Saint Roch-de-l’Achigan City Hall
SAINT ROCH-DE-L’ACHIGAN CITY HALL
Affleck de la Riva architects
ARCHITECTS
Affleck de la Riva architects
STRUCTURAL, MECHANICAL ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS
Leroux Beaudoin Hurens
PROJECT MANAGER
Richard de la Riva
PROJECT TEAM
Melanie Morris, Brigitte Boudreau, Cesar Vivanco and Sergio Clavijo
DESIGN ARCHITECT
Richard De La Riva
PHOTOGRAPHS
Marc Cramer
BUDGET
2 920 000 $CA
AREA
1560 m²
YEAR
2012
LOCATION
Saint-roch-de-l'achigan, quebec, canada
CATEGORY
Muncipal Building, Renovation
Saint Roch de l’Achigan is a small farming community eighty kilometres north of Montreal.
The community’s historic convent, built in 1881, is a landmark visible at great distances across the surrounding countryside. Located in the village center, the old convent is a building of important heritage value, a symbol of community and a source of pride for Saint Roch residents.
The recycling of this historic structure as the city hall and municipal offices re-establishes its presence at the center of community life.
The project creates a dialogue between the restored heritage building and a contemporary addition housing a new entry lobby, an elevator and a generously glazed stair-tower.
Creating a new entry on the lateral street is part of an overall site strategy that relocates parking to the back of the building and frees up the front of the site for a new formal garden.
As a foil against the traditional elements of the historic structure - a mansard roof, limestone masonry, a sculpted wood gallery - the addition is conceived as a series of interlocking rectangular volumes.
The vertical arrangement of these volumes creates an asymmetrical tower that echoes the old convent’s central bell tower.
Combining artisanal materials – copper and slate – with contemporary materials such as plate glass, aluminum and sheet steel, the addition provides a spacious, naturally lit lobby and up-to-date vertical circulation.
The new city hall respects the interior organisation of the original convent, centered on an entry hall and a two storey chapel.
An ornate plaster vault, decorative columns and stained-glass windows in the chapel have been restored and the space has been repurposed as the municipal council chambers.
