WINNER OF A 2024 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCEThis quiet infill project feels inevitable and fresh. The design strikes an intelligent balance between the modern and the historic as it rebuilds and abstracts the footprint of a previous structure that burned down in 1959. A modern mansard roof doubles as a shroud for unsightly mechanical equipment, a change in stone texture marks the parapet of the previous building, and each floors efficient planning responds to the stairs and exits of the adjacent building. DArcy Jones, jurorRounded corners refer to the original building on the site, which burned down more than 50 years ago; a change in stone texture marks the earlier buildings parapet line.LOCATION Montreal, QuebecAn 18 x 80-foot sliver of real estate in Montreals Old Port district has been vacant since 1959, when the modest 19th-century warehouse that formerly occupied the site burned down. To state the obvious, any land parcel that has remained a pocket-size parking lot for more than six decades in this bustling tourism, dining, and shopping district must be fairly resistant to redevelopment. However, the owner of both this corner lot and the mixed-use heritage building adjacent to it determined that an infill building would be viable if it shared elevator and stair access with its neighbour to the east. Architecture cologiques efficient design makes this happen, and it addresses the sites challenges with urbane grace.Historic drawings and photos served as key references in the design.Due to the topographys southward slope, the existing building has five storeys along its Rue de la Commune faade, which overlooks the St. Lawrence River, and only four on its north faade, along Rue Saint-Paul. It has retail tenancy at street level on Saint-Paul, and on the first two floors along Rue de la Commune, with two levels of office space above that and a residential loft on level five. The infill building will have a similar disposition of retail space, plus five apartments on its upper four levels, ranging in size from a studio to a three-bedroom unit. The top two apartments are each two-floor stair-connected units, with an upper-level terrace. A mansard-like roof, echoing the form of many others in the district that became Montreals main port in the 1600s, tucks the mechanical equipment out of sight.Openings on all elevations respond carefully to the adjacent building.While clearly a building of its own time, the infill structure subtly alludes to its predecessor, echoing the fire-destroyed buildings rounded corners and marking the height of its parapet with a shift in stone texture.Best known to date for rural, single-family residences, architecture cologique founder Etienne Lemay demonstrates a deft touch on this project for mixed-use infill in a heritage district. And as his firms name suggests, this building will have a small footprint, sustainably as well as literally: its above-ground structural system will be cross-laminated timber; its heating and cooling will be geothermal.Diagrams show how the previous structure informed the composition of the faades.CLIENT Pierre Bouvrette | ARCHITECTS Etienne Lemay, Odile Lamy | STRUCTURAL Latral | MECHANICAL Canope | CODE Technorm Inc. | AREA 965 m2 | BUDGET $4.5 M | STATUS Design development| ANTICIPATED COMPLETION 2026As appeared in the December 2024 issue of Canadian Architect magazineSee all the 2024 Awards of Excellence winnersYou can read ourjurys full comments here.The post Montreal Old Port Infill appeared first on Canadian Architect.