The concept of this chalet results from the rugged topography of its site, a sloping terrain on which the project is anchored in the bedrock, revealing an angular and monolithic architecture.

Its shape and its most minimalist expression allows for optimal compactness and a reduced footprint on its site. Its square plan is topped by a symmetrical gabled roof that reinforces its geometric appearance.

Inside, the space reveals a height under exposed joists that gives a sense of verticality to this contained space. Visible from the living spaces, the criss-crossing structure of the roof echoes the name of the lake by recalling the skeleton of a fish, as does its immaculate colour.

The modest budget leads to the optimization of the chalet’s spaces: reduction of circulation areas, creation of compact spaces, grouping of services and framing of views towards the landscape. It also aims to compose with a palette of simple and affordable materials. For example, maple veneer panels make up the integrated storage units.

The result is an unusual, simple and monochrome architecture exploring the purity of the square.

The project consists of the expansion and complete renovation of a single-family house located in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, to welcome a happy and unexpected arrival of a third child into the family, named Victoria.

The design concept is defined by the transformation of the house by integrating three structural architectural elements. First, the addition of Victoria’s bedroom on the back facade forms a cantilevered box attached to the facade, secondly by creating a new balcony on the front facade and finally, in the heart of the house, a new staircase articulates and organizes the functions of the house. These three elements are distinguished by the use of a unique colour, in a sage green shade, which, depending on the light intensity and the changing exposure during the day, presents a wide variation in contrasts and shades.

In the heart of the house, this touch of colour on the stairs attracts the attention and becomes a playful and geometric element. The monochrome staircase is designed as a lightweight structural work, composed of steel blades and painted cabinetry panels.

It defines the playground area in double height by extending the colour applied to the floor. Also, this central space is surmounted by a large skylight that brings light to the heart of the house as well as to all the surrounding service rooms, particularly the bathrooms, which are equipped with large glass imposts.

In the children’s bathroom, a bright yellow tone reinforces the playful function of this space, which is also seen as a space for play, learning and well-being dedicated to children.

Around this, the palette of materials is deliberately sober and raw in order to contrast with the monochrome and smooth aspect of sage green. Thus, the fibrocement panels of the exterior façade are preserved naturally and extend into the dining-room. The galvanized steel of balconies and concrete foundations are expressed in their raw aesthetics. The ancestral wood structure of the interior wall ” piece on piece ” is exposed and painted white in the double height space, while the structural beams of the living room are left exposed and stained in the same shade as the wooden floor.

The result of this transformation is a house that expresses both a singularity through its strong and omnipresent colour while revealing an intervention that keeps a large part to the expression of a simple and minimalist materiality.

Winner Grand Prix du design 13th edition – Residential space from 1,600 sq. ft. to 3,200 sq. ft.

The transformation of this duplex located in the borough of Plateau Mont-Royal into a single-family home, is defined by the creation of a central core around which the spatial organization is defined to allow natural light into the heart of the house.

Upon entry into Residence Olivier_ Nelson, the perspective opens onto a central wooden core wrapping a staircase painted in immaculate white. This stairwell bathed in natural light defines the overall circulation of the house and its spaces. On the second floor, the staircase creates a buffer zone between the office that serves as a guest room and the master bedroom. Each of these spaces communicates with a bathroom that benefits from indirect natural lighting.

The shower adjacent to the guest room is immersed in a diffused light coming through a translucent glass wall contiguous to the stairwell. As for the main bathroom, a sense of intimacy is created using a gray ceramic tile juxtaposed to a warm terracotta brick. Nestled behind the original freestanding bath, is a terracotta-rounded shower that benefits from an indirect light coming through the main bedroom.

The materiality of the project is characterized by a minimalist approach playing with tones of white, gray and black, all gilded by a textured gray ceramic and a terracotta tile. A concrete floor covers the ground floor while white ash flooring is applied on the level above.

