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Building Envelope Review for High Profile Archives Building
Building Envelope Review for High Profile Archives Building, National Archives, Morrison Hershfield

The National Archives Building in Gatineau QC is a high profile public building, housing and conserving Canada’s heritage of historical documents.  This function placed exacting requirements with respect to environmental control, artifact security and building durability.   The building was recognized to be culturally important to future generations and so was designed to have a service life in excess of 300 years.

Morrison Hershfield assisted with the design development of the building envelope, including roof and curtain wall.   Innovative elements include a “shell within a shell” design concept with the climate controlled storage vaults contained within a mass concrete core surrounded by a glass envelope system to create an environmental buffer zone.  The outer curtain wall incorporate a steel truss designed to span 25 meters vertically and glazing panels were 2.8 meters in height.  The unique double drained roof system was designed for a 100 year service life, consisting of galvanized metal roofing installed over an inverted roof with a modified bitumen membrane.

The extraordinary design criteria required innovative and serviceable envelope assemblies.   Morrison Hershfield’s combination of design analysis, testing and site quality assurance ensured that appropriate building envelope systems were developed to provide durable, low risk building envelope assemblies.

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