McGill University Schulich School of Music, Building, Architect, Images, Canada

McGill University Schulich School of Music Architecture

New Music Building, Montreal, by Saucier + Perrotte

page updated 7 Aug 2016 ; 4 Feb 2009

Faculty of Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC

New Music Building
McGill University Schulich School of Music, Montreal, Canada
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Design: Saucier + Perrotte

View of building from Sherbrooke Street:

photo : Marc Cramer

The design for the new Faculty of Music Building gives prominence to the southeast corner of the McGill University campus at Sherbrooke and Aylmer Streets in downtown Montreal. The new building is adjacent to the historic Strathcona Building, the existing home of the Faculty of Music, which houses one of the university’s main concert facilities. The new program adds to the faculty space, and includes a library, recital hall, state-of-the-art multimedia and practice studios, and faculty offices.

pictures : Marc Cramer

The site is a narrow strip of land between Aylmer Street and the east wing of the existing faculty building. The multimedia studio anchors the design. It is a polished limestone volume almost five stories high that is “embedded” three stories into the ground at the north end of the lot. Practice rooms and technical studios also inhabit the underground realm south of the multimedia studio.

Above these submerged spaces, at street level, are located the recital hall and main entrance. A folded concrete plane defines these spaces and appears to support the main body of the building above. This plane evokes an eroded ground plane leading to Montreal’s prominent Mount Royal beyond. A three-storey high library sits immediately above the recital hall, over which are three additional storeys of office and practice space. The new building is linked to the older faculty buildings by a glazed bridge that runs through the main entrance hall.

photos : Marc Cramer

The building’s east and west façades are discrete planes that frame the views of the city along Aylmer Street and toward the mountain. The east façade is clad in black and gray zinc, with long strip windows that illuminate the office corridors, and a large glazed opening into the library entry space.

The west façade is designed to evoke musical figures-the surface pattern of matt and polished aluminum reflects the Strathcona Building while a series of punched windows, evoking the music rolls of antique mechanical pianos, bring light into the smaller spaces inside. The glazed front façade, facing Sherbrooke Street, allows exquisite daylight to permeate the library and conference spaces, creating interior environments conducive to learning and research for the visitors and occupants of the Faculty of Music.

images : Marc Cramer

Sculptural stair winding around column in the entrance hall before
disappearing into the library level:

photo by Gilles Saucier

Canadian Architecture

New Music Building
McGill University Schulich School of Music

Client : McGill University
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Design Architect : SAUCIER + PERROTTE architectes
Design Principal : Gilles Saucier
SAUCIER+PERROTTE architectes
7043 Waverly, Montréal, Québec, H2S 3J1

Executive Architect : MENKÈS SHOONER DAGENAIS
Project Architect : Anik Shooner
MENKÈS SHOONER DAGENAIS architectes
1134 rue Ste-Catherine West, 1100, Montréal, Québec, H3B 1H4

photos : Marc Cramer

Project team: SAUCIER + PERROTTE / MENKÈS SHOONER DAGENAIS architectes
Gilles Saucier, Anik Shooner, Caroline Elias, Maxime-Alexis Frappier, Anna Bendix
Anne Sophie Allard, Audrey Archambault, Eda Ascioglu, Patrice Bégin, Catherine Bélanger, Alain Boudrias, Nathalie Cloutier, Jean-Yves Couture, Robert Dequoy, Maxime Gagné, Pierre Gervais, Mana Hemami, Jean-Sebastien Herr, Yvon Lachance, Marc-Antoine Larose, Jean-Louis Léger, Josiane Mac, Andrea MacElwee, Éric Majer, Claudio Nunez, Annie Paradis, Alex Parmentier, Harvens Piou, Isabelle Roy, Annie-Claude Sauvé, Sudhir Suri, Michel Thompson.
Superficie totale/total area : 11775 m2
Structure : Saia Deslauriers Kadanoff Leconte Brisebois Blais
Mécanique / Électrique : Pellemon inc. / BPR
Consultant en acoustique : ARTEC
Entrepreneur général : EBC Inc.
Gestion de projet: DECAREL

images : Pol Baril

Photography: Marc Cramer, www.marccramer.com, All rights reserved.
Pol Baril, www.polbaril.ca, All rights reserved.
Gilles Saucier, Saucier + Perrotte Architectes

Location: McGill University Schulich School of Music, Montreal