REAL ESTATE PROFILE
A Q&A with Anik Shooner
Anik Shooner, architect and cofounder of MSDL Architectes, grew up in the South Shore community of St-Lambert. As a child, she enjoyed spending time in the countryside, playing with rocks in streams and building cities out of sand. She found beauty in sharpedged leaves against a summer sky.
At age six, Anik surprised her parents with the revelation that she would someday be an architect. When she was 16, the family moved to Outremont. Anik attended CEGEP Jean-de-Brébeuf and completed the architecture program at Université de Montréal (UdeM), graduating in 1987.
We met at the MSDL offices on Ste-Catherine Street West.
What happened after university?
To satisfy the requirements of the program, each student had to complete a two-year internship. I did mine in Toronto with WZMH Architects (Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden), which was one of Canada’s largest architecture firms. The late 1980s was a difficult time for Quebec’s construction industry. Ontario was booming, so I stayed an extra two years.
How did you end up back here? I always knew I would return. I love Montreal, felt a loyalty to the city and a deep connection to my university. WZMH won a bid to design the Canadian Space Agency, in StHubert, and asked me to work on this amazing project. I commuted between Montreal and Toronto for six months and then moved back here permanently.
What happened next?
I stayed with WZMH for a few years. In 1994, when I was 29, one of the partners, architect René Menkès, architect Yves Dagenais and I launched our own firm, which we named MSD. Initially, we were just six employees; I had no choice but to navigate the steep learning curve of entrepreneurship. In addition to completing my work mandates, I was prospecting for new clients and selling our services. My father was a businessman and offered plenty of guidance. Within six years, MSD grew to 50 employees. In what type of architecture did you specialize?
All the partners agreed that it would be best to diversify. Early on, we acquired two large contracts, through public submissions. In 1994 we won the bid for the UdeM faculté d’aménagement (design faculty) and, in 1996, we designed McGill’s Schulich School of Music. MSD was young, but we began to build our name and reputation.
What happened next?
We completed many projects of all kinds — institutional, commercial and residential. In 2004, we welcomed architect Jean-Pierre Letourneux as our fourth partner and rebranded as MSDL. Since 2015, we have added six new partners — four women and two men. We currently have 120 employees.
What are your favourite projects?
I love them all, but really enjoy a high level of complexity; I thrive on the challenge. Two that come to mind are the Pavillon Bombardier (École Polytechnique) and the Centre de recherche de CHUM (Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal). Both were very large projects.
Another I liked very much was Condos Louis Bohème, which was challenging because of zoning changes.
Tell me about YUL Condos.
I have really enjoyed working with developer Kheng Ly (president and CEO of Groupe Brivia). He is making his mark on Montreal with this unique and beautiful vertical community. I did a great deal of exploration before coming up with its design, which has “movement.” YUL will be a neighbourhood jewel.
Like all of my favourite projects, this one had its challenges. The property includes the Maison Lafontaine, which was constructed in the 1830s for Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, a Canadian statesman. The original house was a cottage with a pitched roof. Kheng Ly could have demolished the structure but chose instead to honour history and work around it. YUL will consist of two identical 38-storey towers on Boulevard RenéLévesque, each with 400 luxury condos.
To mirror the scale of the Maison Lafontaine, which faces Overdale Avenue, YUL will feature 17 stunning, four-storey townhouses.
In between the towers and the townhouses will be an exquisite garden.
And in your spare time?
I still enjoy being outside of the city, admiring trees and swimming in lakes. I am also very committed to volunteer endeavours. I raise funds for UdeM and, for many years, have been chairman of the Société de Musique Contemporain du Québec. What puts the spring in your step?
I am all about making people happy — our clients as well as the endusers who will work, live and play in the buildings we create.
There are a few components to my work: the architecture, which is a combination of science and art, and the business side.
I love it all.
Each project brings new objectives and co-workers.
Architecture starts with something abstract — an idea or concept — and finishes with something very concrete.
New colleagues begin as strangers and the connections evolve into productive working relationships and lasting friendships.