The design studio GSM Project is delighted to share recent news about the MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises: on October 9, the MEM received an Excellence award from the Société des musées du Québec and a Mason Multi-Media Award from the Oral History Association in the United States.

Props for oral history 

These awards recognize the excellence of the MEM museum project overall — in terms of governance, exhibitions, public spaces, programming activities and cultural outreach — as well as its exceptional contribution to the dissemination and conservation of oral history. The awards also highlight the quality of the design, developed in collaboration with GSM Project, aimed at offering visitors an accessible, human-scale space reflecting the diverse experiences and identities that make Montréal such a unique city.

Collaboration between the MEM and GSM 

The City of Montréal sought GSM’s expertise in designing the public spaces and permanent exhibition of the MEM, the new incarnation of the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, founded in 1983. The museum is today located at the corner of Sainte-Catherine Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard, two major arteries with a rich cultural history. The MEM stands at this symbolic crossroads of Montréal where multiple realities have converged for centuries.

In undertaking this ambitious project to transform the museum, the MEM and GSM teams followed strategic objectives around citizens’ voices, accessibility, inclusivity, environmental responsibility and the recognition of Indigenous communities. The goal was to translate these core values into the visitor experience and content of the exhibitions.

From 2019 to 2023, GSM led the design of the visitor experience in the MEM’s public spaces, including the reception area and staircase, the gift shop-café, the corridors and the permanent exhibition, Montréal.

The MEM’s public spaces 

Before visitors enter the exhibition galleries, they can stroll around the MEM’s public spaces and discover citizens’ perspectives in a Montréal-style setting featuring iconic elements such as famous signs, a park bench, a depanneur interior and an outdoor balcony in the local architectural style.

The building’s floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with natural light, bringing the city into the museum and enhancing visitors’ sense of well-being. To reduce barriers to access and foster human contact with their team, the MEM chose not to have a ticket counter.

The permanent exhibition: Montréal 

For Montréal, GSM imagined a visitor journey that recreates scenes from daily life in the city in spaces that are by turns iconic and familiar. The exhibition presents over 200 artifacts and some 30 oral history recordings, totalling 185 minutes of personal testimonies — the equivalent of a feature-length film! Our studio found ingenious ways to share this living memory and optimize visitors’ experience through audio devices, audio description, comfortable seating, and the integration of AV elements into the scenography. Our challenge was to facilitate encounters with the Montrealers featured in the exhibition. Much like the city itself, the content and design give a sense of exuberance, humanity and diversity, inviting visitors to answer the question posed at the start: What is, who is Montréal? 

Co-creation of spaces and stories

For too long, accounts of Montréal’s history have ignored many voices, including those of Indigenous Peoples, women, immigrants, ethnic communities, and disadvantaged and marginalized groups. The MEM has forged a new path by giving voice to diverse communities, inviting them to tell their stories and shake up stereotypes and preconceived ideas around identities.

It soon became clear that co-creation would be a central theme in the development of this vast museum project. It was in this spirit that GSM took part in various advisory committees set up by the MEM, in particular the committee on accessibility and citizenship. These consultations allowed our studio to make informed choices about how to incorporate lived realities into the visitor experience and content — for example, not only is the MEM is designed to facilitate universal access; its exhibitions feature the personal accounts of individuals with reduced mobility. Through its mosaic of stories, the MEM seeks to make everyone feel welcome.