West Block Rehabilitation

After completing detailed seismic analysis and design of seismic strengthening of the existing heritage Parliament building, the team at Ojdrovic Engineering, now Blackwell, designed a new contemporary structure made of steel, concrete and glass for the courtyard infill.

The West Block Building courtyard hosts the Canadian House of Commons during the long-term renovation of Centre Block. A brave architectural gesture created an “open air” House of Commons with the interior layout almost identical to the existing one in Centre Block. The walls of the balcony and the ceiling present in the original chamber disappeared, exposing the restored courtyard walls of West Block and the Canadian sky to the members of parliament and public on the balconies. The whole courtyard is covered with a glazed roof supported by ornamental architecturally exposed structural steel columns that create tree-like structures with branches resembling the arches of the Gothic windows and doors of the existing building.

The unusual steel frame had to be subjected to rigorous structural and seismic analysis to confirm its conformance with the intent of the National Building Code. A non-linear static (pushover) analysis was successfully employed, followed by a time history analysis.

The courtyard structure extends approximately three storeys deep into the rock below the existing ground floor level. The new structure is completely separate from the existing stone building. A detailed displacement assessment of the new roof structure and the existing stone building guided the design of the expansion joints between the two.

Projected complete as Ojdrovic Engineering.