Planted in the coronary heart of downtown Montreal, Put Ville Marie is a mid-century icon. Made by I.M. Pei and completed in 1962, the commercial hub is an emblem of the Global Model. Alongside a 47-storey economical tower, an elevated public plaza is constructed atop underground retail that forms portion of the metropolis’s expansive underground town. As part of an ongoing re-creation of the complicated, layout business and creative agency Sid Lee have remodeled a previous lender corridor into their own dynamic new workspace.
Located below Location Ville Marie’s pedestrian plaza, the 7,300-square-metre office environment is a semi-subterranean area that spans a adjust in elevation between two downtown streets. With an expansive skylight as the only resource of pure illumination, the architects took on the problem of producing a light-filled, up to date business office while honouring the plaza’s modernist bones.
To make the most of an unconventional house, the designers opted for a basic still dynamic format that attracts all-natural light-weight from above deep into the multi-amount workspace. Nicknamed the “Biosquare,” a white grid-like structure of staircases —and communal seating — is woven by means of the heart of the space. Accented by lush greenery, the light finishes and open up structure develop an ethereal, energetic ambiance in what might in any other case be an enclosed, underground space.
Sid Lee revitalized the inside while preserving considerably of the existing infrastructure. For case in point, peeling back the carpet revealed travertine flooring — which was restored to honour the original interior. Meanwhile, the skylights were likewise stripped and enlarged in purchase to brighten the space with as a lot normal lighting as achievable.
Re-interpreted as social areas, the stairs that weave by means of the space blur the difference from 1 amount to the future, fostering a unified ambiance inside. The unconventional layout also offers occupants versatility to obtain new and ingenious ways to employ their environment. With no cubicles or assigned workplaces, Sid Lee employees can select their personal operating surroundings — no matter whether which is a standard desk, a more substantial shared table, a couch or a café table.
To contrast with the vivid white working stations, assembly rooms get on a stark stark black ambiance, develop a serene and immersive setting individual from the communal spaces. In lieu of compensating for the lack of home windows in meeting rooms and personal areas — including the bogs — the designers opted to emphasize the darkness with a luxe, moody ambiance.
As Sid Lee co-founder Philippe Meunier puts it, the task is an work out in bringing the firm’s “entrepreneurial spirit to downtown Montreal and producing an obtainable collaborative hub for the city’s artistic and business communities.”
The new workspace also kinds portion of a larger sized transformation of Spot Ville Marie and its surroundings – all led by Sid Lee. Alongside a thorough renovation of the neighbouring Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Resort, the designers have also sensitively re-formed the plaza that surrounds the office, introducing new plant daily life and greenery although reworking a parking garage entrance into a public staircase and promenade. As a final result of the drastic transformation, the general public sq. has viewed a spike in pedestrian exercise, introducing a friendly new vitality to what stays a handsome modernist showpiece.