2010
Award of Merit, Canadian Architect This project involved the conversion of the nave of the Erskine and American Church, built in 1893, into a 444-seat concert hall and the demolition of the rectory in order to erect a new building intended to accommodate the new Canadian Art Gallery. The project also included a 45-metre-long tunnel under Sherbrooke Street, linking this museum to the museum complex.
The structural intervention in the nave was extremely delicate, particularly due to the absence of existing plans, thereby requiring meticulous surveys of the existing structure. The integration of a steel frame within the two bell towers was necessary in the context of the upgrade to seismic standards. The existing wooden frame on the ground floor was demolished and replaced with a concrete frame. Shear walls were added inside the existing stairwells, and the connection of the nave with the new building at the rear strengthened the whole structure. On the top floor of the new building, a minimalist steel structure consisting of a series of rigid frames was designed to support the glass curtain.
For this project, NCK provided complete structural engineering consulting services.
