Following a temporary lease at WeWork during the pandemic, renowned Canadian advertising agency Cossette and its parent company, Plus Company, envisioned an ambitious plan for their work environment: to reunite their Montreal staff in a central city campus and inspire a sustainable return to the office. The opportunity arose when Shopify vacated one of its floors at 525 Viger West, near Old Montreal. Cossette invited LAAB Architecture to rethink their workplace beyond generic design tactics. Their shared interest in UX design provided the key approach:
To articulate the new workplace in terms of professionals’ experiences and the shared culture of teams, rather than solely from upper management’s perspective.
The result is a workspace designed around the agency’s culture and values. Spaces were organized based on the needs of their creative processes, aiming to provide a higher level of functionality that facilitates the creative flow of teams.
To fulfill this promise, it was decided from the outset to provide each business unit with a workspace tailored to its business model, work habits, and creative practices: some preferred open spaces, others needed more compartmentalized areas, and others sought hybrid configurations.
To support the broader business ecosystem of Plus Company and encourage synergy among teams, previously compartmentalized workspaces were opened along the exterior wall to promote informal movement between teams and provide better access to exterior views and natural light.
The approach involved offering a wide range of meeting room configurations, from 2 to 20 seats, in various environments suitable for private conversations, focused work, brainstorming sessions, and collaborative exchanges. In addition to translating the business model into the layout, the creative team wanted to create a work environment that avoided a homey style and playful gimmicks like swings. The challenge was to create a design style for the spaces that unified the different business units of Plus Company while reflecting Cossette’s brand DNA, based on the concepts of brilliance and creative boldness (Avoir du cran).
To break away from the typical corporate office look, LAAB drew inspiration from the imaginative world of hotels and wellness destinations. To realize this vision, the team proposed a subdued lighting level with a dark color palette that creates a quiet atmosphere. Circulations, similar to those in a hotel, offer a range of rooms and niches to accommodate countless tasks and interactions.
At the office entrance, an iridescent piece of furniture serves as a true centerpiece, dressed in a mysterious dichroic wrap that gives it a moiré hue changing with the observer’s position; in brandscaping mode, it’s a subtle nod to Plus Company’s multicolored logo, its inclusive culture, and the range of its creative services.
In the southern corner of the floor, the bistro quickly became the cultural hub: a meeting and socialization spot and a relaxed workspace. It enjoys a prime location with a continuous view of Place Victoria at its feet, which is why it has been renamed the “Bistro-Parc.”
The recording studio, located at a circulation crossroads, has become a must-visit destination for clients, with its padded rooms in various shades, from white to anthracite, and its illuminated doors (to indicate the On-Air status).
Finally, the award-winning pop-up installation Club Cossette was relocated along McGill’s visual axis, its curved mirrors magnifying the city’s kinetic movement and evoking Silo No. 5 in the background.
Despite forecasts for returning to work and the team’s traffic models, the project’s actual impact far exceeded expectations: staff returned to the office en masse, and occupancy levels skyrocketed. The results were so surprising that the main operational issue turned out to be overbooked meeting rooms and a lack of seating in the Bistro-Parc.
Regarding space design, the result is an almost hypnotic space built around a rich promenade, with visual stimuli and a palpable creative atmosphere. The office design and its signature motivate a rare consensus among visitors, staff, managers, and clients; they love it and don’t want to do without it.
LAAB’s strategic design mandate was to bring together the necessary ingredients to stimulate and accelerate the return to the office. Plus Company’s campus is proof that exceptional office design can generate business results that exceed expectations and challenge most predictions about returning to the office.
Project: Plus Company Campus / Cossette Agency
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Area: 3,250 m² on one floor
Completed: June 2024
Client: Plus Company Inc.
Architecture, Concept, and Design: LAAB Architecture
Project Director: Gino Mauri, LAAB
Design Team:
Lead Designer: Michel Lauzon, Chief Creative Officer, LAAB
Gino Mauri, Project Director, LAAB
Daphné Beaudry, Senior Technical Designer, LAAB
Nolwenn Keromnes, Design Strategist, LAAB
Maeva Lonni, Design Strategist, LAAB
Frédéric Gagliolo, Conceptual Designer, LAAB
Maxwell Sterry, Conceptual Designer, LAAB
Collaborators: Cossette (Strategy and Brand Identity)
Engineers:
NCK Inc. (Structural)
PMA Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical)
Key Suppliers:
QMD Inc. (General Contractor)
Lumigroup (Lighting)
Allwood (Cabinetry)
Chagall (Cabinetry)
Lighting Design: LAAB Architecture
Photographer: Raphael Thibodeau, LAAB
LAAB architecture
Founded by designer Michel Lauzon, LAAB is an award-winning architecture studio offering urban and interior architecture services redesigned to generate original and high-performance solutions. Its innovative strategic design approach focuses on the convergence of strategic consulting, architectural design, and creative thinking applied to the built environment. Its services are distinguished by a proven process of design and problem-solving to master the most complex design challenges and extract the latent potential in each project.
Based in Montreal, LAAB undertakes projects driven by the strategic imperatives of each client: developers, brands, organizations, and owners who imagine, deliver, and manage built environments of all types and scales worldwide. Since 2020, LAAB has contributed to the success of innovative companies through bold projects, compelling consumer experiences, and built spaces that celebrate their brand identity.
Michel Lauzon is the founder, president, and chief creative officer of LAAB, a creative mind at the intersection of design and real estate. He has 25 years of international experience in high-level design and business strategy. Michel was President and CEO of AEdifica until 2020 and also Chief Creative Officer & Senior Partner at Lemay (2009–2017). At 29, he co-founded a renowned startup.
An accomplished architect and urban planner, Michel is an expert in solving design problems for complex projects across various typologies and markets: mixed-use, hospitality, retail and offices, retail, multifamily housing, skyscrapers, culture, entertainment and sports, transportation, tourist destinations and theme parks, new city design, and emerging niches like creativity centers and co-working.
This skill set has led him to design and develop landmark projects in various cultural contexts worldwide: Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, North Africa (Algeria and Morocco), the Middle East and Far East (United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, and China). He has created unique designs and memorable spaces for leading companies such as Cirque du Soleil, Ubisoft, Adidas, Bombardier, and Lumenpulse.
Michel has a proven track record of design success with over 50 awards, iconic buildings, and 12 winning competition proposals. He is a renowned thought leader and a sought-after speaker on creativity, design thinking, innovation through design, and brandscaping (a new way of thinking). His work and design approach have been featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, Architectural Record, Canadian Architect, Domus, Azure, Frame, Dwell, and Wallpaper.
LAAB architecture
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Project by Michel Lauzon. LAAB architecture
