Moment Factory specialises in ‘immersive experiences’, creating projects that range from films and interactive installations to advertising campaigns. To ensure its new Montreal HQ would be suitably enveloping, it enlisted the talents of MU Architecture.

The practice kept flexibility in mind while converting the brand’s 45,000 sq ft brick warehouse in Mile-Ex neighbourhood.

‘Maintaining the relationship between each department had to be the biggest challenge: each will grow and evolve differently, but still needs enough room for new desks and have access to enough meeting rooms,’ says MU’s principal architect Jean-Sébastien Herr. ‘On top of that we had to keep a free flowing circulation throughout the office.’

A discreet, minimalist black staircase leads into the building’s reception and ground floor cafe, which is designed like an over-sized domestic kitchen and kitted with mismatched chairs and greenery.

In the ‘lobby’ MU has inserted a two-storey volume nicknamed ‘The Black Box’ which sits between the building’s two floors. It houses a vast green screen for filming and projections.

Wander up the stairs to the second floor, and you’ll find demountable workstations that can be moved around and reconfigured and their brightly coloured forms deliberately contrast with the monolithic bulk of the green room.

A photo posted by Moment Factory (@momentfactory) on Sep 14, 2016 at 2:59pm PDT

MU retained the 1927 building’s brick facade and exposed the original concrete columns, while patching up concrete floors and updating windows.

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