Publications

Before LMA got their hands on it, ITHQ was popularly known as the ugliest building in Montreal (…) LMA celebrated the Institute in a lively ‘second skin’, an intelligently composed array of ordinary lightweight materials, including expanses of perforated metal and chartreuse-coloured glass, emboldened by giant graphics. The overhauled building finally provides a welcoming edge to Square Saint-Louis, one of downtown’s few green spaces, and fulfills its role as a neighbourhood beacon.

Des moyens simples, comme l’utilisation de briques orangées semblables à celles de la coopérative d’habitation voisine et la conservation de plusieurs arbres matures, contribuent à la qualité du tissu résidentiel environnant, tandis que la tôle à baguettes s’inspire directement du patrimoine religieux de l’ancienne église.

The eight-storey building experiments with massing and materials to capture the dynamism of circus art. It is a deliberate landmark, marking the entrance to the TOHU site.

(…) the great room’s true focus and finest accomplishment are the five splendid levels of stacks that the architects have inserted along the west wall. The verticality of the pilaster-like maple stack-ends, emphasized by floor lighting, is counterpointed by the horizontality of the five steel mezzanine decks and their cable balustrades. The Library of Parliament’s ‘’swing space’’, as it is called, is a particularly accomplished piece of public space-making in a national capital that has seen too few such achievements in recent years.

The organization of the theatre is straightforward and impressive considering the density of program that needs to be accommodated within a tight volume. The curtain-like additions, necessary to enclose the enlarged volume of the new theatre, are carefully judged in relation to the existing facades, preserving the ruin-like spirit of the existing building but also making a convincing new whole which is celebratory, but not overblown. Perfect for a small public building.

À Beauharnois, tout est gigantesque, mastoc, incommensurable. Tout sauf le travail des rénovateurs et notamment de Robert Magne, empreint de subtilité. Y est remarquable l’équilibre qu’il atteint partout entre son expression,(….) et le soin porté à la finition.