Page 7 - Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) - Îlot Balmoral Project
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Photo Credit -Stephane Brugger
Roy, describes the “box in a box” approach that was “The walls are all canted. Nothing is straight, and
taken to provide the NFB with optimal acoustics there are no 90-degree angles. We actually had
for its recording studios and theatres. In particular, people call us to say they thought something had
the design of the Balmoral building would have gone wrong in the construction, and we had to
to address the music and noise of the place des explain that this is the design. The volumes are very
Festivals. intricate and difficult to build.“
“With box in a box, all the rooms are separate from In order to assist them with the intricacies of the
the building’s façade. There’s always a corridor or a building’s architecture, the team made use of a
double wall, and we used floating slabs. These were powerful and innovative design tool known as
some of the measures put in place to achieve a Building Information Modeling (BIM). For a project
highly acoustic building in a downtown location.” like the Îlot Balmoral, the use of BIM to create a 3D
model of the building was essential.
NO 90-DEGREE ANGLES
STRIKING AND SUSTAINABLE
Aside from the NFB specifications, the Balmoral’s
architectural design elements presented another Also important to the building’s design are the many
set of challenges for the architects. Says Pretty, sustainability features, including a green roof,
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