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By : 2Architectures
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Other categories in architecture / Continuing Value : Silver Certification
This project located at 415 Saint-Antoine Street, carried out in 1993, initiated by the Société Immobilière du patrimoine architectural de Montréal (SIMPA), is part of a heritage context. This former printing plant was renovated in respect of the building’s heritage values, with a focus on quality intervention to ensure the longevity of the project. In addition to the renovation and conservation of its Art-Deco stylistic qualities, the program called for the conversion of the industrial building into an office building, whose main tenant is the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal (OMHM), as well as residences on the ground floor, a daycare center and a restaurant. This new vocation of the building required the reorganization of the facades, the installation of internal service blocks, commercial spaces at street level, the design of a lobby, the organization of public spaces, as well as the addition of a basement parking level.
Working in partnership with the client required workloads to be organized in batches, as well as phased budget control. In addition, the client wanted the architects to adopt a ‘green’ attitude, both in the choice of materials and in the performance of environmental requirements. Indeed, the work on the material is an essential element of the project, as much by the choice of noble quality materials such as leather burned by a tinsmith as by the enhancement of the masonry.
The upgrading, in terms of general security, preserves the morphological aspects of the original plan, the only revision to the original rationality being the relocation of the service spaces to the center of the building. The most significant contribution to the architectural treatments remains the new modulation of the openings. While respecting the architectural style of the building, new openings have been made on the facades, while the addition of window strips expands the existing fenestration downwards. The project of the renovation of the building is carried out under three registers: conservation of the interesting elements, reconstitution of the architectural language and contemporary interventions. From the latter, the ‘rear’ façade is reinterpreted and offered to the urban context of today’s city.
Collaboration
