Located on the site of the former Collège Sainte-Marie in Montréal, the proposed building includes a 7 to 8-storey podium surmounted by two towers, one 35-storey to the north and the other 45-storey to the south.
The program consists of commercial spaces on the ground floor, 732 residential units on the upper floors, a common terrace on the roof of the podium, and a common area on the top floor of the South tower with an illuminated ceiling visible from street level which will be a distinctive element of the project. The building also has indoor parking for 316 bicycles and 291 cars. The staggered towers will have an angled profile that resembles a “K” shape. The project involves excavation and construction near the existing AtkinsRealis building’s podium as well as the Le Gesù heritage church.
In addition, the former stone heritage wall of the former College must be restored and integrated into the project. In order to avoid the transfer of columns in the towers, they will undergo gradual transitions from floor to floor. Another challenge was the integration of the steel crane base for the construction of the second 45-storey tower, which had been planned to be built after the initial construction of the podium and the 35-storey tower. Weighing more than 40,000 lbs, its installation can be viewed here.
Finally, wind tunnel studies are required to control dynamic aspects of the project and to allow the optimization of the bracing system.
* Project in collaboration with RJC Engineers
Technical challenges :
- Twin towers on a common podium requiring several models of lateral analysis in order to understand the impact of the different phasing possibilities in the event of an earthquake.
- Close coordination with the wind studies laboratory for the design and optimization of the bracing system. Multiple scenarios and iterations were considered while taking into account the value analysis.
Notable solutions and innovations :
- Compact and optimized shear wall and column system to improve the layout of spaces and maximize rental value.
- Columns transitioned to reduce the number of transfer beams.
