Creativity – Developed for an architectural competition organized by the city, the Bibliothèque Donalda-Charron sits within a large-scale natural environment at the heart of Gatineau’s Plateau district—a green neighbourhood designed in 2007. The project aims to build upon adjacent site conditions, favouring a landscape approach through which the library’s interior is read as both a continuous and integral part of the surrounding park. Hence, ideologically, its architecture aspires to create an absolute democratization of the space, actively promoting an enhanced relation with the context.

Functionality – The library’s social and technical programs are arranged in the landscape as pavilions contained within a glass case. The cores house the closed rooms, freeing the rest of the building from partitioning constraints and fixed functions. On the northern side, the gentle, diffused sunlight of the workrooms provide a calm haven. Taking its cues from the energy of the play area, the southern core houses the activity room. The eastern core, directly connected to the urban square and capable of functioning autonomously, contains the multipurpose room and becomes the Plateau’s cultural showcase. 

Innovation – Thanks to the creation of an environment, which speaks to the senses and the spirit, the library becomes a forum contributing to community dialogue, to individual wellbeing, and to living together in a place of cohesion and belonging, which is rooted in its territory. The structural and technical cores liberate the rest of the building from partitions, allowing for a non-hierarchical circulation and sequence. The transparency of the envelope, continuity of the roof and single-storey layout offer great potential for evolution and adaptation to future needs. 

Sustainability – The integration of natural elements such as vegetation, sunlight and airflow defines several indoor microcosms and contributes to the ecological character of the project. The planting of greenery on the periphery of the cores facilitates user orientation, and the permeability of the intermediary spaces contributes to passive ventilation strategies. The use of wood as a primary construction material (made visible in the beams of the ceiling) celebrates a local natural resource and reinforces the sense of belonging to the territory.