ACDF Architecture is proud to present LINK, a 19-story apartment tower in the heart of downtown Montreal. Designed to meet a growing demand for student housing, LINK is distinguished by an architecture that celebrates the historic built heritage of Shaughnessy Village.

Rather than choosing the easy path of completely demolishing the existing buildings, which were in very poor condition, the architects chose to embrace the opportunity to celebrate their heritage. The consensus was that the preserved facades would not only contribute to the link between the building and the public realm, but would also pay homage to the community's historical and collective memory.

Entering into dialogue with the last vestiges of a Victorian heritage

Historically, Shaughnessy Village was characterized by a strong presence of Victorian-style buildings, many of which were demolished over time in lieu of grey concrete towers built in the middle of the last century that now dominate the landscape of Little Lincoln Street. In the middle of this small stretch, only three old buildings still bear witness to the area's Victorian past.

“Montreal is designated as a UNESCO Design City, with a strong focus on architecture that interacts with the public realm,” notes ACDF President Maxime-Alexis Frappier. “Establishing that dialogue was a priority, as well as creating a connection between the contemporary tower and the architectural language of the Victorian-era of Shaughnessy Village.”

Destruction or preservation?

Given the dilapidated state of the three existing buildings, their complete demolition had initially been envisaged by the developers before entrusting ACDF with the mandate to design a distinctive project. The firm concluded that only the façades could be preserved which presented a major dilemma.

"Did preserving only the façades necessarily mean that the project would be part of a so-called facadism approach, then rather denounced by the community? Would complete demolition, justified by the dilapidated state of the buildings, be a more appropriate intellectual and professional posture?” asked Frappier and his team.

At the end of the day, ACDF reasoned that history buffs, local residents, and passers-by would be happier to see such witnesses to the past preserved, and that a partial preservation approach would be more generous to the community.

Sensitive to the symbolic value of these historical witnesses, and drawing on their extensive experience in the rehabilitation of heritage buildings, and their commitment to promoting a more contextual architecture, ACDF initially carried out several technical and pre-conceptual studies to demonstrate the technical and financial viability of a complete or partial rehabilitation of the three buildings slated for demolition. The firm quickly established their case for maintaining the Victorian facades, despite the complexity of such an implementation, the additional costs involved, and the loss of programmatic efficiency.

“Such a rehabilitation mission can generate an interesting return on investment for developers, and this approach, more sensitive to the context and built heritage, would have the merit of being much more contributive to the community, and thus a very interesting asset for the marketing of this residential rental project,” explains Frappier.

A uniquely expressive facade to enliven urban space

As creators of places that must first and foremost contribute to their communities, ACDF developed a high-density project that preserves and restores the three heritage facades. The tower is positioned well back from the existing facades, so as to preserve the original building templates.

ACDF proposed a unique architectural expression for the tower. The result of a quilt-like assembly of various reinterpreted dormers, the tower's facade acts as a pictorial tableau celebrating the area's rich history. Gabled, low-arched, and rectangular openings are juxtaposed to create an amalgamated composition that contributes to animating the urban space of this small section of Lincoln Street, which is mainly defined by austere, post-modernist concrete towers. A slightly projecting black granite frame enhances the composition's pictorial quality, while the mineral quality of the precast concrete envelope pays homage to the neighboring towers.

Each window corresponds to a bedroom or living room, with or without a balcony. Almost as wide as the living rooms they enliven, the windows broaden perceptions of space and frame exterior views towards emblematic Mount Royal.

Affordable and attractively compact student accommodations

Situated in close proximity to four university campuses, the area has emerged as a neighbourhood particularly geared towards student residents. In light of skyrocketing construction costs, unfavorable financing costs for real estate developments, and the limited financial capacity of the student clientele, ACDF designed a project with the objective of reducing its per capita construction costs.

To achieve that goal, the architects proposed apartments composed of very narrow spaces, thus maximizing the volumetric compactness of the project, i.e. the proportional ratio between the surface area of the exterior envelope and the interior living spaces. Although the result is much narrower rooms, their configuration responds very adequately to the needs of its student residents. In addition to considerably reducing per capita construction costs, the approach has reduced operating costs (heating, air-conditioning, maintenance, etc.) and, consequently, long-term rental costs, which is an attractive benefit for the targeted clientele.

LINK comprises 122 studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments over 19 floors, as well as a roof terrace, a gym, a lobby lounge, and common areas designed and furnished to encourage meetings and exchanges. The main entrance is marked by a punctual, contemporary intervention in one of the three rehabilitated heritage facades. The uncluttered entrance hall uses materials with metallic attributes, creating a play of reflections that enrich the inviting character of the premises. Behind the other two facades, residential units are accessible from the restored exterior staircases and their front courtyard.

A contributive project on a human scale

The richness of the restored heritage facades, the front courtyards, the residential staircases, the entrance threshold, and the pictorial quilt on the tower facade are all elements that contribute to the liveliness of the pedestrian space, breathing human-scale experiences into an area sorely in need of them.

By fusing past and present architectural styles, the LINK project embodies an approach to development that is sensitive to its urban environment, as well as responsible, affordable, and contributive through its distinctive architecture that enlivens both the pedestrian space and its surrounding environment.

With the successful completion of the project, ACDF hopes that it will contribute, in its own way, to the promotion of heritage among developers, and thus encourage more respectful practices in private development projects.

“On the eve of a possible unprecedented acceleration in the granting of building permits to encourage the construction of residential projects in response to the housing crisis prevailing across Canada, we feel it is essential to emphasize the importance of creating private projects that contribute from an architectural and urban point of view,” emphasizes Frappier.