Imago
IMAGO is the winning entry of the City of Montreal’s two-phase competition entitled ‘Vivre le chantier St-Cath’. St. Catherine Street, an important commercial artery in downtown Montreal undergoing a four-year infrastructure improvement plan along several blocks. The works include underground infrastructure upgrades, incorporation of new public transit systems and increasing pedestrian sidewalk area and access. The project seeks to ameliorate the streetscape’s overall appeal, improve its functioning and promote economic growth over the long term. During the construction different segments of the street will be closed to car traffic, however pedestrian traffic and access to all stores will remain functioning. It is inevitable that this period of transformation will have an impact on people’s daily routine and the operation of the city. The competition therefore seeks creative solutions to minimize the negative impacts of an on-going construction site. The competitors were asked to address the following: change the users’ perception of the work, create an innovative urban experience within the work site, direct the flow of people, reduce disruptions associated with the work, disseminate information regarding the work and its progress and finally, inform users of future developments. KANVA’s winning proposal developed three components: an inflatable module, an information kiosk, and signage. Inflatable Structure module: Inspired by a theme of natural sciences and the transformation of an organism from its embryonic state to its final stage, IMAGO proposes a series of biomorphic inflatable structures to shelter, protect, animate, articulate and enliven the construction site of Sainte-Cath. Its light, yet robust design is inspired by the physiology of a butterfly wing; many delicate intermediary members create a strong, yet flexible structure. Through its scale, fluid form and aesthetic purity, IMAGO unfolds with great contrast to its urban environment and the repair work below or beside. IMAGO offers a strong and bold visual identity to reinforce St. Catherine Street’s iconic status in Montreal and beyond. The intervention consists of a series of modular catenary arches, each composed of an inflatable structure anchored to a standard concrete construction jersey. IMAGO adapts to the construction site in several ways depending on the work being performed. The inflatable structures are composed of a high-resistant polymer that is entirely recyclable, erects easily due to its structural efficiency and occupies the site at the appropriate scale, all while being light and easy to move. The simplicity and modularity of the installation offers a flexibility and versatility both in terms of its sprawling, caterpillar-like nature and ability to adapt to different site conditions. The modules are erected gradually by attaching one to another growing until IMAGO covers the extent of the work being performed. The modularity of IMAGO makes each component affordable; the number of units can be easily multiplied based on the budget. Since the main material is air, the modules can be handled easily and stored in a fraction of their original volume. IMAGO offers a poetic and versatile strategy in response to the numerous challenges of a construction site. The intervention possesses a great potential to be used as an identity tool, communication tool, operational tool, and experiential tool to re-imagine the construction site and the cityscape. Kiosk (Information booth): Anchoring the site, the kiosk disseminates information about the construction work to the general public; it is the meeting point between the work taking place underground and the citizen. Specifically, the kiosk reveals the values and benefits of the current infrastructure work as well as future work through digital tablets and wall-mounted screens. The kiosk also offers many services to the general public including bicycle pumps, water for bottles, electricity to charge mobile devices as well as a lounge space and terrace. The kiosk is a recycled shipping container; a portion of one of the longitudinal walls unfolds during hours of operation to invite users inside and create an outdoor terrace space, folding up securely at the end of the day. This compactability is convenient, as the kiosk moves location as the construction site migrates over the course of the four years. The exterior of the kiosk is painted the ‘IMAGO’ light blue and flanked with the project logos, becoming an easily recognizable marker for the general public as the kiosk is relocated along the construction site. Signage: The signage orients the general public throughout the construction site. The graphic language was conceived to be informative, clear and precise so that users can understand the scope, duration and context of the work. To place the intervention in time, site graphics illustrate the transformation of the public domain of using street sections of Sainte-Catherine Street throughout the significant eras of its development, acting equally as an open-air museum testifying to the history of Sainte-Catherine Street from the past to the future. The signage is displayed in the form of large format horizontal banners that are attached to construction site fencing; the same graphics are also adaptable to display cases in metro stations, on city buses and on any other public means of advertising. Alongside construction: In parallel to the construction site along St. Catherine Street, the modules that make up IMAGO propose to inhabit various public spaces across Montreal’s 19 boroughs (neighborhoods). From animating a highly trafficked market in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, to creating a fun winter playground on the La Fontaine Park skating rink, IMAGO promises to continue to be a community marker and gathering point for the residents of each neighborhood. Experimental: IMAGO is forward thinking in its approach to dealing with an otherwise disruptive activity. IMAGO is a catalyzer of interaction through its three strong elements: the inflatable structures, the kiosk and the signage that all coexist to create a rich narrative and dynamic construction site. IMAGO is inspired from biology and biomimetics; just like nature transforms through evolutionary processes and cycles, the city is also in constant transformation. IMAGO pushes the notion of optimism from transformation through a playful and experimental intervention.
