The newly opened Centre SANAAQ brings a transformative presence to downtown Montreal’s cultural landscape. Envisioned through a close collaboration between Pelletier de Fontenay, Architecture49, and Atelier Zébulon Perron, the project redefines the relationship between architecture, interior design, and scenography, merging disciplines to create a dynamic, inclusive public space in the Peter-McGill district.

Occupying the podium of a new residential development on the former site of the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the Centre leverages its inherited structure, at once generous and complex to its fullest potential. The interiors unfold like an urban landscape, conceived as an extension of the surrounding city. Fluid circulation, transparency, and accessibility shape every gesture, reinforcing the Centre’s civic vocation as an open and participatory fabric. More than a traditional community facility, Centre SANAAQ is a living space, and a setting for learning, exchange, and experimentation.

Inspired by its Inuktitut name, derived from sana (“to create”, “to work”, or “to sculpt”), it embodies the spirit of collective making that defines its programming. Through community-driven initiatives, the Centre acts as a platform where culture is not only presented but actively produced. Accessible yet ambitious, mainstream yet exploratory, the project positions itself as a laboratory of public innovation. Blurring the boundaries between high-tech and low-tech, formal and informal, the framework invites its users to actively shape and inhabit their own collective environment.

Its spatial organization unfolds like an archipelago, a constellation of distinct yet interconnected “islands”, each with its own mood and function. From open, animated common spaces to quieter reading zones, every space invites discovery and movement. A central agora anchors the ground floor, surrounded by a café, performance hall, multi-purpose room, and an express-library, fostering encounters and casual exchange. A generous light-filled staircase links this sequence of spaces to the upper level, where the library wraps around a central mezzanine. Collections for adults and youth, reading and study areas, multipurpose rooms, and a children’s play area create a balanced rhythm of openness and retreat.

The Centre adopts collage as an architectural language, allowing diverse textures and tones to coexist in harmony. Aluminium grating, glass, wood paneling, polished concrete, sprayed cellulose, and soft textiles compose the project’s material concept. This layered palette captures the Centre’s spirit as a mosaic of voices, uses, and identities, a built reflection of Montreal’s social and cultural diversity.

Acoustics, a central design concern, are controlled and refined through the use of various materials such as coffered wood ceilings and walls, suspended fabrics, and exposed sprayed cellulose. These treatments ensure exceptional performance within large, open volumes, creating a comfortably resonant environment that accommodates everything from vibrant performances to moments of quiet reflection. Vegetation, subtly integrated into the architecture, softens the atmosphere and reinforces a sense of well-being.

Ultimately, Centre SANAAQ operates less as an object than as a system, an adaptable framework that grows through use. By privileging generosity, inclusiveness, and spatial freedom over formal constraint, it outlines a progressive vision for cultural architecture today: open, permeable, and deeply attuned to the human experience.