FEBRUARY 2022 already proven themselves – for example, when they the Village des Écluses project. There, they designed an innovative “urban glamping” project to be located at the entrance to the Lachine Canal. That location is in a natural wind corridor, and MRA a+d’s design used the flowing wind as an inspiration for the shapes of the built environment. They competed against some very large firms to win that project, and Nepheli believes “our creative pushed us through.” (Unfortunately, the project was later abandoned by the client after many attempts to obtain the required financing.) MRA a+d’s creativity also placed them close to winning other innovative projects still in the concept stage, including Plaisance National Park and Parc Mohawk. They have also proven themselves on a diverse array of state-of-the-art projects that have been fully delivered, including the Renaud-Lépine House (a sustainable residential project), the Cassinc offices (a luxury commercial project), and CPE Touchatouille (a public project). The latter project, CPE Touchatouille, involved a booming area with many families that need a new day care in Port Cartier (‘CPE’ meaning Early Childhood Centre). The client wanted to serve more families by building new facilities for 80 additional children, and the new facilities – along with a family support and community centre – needed to be integrated to the existing building. They were able to purchase an old bowling alley that we were tasked to reimagine. We wanted to limit any demolition and use as much of the existing structure and building.
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