Montreal Holocaust Museum
77 years after the end of World War II, we are once again in a time of crisis and great uncertainty, when fascism, racism and anti-semitism are ascendant. This museum addresses one of our darkest histories, even as it speaks to resilience and hope. The new building will help the museum reach out to all communities and promote respect for diversity and the sanctity of human life. As so many survivors have observed, the Holocaust remains a reality that cannot be fully grasped in prose, images or architecture. Not only is it impossible, but inappropriate. The site on Blvd St Laurent — where Jewish and other immigrant communities settled — and the unique culture and history of Montreal, are foundational to the design. The architecture is woven fluidly into the urban fabric, its form inspired by the built history of the site. Former lot lines of the assembled property are represented by linear shafts of daylight reaching deep into the new building. They define discreet bays echoing the rhythm and morphology of the city. From this everyday world, you enter the building into an animated and welcoming ground floor. The transparency at grade contrasts with the solid volumes of the exhibition galleries above. Clad in traditional Quebec limestone, they complete the iconic streetscape. The visitor enters the agora and is drawn to the adjacent birch garden that marks the changing of the seasons. Daylight from the skylit voids above moves slowly across the agora, providing a heightened awareness of the rhythm of the day. Nature is at the heart of the museum experience. In the Permanent Galleries on the second floor, you are drawn into an intimate relationship with history. The design allows current issues and difficult memories to intersect in a building that will resonate with all who visit. The visitor moves between the emotional intensity of the exhibits and shared stories, to moments of relief and respite offered by nature, daylight, and views to the city. Ascending to the roof garden and the panorama of Montreal, we are reminded that there was hope, solidarity and courage during the Holocaust, as there is now.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Fasken: Connecting workspaces
The Fasken project aims to provide an exceptional experience to the employees and clients of this large law firm, in addition to integrating into the design a collection of 500 works of art. Located in the iconic Tour de la Bourse, a monumental staircase that links the five storeys of the Fasken offices, unfolds like a sheet of paper to provide fluid circulation between the floors which are now open and luminous. The connectivity of departments and luminosity encourages spontaneous use of spaces, in addition to highlighting the vast art collection.
Hotel Birks
Designed by renowned Montreal architect Edward Maxwell, the Birks building was originally built in 1894 for the Henry Birks & Sons jewellery store. This was one of the first businesses established around Phillips Square, along with Morgan’s department store (now Hudson’s Bay) and Montreal’s first art gallery. The building has since undergone numerous alterations over the years, leading to poor conditions that threatened its preservation. The client purchased the building in 2016 and lead a team of professionals to help realize an ambitious project: to transform and restore this historic building into a luxurious boutique hotel, while preserving the celebrated Birks jewelry store. The design team sought to highlight the remarkable character of the building, while updating its architecture to correct serious deficiencies. Storefront windows that had been replaced or partially obstructed over time were returned to their original conditions. This included relocating an elevator shaft that had been added to the interior of the facade, restoring transparency and visual connection to the square. The upper floors, previously the business’ office space, were converted into 132 hotel rooms. The original plaster mouldings adorning the ceilings were preserved by installing a specialized sprinkler system – necessary to accommodate the building’s new function. When creating the room layouts, existing columns were carefully considered and integrated into the floorplans; each room is thus unique and has its own distinctive quality. A two-storey glass volume now crowns the building – a subtle intervention that respectfully contrasts the richly ornamented façade while evoking the original diamond workshop. Below grade, obsolete mechanical rooms and vaults were converted into a spa. Finally, a new French Brasserie occupies a portion of the ground floor facing the Square. By evoking the past of a business and individual that have both left marks on Montreal’s history, the team successfully reasserts the presence of Edward Maxwell’s iconic Phillips Square landmark. These efforts have ensured the Henry Birks & Sons’ building will continue to stand out in the city’s cultural landscape for generations to come.
