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Musée McCord

Montréal, Québec

1992 Award of Excellence in Architecture, Ordre des Architectes du Québec

1994 Governor General's Award

Photo credits : Vincent Brière

Client

Musée McCord

Type of use

Museum

Year of construction

1989-1991

Work type

Extension of an existing building

Cost

22,5 M$

The redevelopment and expansion of the McCord Museum included a major overhaul of the old 1906 building designed by architect P.E. Nobbs, as well as the addition of a new building on Victoria Street.

With almost none of the original plans still in existence, a survey of the old building’s structure was necessary. Indeed, any lack of knowledge of the characteristics of the structural system and of the originally employed construction methods could have had disastrous consequences, both for the integration of the new wing and for the behaviour of the structure of the historic building.

Overall stability was ensured by linking the old to the new, and through internal consolidation of the existing structure. As is common for such work, many new construction details and procedures had to be developed. NCK was able to rely on techniques that it had previously developed for other heritage building renovation projects (Old Montreal, Canadian Centre for Architecture, etc.).

For this project, NCK provided complete structural engineering consulting services.