MICRODEVELOPMENT
Making the most of available space, and doing so with style
Promoting densification in Montreal’s core urban areas is necessary, according to city planners. But what form, exactly, should that density take?
According to Olivier Lajeunesse-travers, one of two founding partner architects (along with Guillaume Marcoux) at Microclimat Architecture, it should be human-scale, drawing its inspiration from the very ’plexes the city is best known for.
“It’s about how we can try to find a balance between preserving the urban fabric of Montreal — the duplexes and triplexes which are so important for its identity — but also make it evolve, and make it more livable and suitable for the families of today,” said Lajeunesse-travers.
“Even during the last election, at the municipal level, urban planning went from being a really specific topic to a really mainstream topic. It goes to show how we can’t think about the city without thinking about its design.”
The main goal of micro-development is to use small pockets of underused land in core city areas to build human-scale developments — homes and condos — that are in line with the rest of the neighbourhood’s defining architecture and design.
“When we started the office, we didn’t want to be architects; we wanted to be developers, even though we had backgrounds in architecture,” said Lajeunesse-travers about the firm that now offers micro-development design, construction and sales services.
“The reason why is that we felt developers had a bigger impact on the development of the city. We thought that if we crafted our projects carefully, and had a positive urban mission, we could have a positive impact on the city itself.”
Microclimat worked on a project that earned it the Prix de l’ordre des architectes for a multi-family dwelling, in 2019, called Multilogement Berri.
It’s a good example of what micro-development looks like in one of Montreal’s best-known central neighbourhoods: the Plateau Mont-royal.
“The property owner, who lived in his triplex, had a really big lot — and a lot of empty, unused space behind his triplex,” Lajeunesse-travers said. “Alongside with the collaboration of the city, which is very involved in urban planning in the area, we developed a new triplex behind his existing triplex, as a way for him to get a bit more out of his heritage. It’s a project that fits really well with the scale of the neighbourhood, and also provides more density.”
This past October, Lajeunesse-travers, who’s also a Heritage Montreal board member, gave a talk at the Mccord Museum as part of its City Talks series that brings together city thinkers and builders to discuss current practical urban issues affecting Montrealers.
The topic was “Inhabiting Heritage,” and how the classification of a historic building may help it escape demolition, but not really serve as a viable, long-term solution.
Along with historian and journalist Jean-françois Nadeau and Marie-josée Deschênes, an architect specializing in built heritage, Lajeunesse-travers discussed ways to maintain the authenticity of the city’s living heritage while adapting it for private and/or commercial use.
“For Microclimat Architecture, the idea always revolved around crafting really small developments within the fabric of the city,” he said.
“In order to develop our own projects, we developed an expertise in the transformation and densification of Montreal’s old, central districts. They all have really interesting histories, but also a lot of potential with regards to how they can evolve into more adaptive living spaces for the families of today.”
Quartier House is Microclimat’s most recent residential project, also in the Plateau. The biggest challenge with this project, which included adding an extension, was finding the right balance between extending the existing home and maintaining the quality and privacy of the neighbour’s yard.
“We developed the project with the help of the city, because of their involvement in trying to preserve the quality of the neighbourhood,” Lajeunesse-travers said. “We tried to achieve the balance between a really contemporary addition and keeping the existing charm and details of the existing house. It created a contrast which I think fits well with the Montreal identity or landscape.”
The city was — and remains — Microclimat’s greatest source of inspiration, according to its co-founder, and many of its team members also volunteer for Heritage Montreal.
“For us, it’s a good source of inspiration to see organizations like that defend the quality of the city, and the quality of its design. Whenever we start a project, the existing context is what’s most important — the existing scale and fabric of Montreal,” said Olivier La Jeunesse-travers.
“It feels like Montreal is experimenting with design in different neighbourhoods, which is interesting because they don’t all treat urban design the same way. Some are more protective, some are more innovative, etc.
“It’ll be interesting to see how Montreal develops, over the next few years, while trying to maintain this balance.”