HEC Montréal (pavillon centre-ville) - 8 étages

Doctor D · 17 avril 2021

On 4/15/2021 at 10:46 PM, Né entre les rapides said:

Okay, when you look at it from that angle, taken in isolation. My interpretation is that this "recess" was designed as an original although questionable way of concealing the rear of the narrow building on Beaver Hall housing the Parma Café in particular on the corner. A positive result is to make possible glazed openings facing each other. We are entering a new world. The reality of the old building on Beaver Hall is obscured.

I think it is original out of necessity, given the constraints arising from the surrounding buildings that are still standing. (see also my response to Rocco above).

Notwithstanding the particular constraints of this downtown site, it is also worth noting that HEC Montréal appears to have a knack for somewhat weird architecture --witness their other two buildings of the modern era: on Avenue Decelles * on the western edge of the main UdeM campus, and the more recent on Chemin de la Côte Sainte-Catherine.

* disclosure: I was among the first groups in the early 1970's studying full time and graduating at this location. I guess we as students did not mind the rather brutalist architecture, but that was then ...