The rear façade reinterprets the effect of depth enhanced by the balconies and the roof projections of vernacular constructions. By a play of folding planes, the facade dressed in fibrocement boards unfolds from the rooftop to the ceiling of the dining room. A generous glass wall punctuates the composition of this facade by offering natural light to the main bedroom while framing a view onto a majestic maple in the yard.

Winner Grand Prix du design 13th edition – Bathroom category

Located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, the transformation and expansion of this duplex into a single family home is defined by the geometrical dialogue of two complementary volumes highlighted by a set of angles and contrasting tonalities.

At the rear, the addition of a mezzanine allowing access to the roof terrace is read as an extension of the facade, stretching over three levels. On the first floor, a second volume extends the footprint of the building, contributing to the formal expression as a whole. The volumetric composition is guided by the desire to create a dynamic expression between these two angular entities. In each volume, two large folded panes of glass provide a visual connection with the garden below.

Inside, monochrome spaces with subdued materials surround the staircase located at the heart of the household topped by a generous skylight. The central staircase made of openwork railings diffuses a zenithal light through the interior of the house.

From the ground floor to the mezzanine, the staircase runs on three levels all the way to the family room giving access to the roof terrace. The interplay of volumes defines a close relationship between the living space and the roof terrace, which creates a space to contemplate the urban landscape.

The project consists of the transformation of a Montreal duplex into a single-family house. The architectural concept is build around a new staircase that joins the existing building to the courtyard extension.

Monochrome, the new courtyard façade with its abundant windows, is framed by two bricks pilasters, which enhance the relationship to the garden by continuing into the interior space. The conceptual transition between the old and the new is expressed by the materiality of the new staircase. The maple plywood used with white painted perforated steel contrasts with the original wood mouldings of the building.

The new living area is characterized by a sequence of spaces, which revolve around the double height dining room. The degree of intimacy is modulated according to the usage. On the ground floor, a bench becomes a contemplative space extending the interior. Upstairs, the yoga room, which is largely open towards the garden, is flooded with natural light. In the master bedroom, a steel blades screen filters the views over the neighbourhood.

The communicating spaces, with their thresholds, characterise the new rooms of the house. Intimate or more open, they allow a variety of experiences and possibilities for the occupants.

Perched on a mountain in the Eastern Townships, the Crowhill cabin is based on its timelessness and minimalism concept. By its angular shape, the project aims to underline the beauty of the surrounding landscape.

The project takes advantage of the rocky cape to anchor its raw concrete foundations, on which rest two volumes advancing towards the treetops.

The first module contains the living areas while the second has two bedrooms. By accompanying the natural slope of the ground, their sloping roofs reinforce the sensation of sliding over the cliff. The entrance forms an in-between space between the modules that are oriented differently from each other’s.

The overhanging roofs on the south facade emphasize the view while limiting solar gain during the hot season. On the side, a wooden platform located in continuation of the kitchen is oriented west towards the sunset. The burnt wood use on the facades and the pre-woven hemlock planks result in a natural palette for the exterior envelope.

Inside, the panoramic view becomes the focal point of the living spaces and of the master bedroom. On the floor, the ceramic with a concrete finish unites all the spaces and reminds the natural finish of the foundations.

While enhancing the landscape, the project above all considers the cabin as a minimal and contemplative space, inviting tranquility.

Finalist for the OAQ 2019 Awards of Excellence

The project consists in a complete transformation and extension of a commercial building on Beaubien Street. Its composition transcribes both the superposition of the commercial uses, while reinterpreting the original two-storey base from which a new floor emerges. This one is characterized by a monolithic steel roof sitting on a longitudinal band of black windows.

The conceptual idea of the project is to offer a panoramic framing of the view towards Molson park’s trees. The terrace on the roof express this concept by a series of sunbreakers inspired by the old folding cameras – in french « appareil photo à soufflet ». This black structure allows the scale of the project to be aligned in continuity with its neighbours from the street, while reinterpreting the architecture of the pergolas in a contemporary way. A perception of depth generated by the side alley is accentuated by a series of regular windows and by the insertion of a succession of vertical brick details.

