Award

FEBRUA RY 2019 | 37 West Block Rehabilitation PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM ARBAN/COURTESY ARCHITECTURE49 INC. + EVOQ ARCHITECTURE INC. West Block Rehabilitation by ROBIN BRUNET I t has been called the most elaborate rehabilitation project ever to occur in this country, and for Canadians it means the preservation of the country's physical seat of power, ie: Parliament Hill's Centre Block, East Block, and West Block, all of which were badly showing their age as far back as 1994, when Public Services and Procurement Canada engaged Architecture49 Inc. (formerly ARCOP) and EVOQ Architecture (formerly FGMDA) in a joint venture to determine the scope of work required to rehabili- tate West Block. James Bridger, principal senior architect for Architecture49, attempts to summarize the scope of this massive project. "In the early 1990s, the project began with an exterior envelope reha- bilitation; but by the late 1990s this had evolved into a more comprehen- sive three-phase project. "The project was put on hold in 1999, and then Public Works in 2004 re-activated it with more services, which included a new functional pro- gram – which was developed between 2005 and 2007. A new two-stage design was developed in which West Block's inner courtyard would be con- verted into a new House of Commons chamber, for Members of Parliament who would be displaced when it came time to rehabilitate Centre Block." Georges Drolet, architect, direc- tor, partner for EVOQ Architecture, adds that West Block, which was built in the Gothic Revival style in 1859 and officially opened in 1865, was in such a state of disrepair that a mason was able, after removing an exterior stone, to insert his arm in a mortar joint all the way to his shoulder. Drolet says, "This project has almost been an entire career for us, during which time building technologies evolved and events such as several Parliament ter- rorist attacks and 9/11 fundamentally influenced the scope of our work." Indeed, it was determined that cen- tralized access to all the Parliament Hill buildings as well as a new visitors centre would be located underground, which would require PCL Constructors Canada to undertake extensive blast- ing and excavation. "At one point during the rehabilitation the West Block resembled a mine," says project manager Irvin Heiber. The architects set a precedent early on by creating a strong vision for the rehabilitation's traditional and contem- porary architectural elements. "There were so many different committees with diverse objectives that we had to make decisions in a concerted, cohesive fashion," says Drolet. "Architecture49 and EVOQ helped accomplish this by establishing a new, integrated archi- tecture team, to the point where we opened an office together." The rehabilitation was governed by a prescribed methodology of understand- ing (which entailed two years of learning how West Block had been constructed and how damage had occurred); plan- ning; and intervention. This work was complicated by the fact that upgrades over the decades had changed many of West Block's heritage elements, one example of which was the transforma- tion of the attic into a fourth floor. Rehabilitation began in 2011, and a small army of masons removed 140,000 chunks of sandstone – representing about half the building – numbering each of them for reinsertion after they were cleaned and fixed. "The masonry work began on the southeast tower in 2006 and was a good primer for how the rest of the building would be rehabilitated," says Bridger. "But by the time crews got to work on the north tower, they used a new laser-based cleaning tool that wouldn't harm the weathering surface of the masonry – and you can see the difference between the completed southeast tower and the rest of the building." Another example of how evolv- ing technology affected the project pertained to lighting. "In 2007 we pro- posed a lighting design using LED fixtures for spaces that were required to be broadcast, when this technol- ogy was in its infancy; and by the time we awarded the contract, LEDs had evolved to the extent we met the com- plex technical needs for broadcast and architectural lighting, including colour correction," says Bridger. LOCATION Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER Public Services and Procurement Canada ARCHITECTS Architecture49 Inc. / EVOQ Architecture Inc. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER PCL Constructors Canada Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Ojdrovic Engineering Inc. / John G. Cooke & Associates Ltd. MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Crossey Engineering Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 329,354 square feet (including 80,234 square feet of underground space) TOTAL COST $863 million

• Cover