Offices for Sheahan & Partners 
In an early 1900s townhouse in Westmount, we had to set up the offices for a law firm specializing in environmental law.
    Townhouses have the distinctive feature of having windows only at the front and back. This has the effect of creating dark spaces in the heart of these buildings. Through our intervention we wanted to transform this space in the center of the building, where the reception and the circulation are located, and make it luminous and architecturally stimulating.
    Upon arriving, at the ground floor, the visitor uses a passage that takes him to the reception in the heart of the building in a space filled with light. That natural light comes from two large skylights in the roof and passes through the second storey satin glass floor. A glass floor at the ground level also allows the light to go down to the basement. This light penetration on the three floors, the presence of the staircase and the wall covered with Hickory wood, which also crosses the three levels, reinforce the interrelation between the levels.
    On the ground floor, the large Hickory wall folds itself to mark a circulation to the offices at the rear or to make way for the reception desk.
    The new intervention is clearly marked by natural materials, namely Hickory wood, hot-rolled steel and glass.

Year : 2013
Team : Paul Bernier, Anick Thibeault
Contractor : Pareco +
Photos : ©Drew Hadley