MONTREAL TOWER
MONTREAL, CA
The typical hotel typology is challenged by condensing paths as a means to maximize spaces for path programs such as retail and lounges. The city is engaged by embedding an urban microcosm within the tower.
While the Seagram building in New York City is a stable block with a wide plaza recessed from the edge of the street, this tower strives for creating a dialogue with the urban fabric through its orientation and play of form and views. The tower has a taut and regular frontality for its hotel program, whereas the backside facing the ice rink has a more expressive geometry.
The building is meant to celebrate the vibrant underground city of Montreal by pulling people into the underground city by embedding gym reception spaces, retail and restaurants below ground level. The plaza is sloped downward towards the basement of the tower to direct people to the interior of the building, as the cold climate in Montreal precludes citizens from gathering outside.
The sculptural nature of the building is a manifestation of movement and light, and it is meant to stitch the differences in program and bring people together through its flow and continuity.
