A project located in the heart of Montréal’s Innovation Quarter recently caught our eye for its repurposing of an historic planetarium.
Images of the building’s illuminated exterior and the expansive, concentric shapes within are striking. We learned that the former Dow Planetariumhad just opened its doors as the new home to ÉTS Centech, one of the largest technology start-up accelerators in Canada.
The iconic Dow Planetarium had been closed since 2011 after 45 years of existence, and was transferred to the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)by the City of Montreal.
Eager to learn more about how the building was reconstructed, We spoke with Julie Morin, a designer at Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectesand the project manager on Centech.
A bit more about the client, according to the project description:
“TheÉcole de technologie supérieure, or ÉTS, is one of the ten constituents of the Université du Québec. It trains engineers and researchers recognized for their practical and innovative approach, the development of new technologies and their transfer to companies. Nearly one in four Quebec engineers graduates from ÉTS. Specializing in applied training and engineering research, ÉTS enjoys a unique partnership with the business community and industry.”
Centech, a nonprofit ÉTS created in 1996, is a start-up booster dedicated to advanced technology projects with high growth potential:
“Thanks to its two programs – Acceleration and Propulsion – Centech acts as a real instrument of growth, creating one of the largest densities of high-level technological entrepreneurs in Canada. In addition, Centech welcomes, within open innovation cells, large companies and companies that want to design new products with the agility of emerging companies while having access to all the benefits of Centech and its entrepreneurial ecosystem.” For more information on ÉTS and Centech, visit www.etsmtl.caand www.centech.co.
“In the spirit of creating synergies between the university community, the business community, the citizens and the ÉTS community, the new vocation of the Planetarium commissioned the typology of spaces: spaces to encourage encounters, collaboration and reflection linked to tools and advanced technologies, spaces of social diversity and exchange platforms for sharing knowledge.”
“The main architectural challenge met by Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes was to find a way to bring light into the heart of this building designed and intended, by definition and function, to be both obscure and opaque while preserving the memory and the nature of the place, inscribed in the imagination of Montrealers,” notes the project description.
“The choice to develop the project around the concepts of revolution (about an axis) and the circular shape, imposed by the intrinsic nature of the building, was decisive. Inspired by the perpetual movements of the universe and by the curious complexity of ancient instruments such as the astrolabe or the Orrery machine that translate it, the team of architects transformed the former Dow Planetarium into a place that not only allows one to understand the cosmic movement, but into a dynamic place that uses it. The era of observation having gone by, this building becomes a generator, accelerator and source of invention.
Beyond the materiality, the architects have thus favored the formal language to make the movement and this acceleration real and perceptible: from the gears that recall walls composed of a juxtaposition of vertical slats to the concentric circles that are superimposed in the plan, everything is about mechanical rotation and spinning.”
“We wanted to work with the existing shapes within the building,” said Ms. Morin. “We were very much inspired by its initial function as a planetarium, and we wanted to honor its life as a planetarium. But we also wanted to let light come into the building as much as possible, which is in direct contrast to the opaqueness of how a planetarium is designed.”
On each end of the building, the design team created an opening in the ceiling to let light fall to the interior; no other new openings were cut.
“The center of the building is an open circular space accessible on all sides and that controls the entire spatial organization of the building…it is intended for unplanned encounters and opportunities that are often at the origin of the greatest discoveries.”
Two grand staircases cut into the circular glass center, both leading up to a commons lounge space situated under the planetarium’s hemispherical projection room. At the bottom of one staircase is a café, while the other leads to another commons gathering space.
“The mechanics of the rest of the building are entirely articulated around this central space,” continues the project description. “Similar to the ingenious principle of watchmaking and the cogwheel, a concentric circulation path leads to the café, the meeting space and the ideation room that wrap around and revolve about a solidary and precise mechanism.
“Attached to this rotational movement along the main axis of the building, spaces intended for businesses that will accompany creators on their journey of technological creation complete this clever device.”
The design team exposed the ceiling and located all electrical under the floor slab. The project featured extensive custom glasswork with the smallest, slenderest components possible and without the use of mullions.
“We worked very hard to make the glass a very smooth elegant surface,” said Ms. Morin.
Centech needed the space to host workshops and conduct training, so there are a range of spaces to fit those needs, including the main circular space, as well as spaces for small meetings and something called an ideation room. Centech also wanted to be able to reorganize their space, and needed lots of flexibility, so all of the furniture is very movable. And much of the whiteboard and glass partitioning can be written on.
“People are really using this space – it was adopted very quickly, and it is a constant flurry of activity,” said Ms. Morin.
“We created small rental suites for outside companies who want access to the technology and engineering work being done there. The relationship between Montréal’s business community and Centech is a symbiosis, benefiting both parties.”
The building’s original exterior included vertical ribs set within a brick surface. At each of these vertical recesses, the design team created ribbons of illumination by adding new lighting – reinforcing the original architecture, but contributing something totally new.
“It’s important for our designs to take good inventory of the building and to not fight against the building, but to identity the distinctive qualities it has and then use them to inform a new design,” said Ms. Morin. “It’s very important to analyze the opportunities that the building can give you. We consciously decided to work with the qualities of the building. Do not alienate yourself from the building, but work with it.
