Share to
Centre national intégré du manufacturier intelligent (CNIMI)
By : NFOE
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Interior Design : Grand Winner
Categories : Education, Institution & Healthcare / University & Higher Education : Platinum Winner
Categories : Special Awards / Interior Design +Wood : Platinum Winner
The CNIMI’s new building embraces the future with open arms
In 2019, UQTR started construction on a new building, the Centre national intégré du manufacturier intelligent (CNIMI), which is connected to the neighbouring building by a tunnel on a wooded site on its Drummondville campus. CNIMI was inaugurated in 2022 and now accommodates students from two institutions, Cégep de Drummondville and UQTR. It also supports manufacturing companies that want to make the digital shift and integrate new technologies into their production, such as industrial robots.
CNIMI’s centrepiece is a large plant-laboratory equipped with metal machining, welding and robotic equipment where education, university research and technology demonstrations take place side by side. All of the building’s rooms overlook a vast, bright area located in the centre of the building that brings to mind the centre’s primary purpose. CNIMI is also where classes and laboratories dedicated to teaching, as well as creativity hubs for collaborative research with the industry are held. An administrative area and a public area with a cafeteria and multi-purpose room for special events are also provided in the building.
The final concept, which is both simple and thoughtfully planned, skillfully combines the centre’s innovative, technological vision with the wooded environment that surrounds it—a feat that is echoed in the building in several ways. Each of CNIMI’s components was carefully thought out to help the building enhance its environment and create a bright, inspiring interior environment that fosters the development of new ideas.
A large opening spans the building from one façade to the other, which allows natural light to reach the core of the building, where the public spaces and double-high plant-laboratory are located. CNIMI’s side façades are covered with mirror-polished aluminum, reflecting the trees and helping to visually enhance the density of the wooded area. At both ends of the central space, glass façades open onto the neighbouring forest, which becomes an integral part of the interior decor.
The plant-laboratory is at the heart of the building, flanked by classrooms on one side and offices on the other. This layout creates separate sections within the space and prevents industrial equipment noise from entering the classrooms and office spaces while maintaining the transparency between the plant and the rest of the building. The space benefits from a highly flexible layout thanks to the conduit system in the floor’s concrete slab through which electrical power, data transmission and compressed air lines run.
Wood elements were integrated to bring the outside in and add a touch of warmth to the space. They include the arch in the entrance hall and the floating spaces in the double-height interior, which house the technicians’ area and creativity hubs. White dominates all of the interior surfaces except for the windows and curtain walls, which are black, to prevent too stark a contrast with the forest surrounding the building.
