After two years of remote working, Club Cossette introduces a new typology for post-pandemic office spaces: the "Office Pop-up". For their new Montreal offices, located in the We Work premises at 1010 Ste-Catherine St. West, Cossette wanted to create an unclassifiable, mysterious conversation piece that would serve as a gathering space, and also as a place to express their brand DNA in a memorable way.
The personalization of the West Wing “third space” called for a striking gesture, making a statement that would embody Cossette's spirit, while allowing for informal collaboration and creative exchanges between coworkers. Ideally, its design signature would also evoke the agency's work: bold, measured, effective, impactful, with a minimalistic yet insightful design. To inform the design of the space, Cossette proposed the metaphor of a “brasserie” as a working template.
To achieve this tall order, the design team decided to strip down the brief to the essentials to focus on a simple and iconic figure of the “brasserie” theme: the aluminum beer can (actually a “tall boy” in its proportions) and the infamous "24-pack". The resulting object’s specular finish is inspired by brasserie restaurant mirror surfaces, which magnify the liveliness of these social spaces. The singular 24 mirror-like vertical cylinders propose a playful visual distortion of the users, as well as a celebration of the surrounding buzz and activity within the space.
The unexpected presence of a mysterious and monolithic object in the center of the room generates a layout that creates effective subspaces specific to targeted modes of occupation and collaboration by the users. The great room is discreetly organized into an event "courtyard" upon arrival, with the "dinette" and the "garden" located along the windows for working lunches, the relaxation space inhabited by ottomans on the north side, and the "terrace" of Moderno sofas positioned in front of the conference rooms.
With its reflective mirror surfaces and programmable colored pulsating lights, the object surprises by its dynamic presence that contrasts with the simple geometry. It surprises yet again with concealed sliding doors that open to reveal the space within. The object thus acts as a "pop-up" for events, launches, and agency campaigns. The interior space is the utilitarian counterpart of the brasserie, inspired by the "beer fridge" and cold storage room. In this regard, the interiors are pristine white, functional, and equipped with shelves, fridges, and walls made of pegboard for the hanging of objects. The space takes on a retail showroom appearance and can serve as a visual display for the agency's campaigns, products, and brands.
Club Cossette is the result of a creative collaboration between the strategic design firm LAAB collective (architecture, interior design, brandscaping), Signature Design communication (industrial design), and their client, Cossette.
Team:
Architects/Designers: LAAB Collective in collaboration with Signature Design Communication
Design team: Michel Lauzon, Vincent Clarizio, Maëva Lonni, Frédérick Gagliolo, Adam Ghadi-Delgado, Christophe Morel, Jean-Philippe Dubé
Photographer: Raphaël Thibodeau
