for a fully reproducible, factory-prefabricated system. The proposed structural system allows for the complete deconstruction of the framework and reuse of the glulam modular framing elements. The research and design of these mass timber components is being followed by Quebecs Ministry of Forests, Fauna and Parks. The concept is part of a vision to reduce the production of GHGs in the construction industry through designing for disassembly, stimulating reflection on the lifecycle of building components and on the potential for the decarbonization of our industry.CLIENTVille de Mont-Laurier | ARCHITECT TEAM Stephan Chevalier (MIRAC), Sergio Morales (MIRAC), ve Beaumont-Cousineau, Alexandre Mass, Julien Daly, Harvey Samuel, Olivier Brasseur-Trottier | STRUCTURAL Latral | MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL Pageau Morel | AREA 1,325 m2 | BUDGET $10.9 M | STATUS Under construction | ANTICIPATED COMPLETION 2025GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS INTENSITY (GHGI) 218 kg CO2e/m2ScreenshotAs appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazineSee all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winnersYou can read ourjurys full comments here.The post Bibliothque de Mont-Laurier appeared first on Canadian Architect.