At a territorial scale, the project commemorates Gatineau City’s place of foundation and unification, with its gaze towards the Outaouais River. The architectural gesture reverberates at the urban scale, aligning the ground floor with the building typology of Principal Street. A terracotta veneer allows for the project’s contemporary, uniform and unique integration with the heritage context, interpreting the emblematic materiality of Vieux-Aylmer’s red brick buildings. A sequence of green spaces accompanies moments of collective intensity – which also organise the library’s different areas – and allows for the building’s opening on to the city. At the centre, an accessible large interior courtyard softly illuminates the spaces of both the library and administrative services. Alongside the courtyard, an architectural staircase unfolds through a large opening, from the reception area to a panoramic space at rooftop level, which opens on to Outaouais’ Belvedere.
