Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Photos: Marc Cramer

Adjacent to the Rivière-des-Prairies, the former Jesuit Monastery has a commanding presence in the village of Sainte-Geneviève. The monastery, built in 1933, was designed by architect Lucien Parent in the Lombard Style. In the 1990’s, it was chosen to house a new French College at the western extremity of the Island of Montreal. This change of function represents the third life of the building. The building, which has a concrete structure clad with a local stone veneer, is situated on a small hill with a gently sloping landscape of 3.5 hectares, including a peninsula stretching north into the Rivière-des-Prairies. Overlooked by the former bell tower, the building is composed of a principal body with two lateral wings around a covered cloister.

The program of the College consists of diverse educational functions, including classrooms, laboratories, a library, professors’ offices, administration and a publicly accessible, multifunctional theatre with a seating capacity of 350 persons.

The imposing nature of the existing building and the beauty of the site compelled us to approach the landscape with the aim of inserting a complementary yet fictional archaeology -- one that leads to a layered condition of program and space between the design of the extension and the historic architecture. While respecting the existing topography, the architecture of the addition fosters new relationships in plan and section through the introduced archaeological layering, thereby creating a lasting impression on visitors, as they experience the superimposition of old and new spaces.

In collaboration with DMA architects