ELEMA was mandated to design Phase 3 of the Jardins Richeloises project in McMasterville. The reinforced concrete structure includes five storeys above ground, with a basement level occupying 25% of the building’s footprint. The bracing of the pile heads utilizes a slab on grade principle instead of tie beams, thus economizing on the costs of excavation and forms. This procedure also simplifies below-grade draining work. The bracing system uses two reinforced concrete cores with non-orthogonal layouts due to the building’s unique shape.  An added challenge of this project was connecting the extension to the existing neighbouring building.

Technical challenges :

• Deep foundation construction
• Link to the neighbouring existing building
• Non-orthogonal lateral load-resisting systems with seismic site class D
• Lateral pile cap stability achieved through the slab on grade