CANADIAN URBAN RENEWAL

Montréal, Québec is arguably North America's most European city. It serves as a mixing bowl of economic, cultural, and scientific influences, and its architecture and urban development represent both traditional and new economic forces. Now Montréal's Quartier International hosts a prestigious new building, "The CDP Capital" (Caisse de Depot et du Placement du Québec), which has emerged from a formerly dysfunctional urban area. Next week journalist Victor A. Khoueiry will describe the enlivened urban environment designed by the architectural consortium of Gauthier Daoust Lestage Inc. and Provencher Roy & Associates.

USING THE VIRTUAL BUILDING MODEL

"What happens to the total height of the building if we use a steel frame instead of a cast-in-place system?" "What happens to the total cost if we add 40 square meters to the lobby?" Answering such questions during design used to take days or even weeks of redrawing and recalculation. But with recent computer technologies, some designers are answering them in a matter of minutes or hours. Next week Larry Rocha, director of information technology at WATG, will explain how it's done.

HOW GREEN WAS MY ROOFSCAPE

A wildflower field in the heart of the city? Look again; this is a building's rooftop. The roofscape of the Church of Jesus of Latter-Day Saints Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah was one of the award winners in the first Green Roof Awards of Excellence program. The LDS green roof has water, stone, and trees, with planted terraces stepping up to firs, pines, and a meadow. Next week we'll take a look at a few other award-winning green roofs.