As will become clear, the above photo is not what the new Halifax Central Library will look like (it’s actually a Selexyz bookstore inside a former Dominican Church in Maastricht, Holland, designed by Merkx+Girod).

There was an article in The Coast last Friday by Tim Bousquet that outlines local architect Brian MacKay-Lyons‘ beef with the city’s process for selecting the firm that will design and build the new flagship HRM library on Spring Garden Road.

The beef in question is described thusly:

The procurement committee consisted of Judith Hare and Susan McLean, CEO and deputy CEE, respectively, of the Halifax Library; Andy Filmore, project manager for HRM By Design; and Terry Gallagher, an architect whose primary job for the city is as project manager for various construction projects.

MacKay-Lyons doesn’t fault the inclusion of library professionals on the committee, and he has respect for Filmore and Gallagher, but says they don’t have the expertise that is required for the project.

“The people making the decisions should be knowledgeable about the complete range of issues that are relevant,” he says. “So, most cities in Canada, if they’re going to do a building of this sort—like in Montreal, they just build a wonderful library. They had a jury that, for sure, included librarians, but was also peer-juried.

“The idea of peer jury proposal calls, or for competitions, is essential,” he continues. “We have professions because there is specialized knowledge. That doesn’t mean that the non-professionals don’t have a contribution to make, or an opinion that matters. In my opinion, a jury for a project of this significance for the city needs to be composed of the users, people who run the library, but also people who have deep interest in the city and in urban design and architecture. A proper peer jury situation has people of distinction, of stature that’s national at least in their field.”

Gallagher, says MacKay-Lyons, is “not a person who practices architecture and isn’t in the profession for the most part, and hasn’t the experience to be on that jury, if it’s about architecture.” And Filmore “has a master’s degree in urban design, and I would say has some qualification to be on the jury. [But] I’m not sure how much input he really had. The criteria for judging by the jury were not properly thought out either.”

Beyond concerns about the make-up of the committee, MacKay-Lyons, says the emphasis on paired teams—one local and one from out of the area—will result in a building that isn’t appropriate for Halifax.

“One thing that is absolutely clear is that no one who knows this city or understands its culture or even loves it, will be designing this building,” he says. “If the process continues, there will be a hand-off in some corporate office, in Toronto, likely, to a junior staff person who will design the building for our city of the century.”

Both in his interview with CBC and in conversation with me, MacKay-Lyons suggests that Judith Hare has a personal desire in seeing that HOK, is selected as the architect for the new library.

HOK was awarded the most recent two architectural contracts the library issued—for design of the Keshen Goodman Library in Clayton Park and for a “space study” for what would be required for the new central library. The space study might be relevant—for a building that has yet to move past the conceptual stage, the expression of interest has an interesting particular requirement for square footage: exactly 108,896 square feet. Make of that what you will.

MacKay-Lyons is quick to say he doesn’t want to be accused of “sour grapes” for not being selected. He certainly doesn’t need the money—his firm has plenty of work, including designing Canadian embassies. His intent in going public with his concerns, he says, is that he wants the best building for Halifax.

It’s interesting. BML seems more worried about the constitution of the committee – how many of its members are industry professionals vs how many are not – than he is about the committee’s integrity – if his suggestion that a committee member was determined to award the contract to one firm in particular even before the call went out is true, then the entire process is a waste of taxpayer money and a betrayal of the public’s trust.

I dunno. I just want a good design. I hope they make a good decision.

The article outlines the competition’s shortlist:

…of the 13 responses to the expression of interest, the six submissions that were “short-listed” for final consideration by the evaluation committee consisted of a local firm collaborating with an out-of-province firm, as follows:

Shore Tilbe Irwin (Toronto) with JDA (Halifax)
Diamond- Schmitt (Toronto) with Lydon Lynch (Halifax)
Schmidt Hammer Lassen (Denmark) with Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell (Halifax)
HOK (St. Louis/Toronto) with Lydon Lynch (Halifax)
Moriyama Teschima (Toronto) with Barrie & Langille (Halifax)
KMPB (Toronto) with WHW (Halifax)

Brian MacKay-Lyons, whose firm responded to the expression of interest but was not short-listed, says the focus on firms from out of area means that the library will be designed by people not familiar with Halifax and its culture, and the local partnering firm will have no significant input. (Listen to MacKay-Lyon’s interview with CBC here.)Paul Frank of JDA Architects, whose firm is still in the running for the library project, says that’s not the case. (Listen to Frank’s interview with CBC here.)

Bousquet goes on to say that the list has been further whittled down to four bids, and provides examples of local buildings each bidding team has designed:

HOK/Lydon Lynch
Seaport Farmers’ Market (not yet constructed)
Waterside Centre (not yet constructed)
Keshen Goodman Library

Schmidt Hammer Lassen /Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell
Citadel High
Metro Centre
Rebecca Cohn

Moriyama Teschima / Barrie & Langille
NSCC in Dartmouth

Shore Tilbe Irwin/JDA
Purdy’s Wharf
Ken Rowe School of Management at Dal

Honestly, I’d much rather have an international architect design the library because I suspect that all of the eventual designs from the shortlisted firms are going to be similar in one important way: they’re just going to be more of the same.

And although I wish I was wrong, my suspicion is that we’re going to end up with a design that’s competent, but not one that’s particularly inspiring.

And that’s a shame – the new library is going to sit on prime real estate; it would have been great if the resulting edifice was at least memorable.

Related posts:
Triangle Lands property
Design for new Halifax Convention Centre revealed
Halifax as I remember it
This is exactly the kind of stuff we should do in Halifax.
My Halifax