Institut Thoracique de Montréal - Breathing life into an abandoned urban hospital
Constructed in the 1930s as the Royal Edward Institute, the Montreal Chest Institute (MCI) was a key medical centre in the history of Montreal and Quebec. A surgical wing was added in the 1950’s. Neglected and finally abandoned, the campus will now be revived as a new life sciences hub specializing in research into respiratory illnesses, continuing the site’s original vocation at the foot of Mount-Royal. Phase 1, currently under construction, will host the global headquarters of CellCarta, a leading provider of specialized precision medical laboratory services to the biopharmaceutical industry. The second phase will bring together researchers and health technology companies in a new nine-storey addition that matches the height of the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM), located just to the north. A glazed atrium and rooftop garden will create a simplified, light massing that will expand and frame views to the mountain, create a common meeting point and provide teaching spaces for the growing life sciences community.
Taking Root : A New Technolab for the AGBU School, Montreal
Building on the success of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies (Yerevan, Armenia), AGBU is joining an international network of innovative educational facilities in Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beirut, Tirana, and soon in Tokyo, Kiev, and Los Angeles. This network aims to develop digital communication and design skills in teenagers around the world by providing them with the right environment and necessary equipment. As part of the actions and educational goals, teachers and students can form relationships that are then strengthened through financial and intellectual support. AGBU is the network's first Canadian location and is meant for Quebec high school students. The center offers after-school educational programs that exceed the requirements of the traditional curriculum and additional adult-level programs delivered by technology experts. One of its key challenges is to balance its global presence while maintaining ties to its local community. A potential bridge to this gap is the deployment of a small-scale infrastructure to maintain the link with its surroundings. The project includes the rehabilitation of two existing buildings–a school and a community center–and the construction of a new one that will house a technology laboratory and several classrooms, all within a residential neighborhood. Responding to the size limitations of the site, the new one links the two others underground so as to avoid obstructing any of their exterior openings. The complex is then re-organized around a recessed courtyard, which introduces natural lighting into all the spaces. A tree at the center is a natural meeting spot and transforms the area around it into an informal public space. One of the objectives of the mandate was to maximize the use of the existing spaces and facilities while developing a long-term vision for the campus that prioritizes its overall sustainability. Currently empty on weekends, the new and dynamic central space, created by the strategic reorganization of the site and modular layouts, will now be open and available for use outside of school hours. A future phase of the high school will include a new extension in response to the opening of a Metropolitan Express Network (REM) station, which will facilitate accessing the site and make it a transit point for public and active transportation, including cycling and pedestrian routes.
