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Piercing the main library, the vertical circulation core creates a dynamic atrium space with exciting spatial relationships and views through the building. Aside from three glazed elevators, there are two slower, more processional paths through the building. In this core there are slender, zigzagging steel staircases suspended from the concrete floor plates.

There is also a ramped route through and around the main library between the two wood volumes, inset from the grand promenade. The ritual of ascending to the top of the building via the ramps culminates in sweeping views through the glazed exterior louvers across the street and unexpected views down through the main atrium space into the public spaces below.

In recent years, as in some earlier eras, library projects have been the new art galleries. It is not enough for a library to be a place to read and store books; the spaces must be dramatic and spatially exciting, with various community functions. Libraries have been attracting high-profile architects in international competitions from the flashy Seattle Public Library (2004) of Rem Koolhaas, the curvy Herzog and De Meuron Media Centre (2005) in Cottbus, Germany, and Canada's postmodern "coliseum" at the Vancouver Library (1995) by Moshe Safdie.

While the outward form of the glass-louvered Grande Bibliothèque is hardly avant-garde, the way the building works on the site, with a lively internal street, together with the handcrafted, materially and spatially rich interior, makes the building an enormous success for Montréal — and for Patkau Architects as they emerge as one of North America's most intriguing practices.

Terri Whitehead is a writer and designer based in London.

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The new Grande Bibliothèque of the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ), in Montréal, designed by Patkau Architects and Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux. Photo: Bernard Fougères/ BAnQ View from the bohemian street. Photo: Terri Whitehead Floor plan, ground level. Image: Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Extra Large Image Floor plan, first level. Image: Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Extra Large Image Floor plan, second level. Image: Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Extra Large Image Floor plan, third level. Image: Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Extra Large Image Floor plan, fourth level. Image: Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Extra Large Image Concrete columns in the grand promenade. Photo: Terri Whitehead Adventuresome circulation. Photo: Bernard Fougères/ BAnQ Terraced stairs and reading areas. Photo: Terri Whitehead   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.