The third floor office is organized into a succession of plans ; the conference room in front benefits from a visual continuity with the terrace, while the lobby and circulation areas are naturally lit through skylights. As a hint of the old building, several original lamps are reintroduced in the layout, contrasting with the new minimalist suspensions. The white oak storage units come through the glass partitions, revealing the perception of a regular space organisation from the corridor.

Finally, the monochrome tones of the overall project are enhanced with bright colours; the blue block contains the services, while the bright red radiates from the exit staircase.

The Bessborough residence is located in the district of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal. The project consists of the complete renovation of the ground floor of a duplex dating back from the 1950s.

The challenge was to open this 900-ft2 space by maximizing living spaces while keeping a certain sense of spatial division. The architectural concept is build around three “blocks”. These volumes articulate the space while playing on the notion of wall.

In the center, the black volume defines the circulation and acts as a filter between the various functions.

This volume, introducing a new staircase, play on its transparency by using a rhythm between full and empty using variations of glass, steel rods and mdf panels. The wooden volume brings a warm aspect in the whole space. It contains on one hand, a library and of the other one, a walk-in adjacent to the master bedroom. The grey volume, simple and sleek, allows hiding diverse functions of service as well as the bathroom.

Reinforcing the degree of abstraction of the project, the choice of minimalist furniture and lamps echoes the palette of textures composed of concrete, wood and steel.

• Grands Prix du Design 12e edition  – Residential space of 1,600 ft² or less

The design concept of the Aesop boutique is inspired by the geography and particular topography of Vancouver Bay and takes up the theme of contrast to propose an interior design where borders are opposed and materials respond by symmetry.

Taking its name from its Amerindian origins, Kitsilano really took off in the 50s and 60s with the hippie movement and the cultural mixes that enrich the neighborhood. Mostly residential, one finds large coloured residences, covered with light wood cladding or plaster in pastel tones, element taken up in the choice of pastel pink for the Aesop store façade.

Surrounded by powerful nature, Vancouver was built on the water’s edge, on a plateau overlooking the surrounding mountains. The development of port activity reached its peak in the 1930s thanks to the timber trade. The concept of the shop transcribes this meeting of strong geological elements in the palette of materials used as well as in the notion of clear boundary, where the raw minerality of mountains and water meet.

Building on the symmetry of the existing façade, the concept expresses the duality between the mountains and their mirror reflection in the Vancouver Bay water. The store is thus divided into two parts. From the floor to the ceiling, the first is covered with a matt mineral surface while its opposite, darker and brighter, seeks to express the shiny surface of the reflection. On both sides, the demonstration sink and the point of sale of the same volume are distinguished by the texture of the counters, a pink marble evoking the pastel tones of the façade and a green marble evoking an abundant plant cartography.

On the walls, a vertical grid of walnut wood uprights contains amber bottles placed on shelves, thus referring to the former timber trade.

The first step for this detached house from the late 1940s was to open the rear facade onto the garden with a 24-foot (7.4 m) sliding bay window. By taking away the intermediary support element, this intervention removes the barriers to the outdoor terrace.

A metal trellis awning framing the wide opening filters heat from the sun into the kitchen and dining room, which are brought together in one space and open onto the garden.

The transformation of this house opens it up, revitalizes the relationship between the spaces and creates a visual link between each one. A perforated mobile steel wall modulates the level of privacy between the living room and the two-storey-tall family room. By playing with the existing floors and creating new spaces, the concept transforms the perception of the dimensions of the house.

A 2.8 m by 5 m living wall suspended above the family room is the key feature of the indoor environment. Upstairs, this green presence can be enjoyed from the open-plan office. Every element of this project underlying the owners’ passion for detail.