Channel glass beautifies Montréal water intake facility

A façade of channel glass over an inner envelope of colored aluminum helps make this facility add to the aesthetic value of its surroundings.
May 25, 2023
3 min read
Photo by David Boyer, David Boyer Photographe Inc.
The light-diffusing texture of Bendheim Rough Cast 504 channel glass softens the colors of the inner shell and helps the building harmonize with its setting in a public park.
The light-diffusing texture of Bendheim Rough Cast 504 channel glass softens the colors of the inner shell and helps the building harmonize with its setting in a public park.

A new water intake facility in Montréal used a special application of channel glass to develop a visually unique external façade, helping it fit comfortably into the public’s visual space.

When Québec’s largest city planned to build a new water intake on the Canal de L’Aqueduc, local residents expressed concern. The facility would be located right in the middle of a popular public recreation area, in full view of a residential neighborhood. The project team at Smith Vigeant Architectes agreed that no ordinary industrial building would do.

To achieve harmony between the station and its setting, designers layered an external façade of Bendheim channel glass over an inner envelope of colored aluminum. The result of this technique succeeds in both expressing and effacing the building’s utilitarian purpose.

Photo by David Boyer, David Boyer Photographe Inc.
At the Prise D’Eau du Canal de L’Aqueduc in Montréal, a façade of Bendheim channel glass helps create a striking “pixilated” appearance for the building’s exterior.
At the Prise D’Eau du Canal de L’Aqueduc in Montréal, a façade of Bendheim channel glass helps create a striking “pixilated” appearance for the building’s exterior.
Situated on a channel that draws water from the Saint Lawrence River, the intake operates 24 hours a day screening out debris. The combination of the inner and outer building envelopes provides proper security for the station and protects its operations from Canada’s harsh winters. It also serves to create a striking “pixilated” effect on the building’s exterior, as the vertical channels of glass cross the horizontal bands of aluminum to create the perception of squares.

According to architect Daniel Smith, the inner aluminum panels (in a graded range of blues) were chosen to reference the “horizontal” quality of water as it responds to gravity. The “orange peel” texture of Bendheim’s Rough Cast 504 channel glass diffuses these colors while adding reflections from the sky, ground, and water nearby. The finished building, which is largely unmanned and needed no windows, glows gently by night and, as Smith described it, participates in the changing tones of the natural landscape by day. 

Bendheim provided 352 channels of tempered, 100% heat soak tested glass for the project, in 14’ 8” lengths to provide an unbroken vertical wall of glass. Totaling 4,600 square feet in area, the channels were installed with Bendheim’s SF60S single glazed frame system in a clear anodized finish.

“We wanted a material that would be responsive to its surroundings, like water,” said Daniel Smith. “Bendheim has a very good system, and the quality was top level. If I ever have another opportunity to use it, I will.”

As Montréal enjoys a new landmark, Smith Vigeant’s efforts have been rewarded with the 2022 Prize for Excellence in Architecture (Industrial Buildings Category) from the Ordre des Architectes du Québec.

“We’re proud to be associated with a project that truly displays the exceptional qualities of our channel glass,” said Michael Tryon, General Manager at Bendheim. “More and more, we’re seeing interest in channel glass as a highly practical material that can also make necessary infrastructure beautiful. We look forward to working on many more such projects in the public interest.”

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