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Ivy Studio collaborated with Cardigan to design a young and dynamic feel for the digital advertising agency’s location in Montreal, Canada

Cardigan is a young and dynamic Montreal based digital advertising agency founded in 2016. As their need for expansion grew fast, their team was looking for a new location that could accommodate their 25 employees. In 2020, they found this two-storey high stone building located in the heart of the Rosemont borough of Montreal. Originally built to be a bank in 1907, the building had many lives over the years and was most recently used as a religious establishment. Consisting of a 1250 square-foot open-space on the ground floor, the building holds an equal-sized basement underneath and an independent residential condominium above. With its unique history and architectural features, the space seemed like a great place for Cardigan’s new offices.

One of the main challenges of working with the building were the contrasting ceiling heights between each floor. Although the ground floor has a generous 16.5 feet of clearance, the basement is only 7 feet high and has no windows. This made the spacial blocking very important at the start of the project. To benefit from a maximum of natural light, all workstations are placed on the ground floor, with bathrooms, kitchen, lounge and storage in the basement.

Although the ground floor is very spacious and open, its footprint remains insufficient for 25 desks with meeting rooms. Thankfully, the vastly high ceiling allowed for a mezzanine to be added to a portion of the space. To avoid blocking the grand arched windows on the main façades, the mezzanine was placed in the opposing corner, near the existing closed staircase. This added space above is used for a handful of employees that need a more intimate working environment. The closed space underneath the mezzanine, on the other hand, is perfect for several meeting and call rooms that can be quickly accessed from the open space.

From the beginning, the ground floor featured beautiful architectural qualities in itself, so the intervention is meant to feel subtle. To begin, the entire floor was already spacious and bright, so it was entirely painted white. Existing moldings were kept intact to reflect the multiple stories the building has to tell. The newly-built mezzanine structure interprets the curves of the existing space without competing with them. Still fitting with its light environment, the mezzanine is covered with a perforated steel mesh. This delicate screen adds privacy, while still letting the natural light reach into the meeting rooms. Some of the glazed walls are recessed from the mesh to create an intermediate layer for planters. To let even more light in, the boarded window arches were reopened to their original form. Finally, the old parquet was replaced by a new natural oak finish, keeping the warm spirit of the existing floor.

From the beginning, the ground floor featured beautiful architectural qualities in itself, so the intervention is meant to feel subtle. To begin, the entire floor was already spacious and bright, so it was entirely painted white. Existing moldings were kept intact to reflect the multiple stories the building has to tell. The newly-built mezzanine structure interprets the curves of the existing space without competing with them. Still fitting with its light environment, the mezzanine is covered with a perforated steel mesh. This delicate screen adds privacy, while still letting the natural light reach into the meeting rooms. Some of the glazed walls are recessed from the mesh to create an intermediate layer for planters. To let even more light in, the boarded window arches were reopened to their original form. Finally, the old parquet was replaced by a new natural oak finish, keeping the warm spirit of the existing floor.

To join the two floors together, two very different staircases can be used. The first is a classical wooden staircase that seems to have been there for the past century. The second, more minimalistic and playful with its two curved ceiling arches, was added for this renovation. To unite the two styles, they are each painted a deep navy blue. In a way, the two staircases, like many other contradicting design features of the project, represent Cardigan very well: they are a company that values quality and hard work and has numerous high profile clients, all the while being a group of fun, down to earth individuals that love to have a good time.

Design: Ivy Studio
Photography: Alex Lesage