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Entremise PHILEMON GRAVEL, MARIE-JOSÉE VAILLANCOURT, FRANCIS T. DUROCHER, VICTOR MALHERBE, MARIE RENOUX, MARIANNE LEMIEUX-AIRD, JÉRÔME CLAVEAU, ÉMILIE DESRUE MONTREAL, QUEBEC
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In 2016, a group of four recent design graduates entered a City of Montreal ideas competition for redeveloping vacant spaces and protecting empty heritage buildings. It’s a problem that piqued their interest so much, they founded a firm to dive in deep. Entremise has since evolved into an eight-person, non-profit social enterprise. Its current directors—architectural graduate Philemon Gravel, urban planning advisor Marie-Josée Vaillancourt, and architect Francis T. Durocher—hold a vision of vacant spaces occupied by community organizations, artists, and entrepreneurs. They envisage short-term tenancies— from a few months to five years—becoming a normal part of the real-estate cycle. In their vision, transitional occupancies are the first step towards longer-term leases, and sometimes even the purchase of a space. That initial phase gives occupants a chance to develop their business models and secure their financial footing. It’s a win-win. Tenants gain access to space, test their needs and build a network. Owners collect rent on buildings that would otherwise be empty, and gain occupants to watch over those spaces. In 2017, the new enterprise had a chance to put its ideas to the test with Projet Young, working in partnership with the City of Mont-
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real, the McConnell Foundation, and the Maison de l’innovation sociale. The pilot project enabled 35 organizations to occupy a vacant warehouse in Griffintown during the 22 months before its scheduled demolition. A second project involved developing a downtown storefront property for the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM), dubbed Espace Ville Autrement. “It’s a co-working space for researchers and professionals in architecture, planning, and heritage—people who make the city differently,” explains Marie-Josée Vaillancourt. Entremise’s own office is headquartered in the storefront, which will be available for five years to research groups, workers, neighbourhood organizations, and people living in the area. On the go currently are projects for a 540-square-metre commercial, cultural and community transitional hub in Pointe-aux-Trembles, with booths for vendors and community organizations, and the group’s biggest project yet—a transitional urban plant for the Cité-des-Hospitalières, a 3,700-square-metre city-owned heritage property which will be empty for a decade before its redevelopment.
2021-07-21 12:32 PM
