Saul Bellow Public Library

civiliti worked with Chevalier Morales Architects to design the landscape component of the winning Saul-Bellow Library architectural competition. For the borough of Lachine, the library expansion and redevelopment project represents a high point for the local community. As the community’s main public building, it brings generations together for a unifying purpose that values knowledge, culture and education.

civiliti’s landscaping proposal first draws on the sensibility of the chosen architectural concept, then extends its expressive gestures to its external environment. Compositionally, the landscape reproduces the strong angularity of the building’s unfolded walls. Atmospheric steel embankments and retaining walls are used to create the library’s play of levels, with its long ramp leading to the garden level, the reception area below ground level. The small main courtyard, sculpted into the ground, offers an intimate space, lined with bespoke furniture that opens onto the café. Natural, earthy materials, their colors and those of native plants, contrast and complement the building’s abstract, white signature. Work on water collection and treatment, and the choice of indigenous vegetation and healthy materials allow for subtle integration of environmental requirements.