Simple and extraordinary. Les Entreprises d'électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte
18/02/2022.
[Saint-Jérôme] Canada
metalocus, JAVIER ARIAS
metalocus, JAVIER ARIAS
Taking architectural scenery as a basic concept, the architect Jean Verville proposes the renovation of a disused industrial building from the 1980s to establish the headquarters of the company Les Entreprises d'électricité E.G. Ltée, founded in 1951. The reform is located in Saint-Jérôme, a suburban city located about 45 kilometers northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord, Canada.
Jean Verville addresses the fictional potential of architectural space, making the EG project part of a real hybridization between architecture and installation intervention.
Fascinated by the photographic worlds illustrating the eclectic production of Jean Verville, clients, eager for unusual creative experiences, adopt the playful approach of the architect with passion, rigor, and sensitivity.
The result is an architecture that is both functional and aesthetic, offering a minimalist and playful experience distinctive of the work of Studio Jean Verville architectes.
Jean Verville addresses the fictional potential of architectural space, making the EG project part of a real hybridization between architecture and installation intervention.
Fascinated by the photographic worlds illustrating the eclectic production of Jean Verville, clients, eager for unusual creative experiences, adopt the playful approach of the architect with passion, rigor, and sensitivity.
The result is an architecture that is both functional and aesthetic, offering a minimalist and playful experience distinctive of the work of Studio Jean Verville architectes.
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud
Axonometry. Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte.
Ground floor plan. Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte.
Jean Verville designs an imposing architectural device that organizes distances and proximities, circulations and groupings, using as a basic element 250 metallic profiles, common in the electrical field, they are used to fix the partitions, to support the furniture or to camouflage all the wiring.
This profusion of elements makes up an irregular framework of an industrial nature, on the raw surfaces of the concrete, the shine of the stainless steel and the translucent partitions, unified by the orange pieces, as simple as it is expressive, as intelligent as it is extraordinary. A space that hybridizes open relationships, without giving up creating spaces that are closed enough to generate privacy.
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud.
This profusion of elements makes up an irregular framework of an industrial nature, on the raw surfaces of the concrete, the shine of the stainless steel and the translucent partitions, unified by the orange pieces, as simple as it is expressive, as intelligent as it is extraordinary. A space that hybridizes open relationships, without giving up creating spaces that are closed enough to generate privacy.
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée by Jean Verville architecte. Photograph by Félix Michaud.
Project description by Jean Verville architecte
«A complicit, mischievous adventure...an amazing result for and, above all, worthy of our team!»
Vincent Drapeau and Samuel G. Labelle,
co-owners, Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée.
Prioritizing an architectural intervention with an assumed scenography, and falling within a strategy of minimizing its environmental impact, the project proposes the rehabilitation of a disused industrial building from the 1980s in order to establish the head office of Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée, founded in 1951. By deploying 250 stainless steel strut channels, an imposing architectural device organizes distances and proximities, circulations, and groupings. These metal profiles, common in the electrical field, are used to fix the partitions, to support the furniture, and to camouflage all of the wiring. This profusion of elements composes an irregular frame that marks the space with vertical lines structuring the spatial delimitations. The industrial character, offered by the raw surfaces of the concrete, the shine of the stainless steel, and the translucent partitions unifying in an entity energized by accents of orange color, loads the space with an aesthetic cohesion emphasizing the re-interpretation of the open-plan office concept. Both minimalist and expressive, EG offers an environment indulgent of accumulation and excess to stimulate the participatory experience that is part of the daily life of its users.
Promoting a layout where employees can easily communicate with each other, the intervention combines private areas ensuring the need for physical distance for the protection and well-being of everyone, as well as meeting spaces, rest stations, and areas for sports and entertainment. The portion dedicated to offices, a space distributed in half-levels and proving too cramped for the needs of the company, requires a complete reconfiguration (reception, administrative offices, conference room, kitchen, employee room, and storage). The individual and collaborative workspaces, requiring a large area, are set up in a portion subtracted from the huge storage space of the building. Partially deconstructed, the existing firewall, made of concrete blocks, is transformed into an articulated railing and a staircase offering visual and physical access to this new sector located below the administrative spaces. This work area, defined by a new enclosure also in concrete blocks, constitutes a generous volume with a height of six meters below the ceiling, benefitting from level access with the immense warehouse area in order to optimize the functionality of the premises. In order to maximize the contribution of natural light, the huge garage door is replaced by a curtain wall. On the roof, the addition of six skylights, with dimensions that fit into the existing structural framework, helps provide increased natural lighting. These multiple light sources, filtered by translucent partitions, wrap the space in kinetic lighting that contributes to the theatricality of the experiment.
More information
Architects
Jean Verville architecte. Lead architect.- Jean Verville.
Design team
Tania Paula Garza Rico, architect (studio director).
France Goneau (artistic advisor).
Rémi St-Pierre, architect.
Samuel Landry, MA architecture.
Camille Asselin, MA architecture.
Jacob Éthier, MA architecture candidate.
Bahia Burias, MA architecture candidate.
France Goneau (artistic advisor).
Rémi St-Pierre, architect.
Samuel Landry, MA architecture.
Camille Asselin, MA architecture.
Jacob Éthier, MA architecture candidate.
Bahia Burias, MA architecture candidate.
Client
Les Entreprises d’électricité E.G. Ltée. Vincent Drapeau, Samuel G. Labelle.
Contractor
Ross Commodari, eng. and project manager (C.A.L. construction).
Area
3,000 m².
Dates
2021.
Photography / Digital Collages
Félix Michaud / Jean Verville + studio.
Location
Saint-Jérôme, Canada.
JEAN VERVILLE
Studio Jean Verville architectes consists of a multidisciplinary team working under the direction of architect Tania Paula Garza Rico. The complementary skills of team members contribute to the variability of the Studio's output. Currently, the team is working on the development of a 3,000 m2 dental complex, a research and innovation center for Cannabis, personalized houses and apartments, a forest castle, and an immersive architectural installation for an international public art festival.
Jean Verville. Architect and professor at the School of Architecture at Laval University, Jean Verville draws upon play, humor, and self-mockery in his professional practice, as well as in his teaching approach. A playful creator, it is with apparent lightness and casualness that he presents his thoughts on relationships with domestic space, as well as on the role and capacity of architecture to transform everyday life.
Verville observes the impacts of popular culture with amusement, inviting individual appropriations that underline the attributes and omnipresence of architectural space. Celebrating the multiplicity of perceptions, his deliberately imperfect digital collages shape baroque fantasies where the discernment between architecture and personal imagination is disputed in order to evoke traces of childhood, including doubt about the veracity of images and the plausible banality of ordinary life.
Jean Verville. Architect and professor at the School of Architecture at Laval University, Jean Verville draws upon play, humor, and self-mockery in his professional practice, as well as in his teaching approach. A playful creator, it is with apparent lightness and casualness that he presents his thoughts on relationships with domestic space, as well as on the role and capacity of architecture to transform everyday life.
Verville observes the impacts of popular culture with amusement, inviting individual appropriations that underline the attributes and omnipresence of architectural space. Celebrating the multiplicity of perceptions, his deliberately imperfect digital collages shape baroque fantasies where the discernment between architecture and personal imagination is disputed in order to evoke traces of childhood, including doubt about the veracity of images and the plausible banality of ordinary life.
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