A walkway crosses a portion of the library, connecting the main street to a nearby woodland. Photo: Doublespace Photography
Bibliothèque du Boisé

by Cardinal Hardy | Labonté Marcil | Éric Pelletier architecte en consortium (Éric Pelletier architecte and Cardinal Hardy joined Lemay in 2013 and 2014, respectively)
Montreal?s Bibliothèque du Boisé combines high-performance standards with design quality and responsiveness to community needs. Since open-ing in 2013, the facility has quadrupled visitor forecasts and been recognized for many aspects of its architecture and interior design, in particular, for its environmental sustainability.
The LEED Platinum certified building covers 6,000 square metres and brings together multiple functions: a library, administration, exhibit space and museum archives. The result of an architectural competition by the City of Montreal, the library contains a large collection to serve an ethnically diverse area. It includes meeting rooms, youth areas, and a café, and aims to provide an attractive space for learning as well as cultural and community activities.
The building?s wood-clad eaves echo the surrounding landscape. Photo: Doublespace Photography
Positioned between Thimens Boulevard and Marcel-Laurin Park, the library both strengthens the artery?s civic identity and enhances the protected woodland behind it, by providing a new passage between the two. The architecture unfolds, spreads out and rises up, blurring the bound-aries betw...