Located in the industrial sector near the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport and the main highways, this commercial building stands out with its efficient architecture, simple forms, and colorful envelope. Fournitures Sélect is a company specializing in sales, rentals, training, and maintenance of post-disaster restoration equipment. The facility includes a showroom, customer service counters, a training room, administrative offices, a workshop, and a warehouse.
The panels making up the project’s exterior cladding form a huge mosaic of blue hues, affirming the project’s mega-object status and thereby signaling the company in a gray environment. Combining an economical cladding with the visual identity of the project has proven to be a beneficial strategy in numerous spheres affecting construction costs. It is expressed through a light structure, smaller foundations, and the speed and simplicity of its implementation.
The showroom is visible from the street through a double height glass wall. The interior areas are sober with white walls and ceilings and a polished concrete floor. This approach is intended to highlight the brightly colored industrial equipment of the business. In addition, the interior spaces were designed to offer a quick understanding of the space for the different users, while keeping the public and employee functions separated from one another. The flow of traffic is therefore clear and efficient.
The large windows provide abundant light in both the showroom and the administrative areas, thus enhancing the quality and functionality of the spaces. Even the warehouse benefits from daylight, a rare element in the industrial sector.
The radiant floor, the envelope’s superior insulation and the white roof membrane all contribute to the building’s high energy performance. From the very first phase in 2010, Blouin Beauchamp Architectes was able to integrate numerous sustainable measures that would not affect the budget but would significantly increase the comfort and performance of the building in the long-term.
The challenge of visually standing out in its context and providing a high-quality work environment was brilliantly achieved.
