The St-Hubert Library proposal by Saucier + Perrotte architectes was the competition finalist for City of St-Hubert.

Inspired from the natural qualities of its wooded site, the St-Hubert Library signals its presence in the forest as its central vertical element boldly punctures the top of the tree line.

Saucier + Perrotte architectes

St-Hubert Library, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

St-Hubert Library, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

+ Project description courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

St-Hubert Library - Conceptual idea, sketch courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Inspired from the natural qualities of its wooded site, the St-Hubert Library signals its presence in the forest as its central vertical element boldly punctures the top of the tree line. This gesture links the ground plane to the sky through the space of the building, allowing abundant the natural light so essential to reading into the library.

Simultaneously, the long main volume of the building makes reference to the horizon, respecting the scale and size of the trees. Since light must also be carefully controlled in various spaces, vertical slats articulate the building envelope in a regular rhythm, filtering the eastern and western light into the main and second floors. A central, monumental stair rises through the center of the library, linking the spaces and becoming a belvedere at the top level, permitting panoramic views the park landscape.

St-Hubert Library, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

The opalescent walls surrounding the staircase permit natural light to enter the reading areas and be diffused over the shelving. The library – as a place of uncovering knowledge – must accommodate more than spaces for reading, but several interior environments for diverse functions. The goal in the design is to favour an exchange between library users while emphasizing the universal, flexible character of the facility. The predominantly horizontal form of the library allows users, whether in the adult or children's sections to have a sense of their own way-finding and personal space while maintaining a reassuring physical and visual connection between sections.

St-Hubert Library, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

The building is intended to function as a publicly accessible facility for gatherings when library hours have finished so that a variety of social events may take place, such as: exhibitions, discourses, book launches and cultural and community activities.

+ Project credits / data

Project: St-Hubert Library
Location: St-Hubert, Québec
Client: City of St-Hubert
Architects: Saucier + Perrotte architectes
Structural: SDK
Mechanical / electrical: Pageau Morel
Program: Municipal Library
Status and schedule Competition: finalist 2008
Photographic: Saucier + Perrotte architectes

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Canada-based firm Saucier + Perrotte architectes has designed an apartment building located between Bathurst and Portland streets in downtown Toronto, Canada. The project comprises two parallel buildings with dual frontages facing to both the streets, thanks to the series of rhythmic glass boxes pushing in and out where the living spaces and the private balconies take place, as a result to create an interesting expression to the facades.

The overall intention is to recognize the individuality of each person living in the building — addressing the human scale — while preserving a coherent understanding of a larger, complex building texture at the scale of the city. The result is a building that communicates at two scales, the collective and the individual.

Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Thompson Residences, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

+ Project description courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Located between Bathurst and Portland streets in downtown Toronto, the project is formed by two parallel buildings, one facing King Street West, the other fronting onto Stewart Street . The two residential blocks, sharing the same formal language, are linked by a continuous lobby that runs along an exterior public passage between King and Stewart. The north and south facades, facing the street, gradually transform from the ground up.

Thompson Residences, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

At street level is a series of large boxes, two to three storeys high that continue the existing urban fabric. This platform features restaurants, shops and the main residential lobby.

Above, rising straight up without stepping back, is the rhythmic façade, based on a stacking of the project's building module, i.e., the basic single living unit. The modules/units are first stacked and then pushed back and forth consistently throughout the building to create alternating private balconies and to give the building its distinct expression.

Thompson Residences, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

The balcony setbacks get deeper on the upper floors along King Street to create a subtle deformation in the façade's pattern without breaking the vertical plane. In this way, while the overall volumetric composition remains intact, the facades themselves possess a vivid three-dimensionality.

Thompson Residences, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

The courtyard facades, less homogenous than the street faces, interact with one another in an interplay of setbacks, shifts and overhangs, sculpting an elevated courtyard/garden in the space between them. These variations in the courtyard façade pattern come from programmatic requirements and the face-to-face, dialectic nature of the project's two main volumes. The overall intention is to recognize the individuality of each person living in the building — addressing the human scale — while preserving a coherent understanding of a larger, complex building texture at the scale of the city. The result is a building that communicates at two scales, the collective and the individual.

Thompson Residences, conceptual sketch courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Thompson Residences, conceptual sketch courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte architectes

+ Project credits / data

Location: Toronto, Ontario
Client: Freed Developments
Architects: Saucier + Perrotte architectes
Structural: Halcrow Yolles
Mechanical / electrical: MCW
Landscape: GH3
Program: condominiums, retail, roof pool and bar construction
Total area: 25 455 m2 / 274 000 sq.ft.
Status and schedule: Planning
Rendering credits: DesignStor / Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Mirror Table for Porro, image courtesy of Front

Swedish design studio Front has designed a creative mirror for Italian furniture brand Porro. The Mirror Table is a rectangular mirror with a frame that incorporates a wooden console, a shelf designed to support small objects reflected in the mirror image creates an illusion of a round table. Ideal at the entrance of a house in the living room or bedroom, the effects of mirror Table Mirror looks like an open door to imaginary places, combining poetry and functionality.

+ Technical data

Size: L. 94 x H. 207 x p.29, 5 cm. H. Table 77.6 cm.
Finishes: Frame and cabinet white lacquered wood, mirror.

+ About Front

Sofia Lagerkvist + Charlotte von der Lancken + Anna Lindgren, image courtesy of Front

Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken and Anna Lindgren are the members of the Swedish design group Front.

Their works are based on common discussions, explorations and experiments and they are all involved in the projects from initial ideas to the final product.

Front’s design objects often communicate a story to the observer about the design process, about the material it is made of or about conventions within the design field.

In their work they have assigned part of the making of design to animals, computers or machines.

They have made a constantly changing interior, created objects with explosions, robotic furniture and a range of furniture inspired by their fascination with magic.