Here are the 5 teams bidding to design Ottawa's new central library

Winner will go on to design new central branch, Library and Archives joint facility

 

Cbc.ca
April 17, 2017

Ottawa is one step closer to getting a new central library. 
The city unveiled five architectural teams on Tuesday that will be competing to design the new Ottawa Public Library and Library and Archives Canada joint facility on Wellington Street, just east of LeBreton Flats.

The five teams were selected out of 33 submissions received by the city since May 2017 and all have experience with projects of similar size and scope including libraries, archives, performing arts centres or museums, according to a news release.
The short-listed teams are:

Bing Thom Architects and GRC Architects 
Bing Thom Architects was recently rebranded as Revery Architecture and has offices in Vancouver, Washington, D.C., and Hong Kong. The firm designed Surrey City Centre Library and MacEwan University's Allard Hall in Edmonton. 

GRC Architects is based in Ottawa and worked on Carleton University's River and Canal buildings, that Canadian War Museum and Marion Dewar Plaza at City Hall. 

MacEwan University's Allard Hall. (Revery Architecture)

Diamond Schmitt Architects and KWC Architects
Diamond Schmitt Architects has offices in Toronto, Vancouver and New York City and worked on the National Arts Centre's recent renovations and on updating the Government Conference Centre, which will house the Senate while Centre Block on Parliament Hill undergoes its own renovations. 

Ottawa's KWC Architects designed the National Wildlife Research Centre at Carleton University and worked on the conversion of the old city hall on Sussex Drive to a federal government building. 

The exterior of the recently renovated National Arts Centre. (Diamond Schmitt Architects)

Mecanoo International and NORR Architects & Engineers Ltd. 
Mecanoo, based in Holland, has worked on the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York City, the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington, D.C., and the Library of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. 

NORR Architects and Engineers has offices in a handful of Canadian cities including Ottawa and Toronto, as well as others around the world. This firm has worked on the Royal Edinburgh Hospital and the Wellington Building here in Ottawa, located at the intersection of Bank and Wellington streets. 

Norr Architects worked on renovations at Ottawa's Wellington Building. (CBC)

Patkau Architects, MSDL Architects and GRC Architects 
Vancouver-based Patkau Architects designed the central libraries in Winnipeg and Quebec City. 

MSDL Architects, based in Montreal, worked on the casinos at Lac Leamy and Mont Tremblant, and on the Montreal Planetarium.

Casino du Lac-Leamy in Gatineau. (MSDL Architects)

Schmidt/hammer/lassen, KPMB Architects and Hobin Architecture Inc.
Denmark-based Schmidt/hammer/lassen Architects designed the Halifax Central Library and the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Toronto's KPMB Architects is credited with the design of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa and the Remai Modern art gallery in Saskatoon. 
Hobin Architecture, an Ottawa company, worked on Lansdowne, Centrepointe Theatre and the Oblate land development off Main Street. The company was founded by well-known local architect Barry J. Hobin.

The Halifax Central Library. (Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)
One of these five teams will be selected to design the central library after submitting proposals, and will then begin the design development work. 

The City of Ottawa said in a news release that public consultation will be a significant element of the design process.