Sid Lee Transforms Montreal’s Place Ville Marie – Azure Magazine

Planted in the coronary heart of downtown Montreal, Position Ville Marie is a mid-century icon. Designed by I.M. Pei and finished in 1962, the business hub is an emblem of the International Style. Alongside a 47-storey monetary tower, an elevated public plaza is constructed atop underground retail that forms section of the metropolis’s expansive underground town. As aspect of an ongoing re-invention of the advanced, structure firm and resourceful agency Sid Lee have reworked a previous lender hall into their very own dynamic new workspace.

Located underneath Area Ville Marie’s pedestrian plaza, the 7,300-sq.-metre workplace is a semi-subterranean area that spans a adjust in elevation between two downtown streets. With an expansive skylight as the only resource of purely natural illumination, the architects took on the obstacle of developing a light-weight-filled, up to date business office though honouring the plaza’s modernist bones.

To make the most of an unconventional house, the designers opted for a basic but dynamic structure that draws all-natural gentle from earlier mentioned deep into the multi-degree workspace. Nicknamed the “Biosquare,” a white grid-like composition of staircases —and communal seating — is woven through the coronary heart of the house. Accented by lush greenery, the mild finishes and open up structure build an ethereal, energetic ambiance in what may otherwise be an enclosed, underground space.

Sid Lee revitalized the interior though preserving considerably of the existing infrastructure. For case in point, peeling back again the carpet exposed travertine flooring — which was restored to honour the authentic interior. In the meantime, the skylights have been equally stripped and enlarged in order to brighten the house with as much natural lights as attainable.

Re-interpreted as social spaces, the stairs that weave as a result of the room blur the difference from a single level to the subsequent, fostering a unified ambiance inside of. The unconventional structure also provides occupants flexibility to uncover new and ingenious approaches to use their environment. With no cubicles or assigned places of work, Sid Lee employees can pick their individual functioning natural environment — whether which is a conventional desk, a bigger shared table, a sofa or a café desk.

To distinction with the vibrant white doing work stations, conference rooms take on a stark stark black ambiance, generate a relaxed and immersive natural environment separate from the communal spaces. In lieu of compensating for the absence of home windows in meeting rooms and personal areas — including the bathrooms — the designers opted to emphasize the darkness with a luxe, moody ambiance.

As Sid Lee co-founder Philippe Meunier places it, the challenge is an physical exercise in bringing the firm’s “entrepreneurial spirit to downtown Montreal and generating an obtainable collaborative hub for the city’s artistic and company communities.”

The new workspace also kinds element of a more substantial transformation of Put Ville Marie and its surroundings – all led by Sid Lee. Along with a complete renovation of the neighbouring Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Lodge, the designers have also sensitively re-shaped the plaza that surrounds the workplace, introducing new plant life and greenery even though reworking a parking garage entrance into a general public staircase and promenade. As a consequence of the drastic transformation, the community sq. has noticed a spike in pedestrian activity, introducing a helpful new vitality to what continues to be a handsome modernist showpiece.