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Two-year-old Montreal library falling to pieces
Glass panels crashing to sidewalk below
PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- Going to the library could be dangerous to your health.
The $98-million Grande Bibliothèque, Quebec's main library and archive, has been falling apart a few pieces at a time.
Glass panels have been slipping from the exterior of the five-storey building, but book lovers and pedestrians could be protected in a novel way: a proposed safety perimeter of gardens, trees and awnings, which is also the most affordable option.
The library, located in downtown Montreal near the main bus station, opened with great fanfare in the spring of 2005.
Since then, 10 glass panels on the outside of the modern structure have crashed to the sidewalk, but no one has been injured.
"We're talking about the possibility of having a few more breakages over the next years," library spokeswoman Helen Panaioti said in an interview yesterday.
"But, according to the information provided by our experts, the possibility is exponentially reduced over time," Ms. Panaioti said. "The worst has already occurred."
Replacing the thousands of glass strips -- each about half the size of a small bedroom door -- with other tempered glass panels would cost "two or three years of work and several million dollars," she said.
But she said that would not reduce the risk of breakage.
Laboratory tests suggest 30 per cent of the 6,200 glass panels could present a risk falling off because they don't meet national standards for tempered glass.
Ms. Panaoti said the solution being proposed is to build a security perimeter composed of permanent awnings, landscaped gardens, dense shrubbery and banners "with a gutter system."
"In the case of breakage, the pieces [of glass] would never reach the ground."
She said the estimated cost of the security perimeter would be $500,000, far cheaper than a possible lawsuit against the builder.
Passerby Gilles Francoeur said it reminded him of problems with Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Chunks of concrete have fallen from a side of the stadium and part of its roof also has ripped.
"It's the taxpayers who end up paying and we should have a building that doesn't have any anomalies," he said.
Mr. Francoeur, a 54-year-old electrician, said he wouldn't want to be the employee responsible for maintaining the gardens.
An official with the downtown borough of Ville-Marie, where the library is located, said the proposed solution doesn't solve the problem and it doesn't answer safety concerns. "No objects should be allowed to fall from the building," Jean-Yves Duthel said.
Glass panels crashing to sidewalk below
PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
Canadian Press
MONTREAL -- Going to the library could be dangerous to your health.
The $98-million Grande Bibliothèque, Quebec's main library and archive, has been falling apart a few pieces at a time.
Glass panels have been slipping from the exterior of the five-storey building, but book lovers and pedestrians could be protected in a novel way: a proposed safety perimeter of gardens, trees and awnings, which is also the most affordable option.
The library, located in downtown Montreal near the main bus station, opened with great fanfare in the spring of 2005.
Since then, 10 glass panels on the outside of the modern structure have crashed to the sidewalk, but no one has been injured.
"We're talking about the possibility of having a few more breakages over the next years," library spokeswoman Helen Panaioti said in an interview yesterday.
"But, according to the information provided by our experts, the possibility is exponentially reduced over time," Ms. Panaioti said. "The worst has already occurred."
Replacing the thousands of glass strips -- each about half the size of a small bedroom door -- with other tempered glass panels would cost "two or three years of work and several million dollars," she said.
But she said that would not reduce the risk of breakage.
Laboratory tests suggest 30 per cent of the 6,200 glass panels could present a risk falling off because they don't meet national standards for tempered glass.
Ms. Panaoti said the solution being proposed is to build a security perimeter composed of permanent awnings, landscaped gardens, dense shrubbery and banners "with a gutter system."
"In the case of breakage, the pieces [of glass] would never reach the ground."
She said the estimated cost of the security perimeter would be $500,000, far cheaper than a possible lawsuit against the builder.
Passerby Gilles Francoeur said it reminded him of problems with Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Chunks of concrete have fallen from a side of the stadium and part of its roof also has ripped.
"It's the taxpayers who end up paying and we should have a building that doesn't have any anomalies," he said.
Mr. Francoeur, a 54-year-old electrician, said he wouldn't want to be the employee responsible for maintaining the gardens.
An official with the downtown borough of Ville-Marie, where the library is located, said the proposed solution doesn't solve the problem and it doesn't answer safety concerns. "No objects should be allowed to fall from the building," Jean-Yves Duthel said.
