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Pavillon Floreat
By : BLH Architectes
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Public Building / Urban Building
Categories : Special Award / Architecture + Wood : Gold Certification
Built in the heart of Rosemère\’s Charbonneau Park, the Pavillon Floreat, a four-season service pavilion, offers citizens a wider range of recreational activities in the heart of nature and close to a residential area popular with families. The Town of Rosemère wanted to give all citizens privileged access to the banks of the Mille îles River by constructing a building with a distinctive architecture that would enhance the magnificent natural environment in which it is located. The municipality wanted the space created to be warm and versatile in order to encourage the appropriation of the site by the citizens. With a surface area of 150 square meters, it is equipped with a rest area, changing rooms with toilets, an observation deck on the roof and a watercraft rental counter.
The Pavilion Floreat features an architecture that is resolutely at the service of its environment. The use of an exposed wood structure contributes to the beauty of the place and creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere while integrating with the environment with sobriety. The rooftop terrace, with its green roof, allows visitors to soak up the surrounding nature and appreciate the river from a high vantage point. Careful design of the architectural details adds to the apparent lightness of the building complex and its high lobby. This project is the result of many challenges including the construction of a green roof on a combustible building. The low bearing capacity of the soil and the very high water level required the use of a raft foundation. The use of wood reduced the weight of the structure and thus reduced the stresses transmitted to the poor quality soil.
The use of an exposed wood structure and a beam-column system in the upper part of the building emphasizes an original geometry while allowing the integration of a large fenestration contributing to the creation of a vestibule and a vast and luminous functional room. The exposed wood decking on the ceiling extends over the long exterior overhang which limits heat gain inside and provides a protective cover during inclement weather.
The use of round steel rod bracing and a wood shear wall, integrated into an exterior solid wall, allowed for maximum use of the building\’s components to lighten the visual aspect of the structure and promote large openings. The design of hidden beam-column connectors adds to the aesthetics. At the bases of the interior columns, the use of a thin steel plate accentuates the effect of extending the column to the ground. A steel column detail protects the base of the exterior columns and facilitates the bracing connection. The conventional wood-frame structure at the bottom had to consider the weight of the green roof and snow accumulation from the high roof.
The Pavilion Floreat is the recipient of the Recognition of Municipal Commitment at the Cecobois 2023 Award of Excellence, which highlights the commitment of 20 municipalities across Quebec that have used wood in a project that is significant for the community by making a responsible choice that contributes to the development of a material that comes from local, renewable sources and has a small ecological footprint.
Collaboration
Landscape Architecture : KAP, Karyne Architecte paysagiste
Photographer : Jean-Sébastien Désilet, photographe Amplifié
