Addressing the fictional potential of architectural space, the EG project is part of an actual hybridization between architecture and installation intervention. Prioritizing an architectural intervention with an assumed scenography, and falling within a strategy of minimizing its environmental impact, the project proposes the rehabilitation of a disused industrial building from the 1980s in order to establish the head office of Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée, founded in 1951 Vincent Drapeau and Samuel G. Labelle, co-owners.
By deploying 250 stainless steel strut channels, an imposing architectural device organizes distances and proximities, circulations, and groupings. These metal profiles, common in the electrical field, are used to fix the partitions, to support the furniture, and to camouflage all of the wiring. This profusion of elements composes an irregular frame that marks the space with vertical lines structuring the spatial delimitations. The industrial character, offered by the raw surfaces of the concrete, the shine of the stainless steel, and the translucent partitions unifying in an entity energized by accents of orange color, loads the space with an aesthetic cohesion emphasizing the re-interpretation of the open-plan office concept.
On the roof, the addition of six skylights, with dimensions that fit into the existing structural framework, helps provide increased natural lighting. These multiple light sources, filtered by translucent partitions, wrap the space in kinetic lighting that contributes to the theatricality of the experiment.
Photo © Félix Michaud
