Blouin Tardif Architectes performed a beautiful adaptive reuse and addition in Montreal.
One of the reasons we like old wooden warehouse buildings, as well as new wooden buildings built like old ones, are because they are very flexible and adaptable. This is a good example of Montreal, the monument project of Blouin Tardif Architectes. It is now seven lovely residential units, but see where it is and what it is.
In 1905, it was the “St. Louis Protection Company”, which made jams and jellies. According to V2com-newswire:
In 1927, the underwear company “Grenier” took over the installation and built an important add-on in 1933. This was done according to the plan of the architect Joseph-Zéphirin Gauthier, which unified the different parts of the building. New look. The latter is made of brickwork and is interrupted by a regular arrangement of window openings, which consist of a rectangular window interrupted by a semicircular opening in the inlet. The company will leave the 4835 Coloniale in 2012.
Now it has found a new living space in the existing wall and added a new life to the top.
The strategy includes limiting interventions on existing enclosures and floors, adding a level of debris to the roof, and piercing openings in existing frames to increase natural light penetration into the center of the volume. The new layout includes seven units and parking spaces in the basement.
The four units above are quite nice family units with three bedrooms and a terrace on the front roof. There is an elevator that seems to be on the second floor, but these are not for the timid; the living room, dining room and kitchen are on the third floor, which is an upside down plan to provide the best view and open space for the living space.
Given that the walls on one side of the corridor are blank without windows, I wonder if they are smarter to take the elevator to the third floor and set up a corridor there, even though they will lose a large saleable area. I originally thought that the aging market needs it, but these are three-bedroom family units. I think the baby boomer will buy it on the first floor.
Although there are some small holes around the elevator (it is good for you to take the stairs), the monument project is a good example of adaptive reuse, and those old wooden structures (and new descendants) can do anything.