Biodome Science Museum
Housed in the former Velodrome, constructed for the Montréal 1976 Olympic Games, the Biodome opened in 1992 and is a jewel in the crown of a consortium of facilities that collectively account for the most visited museum spaces in Canada. After winning an international architectural competition in 2014, KANVA was commissioned for the $25 million project. KANVA’s mandate was to enhance the immersive experience between visitors and the museum’s distinct ecosystems and to restore dignity to the heritage building. In doing so, KANVA embraced the role that the Biodome plays in sensitizing humans to the intricacies of natural environments. The architecture, conceived for both humans and other living species, became a choreographed sequence of moments that inspires responsibility towards the environment. KANVA began by understanding the tremendous complexity of the building, a living entity comprised of ecosystems and intricate machinery that is critical to supporting life. They designed with a global strategy that required coordination of numerous delicate micro interventions. KANVA targeted spaces that could be transformed in ways that would valorize the building’s architectural heritage. By carving of a new core and gutting the existing entrance ceiling, they opened the space skyward to the building’s extraordinary heritage roof, composed of massive skylight panels that infuse an abundance of natural light. With an open space now forming the core between the ecosystems, KANVA parametrically designed a living skin, an emblematic feature that could wrap around the ecosystems and serve as a guiding accompaniment to visitors. With exceptional structural engineering, the prefabricated, pure white, biophilic skin harmoniously interacts with the skylights above. The membrane takes on many forms, its lightweight structure preventing unnecessary demolition of the heritage structure. Conceptually, KANVA focused its attention on soliciting senses. The new core amplifies the sensorial experience of visitors transitioning from its pure neutrality to the multi-sensorial discovery of its adjacent ecosystems. KANVA transformed the existing linear path of discovery into a dynamic experience. The entry tunnel features a subtle floor incline, intended to slow movement through a compressed white passage, and to void the mind for fresh sensory input. The undulating living skin funnels visitors into a 10-meter tunnel leading to the central core. Once in the central core, slits in the living skin, called eco-transits, lead visitors to explore the Biodome’s five ecosystems, including Tropical Rainforest, Laurentian Maple Forest, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Sub-Antarctic Islands, and Labrador Coast. Vertically, the transformation added a new level above the ecosystems, accessible via walkways. The mezzanine serves as a technical floor, with interactive educational exhibits offering insight into the elaborate machinery required to maintain the facility’s delicate ecosystems. KANVA’s careful interventions maintained the essence of the original building while generating novel experiences. The revitalization of the Biodome proposes to rethink the relationship between humans and nature and to re-examine the educational and cultural potential of a public cultural institution. The project has provided the firm with invaluable knowledge, preparing them for future projects where architecture becomes a tool to promote and facilitate environmental change.
Cité Midtown
Built on a former industrial site bordering the Ville Saint Laurent neighbourhood in Montreal, Canada, Cité Midtown is a residential development focused on renewal and connectivity. This LEED ND project, one of the first in Quebec, began with the remediation of 13 acres of heavily contaminated soil – remnants of the aviation industry factories once common to the area. By the time the project is completed, residents will be picking fresh fruits from the edible vegetation planted throughout the site. Given the site’s border conditions, care was taken to navigate different scales of urban grid by articulating building heights and lane widths, and by carefully distributing the project density. The site was strategically laid out to provide the maximum amount of green space, retaining 45% of the area for public use. Various project nodes are woven through a network of pedestrian walkways and shared roads, providing easy access to the community amenities and a new public park. Innovative safety features and roadway design allow pedestrians and cyclists to share a common road with motor vehicles, effectively giving an often-underutilized space back to the public. Finally, the site features groves of fruit trees and shrubs, fine herbs, medicinal plants and consumable perennials. These “edible landscapes” follow the principles of “permaculture”, where each plant benefits from the other and nature itself works to reduce maintenance and increase resilience, a reminder of the long-term potential for land re-use.
Montreal Biosphere
Former U.S. pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Open in Atlas MapFrequently Asked Questions
How long does the Montreal architecture walking tour take?+
The self-guided walking tour covers approximately 7.9 km with 3 stops. Allow approximately 3 hours including 20 minutes of viewing time per building.
Is the Montreal architecture tour free?+
Yes, this is a completely free self-guided walking tour. You can view the route on the interactive map, export it to Google Maps for navigation, and explore at your own pace.
Do I need to book the Montreal architecture tour in advance?+
No booking is required — this is a self-guided tour that you can start at any time. All buildings can be viewed from the outside. For guided tours with expert commentary, we recommend checking GetYourGuide for local architecture tours.
What is the best time to do the Montreal architecture walking tour?+
Morning light (before 11am) is ideal for photography of building facades. Weekdays tend to be less crowded around commercial buildings. Allow a full morning or afternoon for the complete tour.