Mid-century modern style | City vacation

Montreal architect Maxime Moreau did not expect to create a chalet at 9^e floor of the former Northern Electric factory, near the Lachine Canal, when he received a phone call just before leaving for the weekend.

“The phone rang around 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. It was a couple from Toronto who asked me to come see them, on a whim, saying that they liked what they had seen of us on the internet,” says the principal architect at MXMA Architecture & Design. “I was intrigued. I went to their house without knowing anything about their project. »

The two owners, Daniel Armstrong and Jason Fernandes, had just purchased the condo next to their pied-à-terre in Montreal. Their goal? Merge the two apartments to create a large loft, windowed on three facades, and thus benefit from a spectacular view of the Old Port, the elegant skyscrapers of the city center with, as a bonus, Mount Royal in all its splendor .

The result is an urban chalet with clean lines, clad in wood and marble.

It is therefore the great pleasures of the lives of two men which have emerged as the guiding principle of the project: music for Dan and cooking for Jay.

A first listening room, complete with a sumptuous bar, has therefore been set up on the east side so that we can contemplate the spectacle of the city's lights to the rhythm of the music.

All the acoustics of the apartment, as well as the speaker placement, have been optimized by an expert to provide the best hearing experience.

“Behind the wooden ceiling there is acoustic felt which absorbs all the reverberation caused by the concrete structure. It also provides soundproofing for the comfort of neighbors,” points out Laure Gaillard, architect and workshop manager at MXMA.

A second living room, with a large screen, has been set up in the opposite corner. In between are the kitchen and dining room. “So if people are chatting in the living room or dining room, whoever is cooking stays connected with everyone. The kitchen is truly the central and unifying element of the apartment,” underlines Mr. Moreau.

Hide domestic life

To reinforce the playful atmosphere, all the service spaces – bathroom, entrance wardrobe, laundry room, mechanical appliances – were grouped together in the heart of the apartment to free up the bay windows. They were hidden in an elegant box of roasted eucalyptus and green marble, faithful to the spirit of mid-century modern style. “It’s really the wow of the customers,” confides M^me Gaillard.

Around this block are aligned all the elements with very simple lines, but studied with an almost maniacal concern: the entrance corridor is in a straight line with the mullions of a window, the thin slats of the ceiling are distributed equally in space, the kitchen island forms an imaginary line with the dining room table, the door frames have been eliminated…

“A lot of care has been taken with the perspectives. The entire apartment has been designed in perfectly aligned blocks. It is this very linear, very refined side, without superfluous elements, which is the strength of the whole,” says M^me Gaillard.

A particular effort was made to hide the accessories of domestic life in order to highlight the leisure vocation of the apartment. This is why the lighting system is recessed between the ceiling slats, the blinds are hidden in a niche above the windows, while the switches and door handles blend into the decor.

“It’s minimalist architecture. But to achieve this, it requires enormous gymnastics, as well as quality workmanship,” recalls Maxime Moreau, praising the level of finishing offered by the contractor, Patrick St-Onge Habitat.

Furniture: boldness and care

The furniture, still in mid-century modern style, has also been the subject of particular care. It reflects, according to Maxime Moreau, the audacity of Dan and Jay, “two men who have retained a very adolescent side”. As proof, the pig-shaped side table from the Swedish studio Front, clearly visible in the TV room.

The listening room is furnished with a large Mah Jong sofa, by Roche Bobois, covered in fabrics by Kenzo Takada.

The dining room furniture was custom-made by Montreal designer Thom Fougere. A crane was necessary to hoist the immense travertine slab of the table, still in the mid-century modern line, into the apartment.

“This project is exceptional for us because the clients gave us carte blanche from the start. Throughout the process, they naturally understood where we wanted to go, and they followed our ideas. In the end, the result is exceptional,” concludes Maxime Moreau, who admits to having shed a tear at the conclusion of the project.

“We cried, didn’t we? », he asks, turning to his colleague. With a shy smile, Laure Gaillard nods her head in acquiescence.