Smith Vigeant Architects Inc. and BGLA | architecture + urban design in consortium completed the expansion of the Christ-Roi Elementary School, located in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville Borough. The expansion added three new floors, which include: nine classrooms, a kindergarten, a daycare service, and a gymnasium. Creating a harmonious composition, the extension incorporates the principles of the existing building and redefines the school’s relationship with its context. On the street, a sculpted volumetry announces the new hall, as well as the social and active functions. On the courtyard side, transparency and color are more expressed, offering a personalized character to the institution, respecting its initial pavilion. The two buildings are built around a vast central staircase covered in natural light and the radiance of colors. The staircase clearly ensures the new links with the existing school while providing a comfortable and fun socializing space. The entrance hall creates a generous and friendly transition space between the neighborhood, the daycare service, and the schoolyard. In order to have a harmonious implementation, the extension follows the existing building principles: a simple rectangular volume with a brick facade.

The ground floor of the expansion is developed in a more open and dynamic way. It establishes functional and convivial links with the existing building, the schoolyard, the street, and the neighborhood. A series of subtractions sculpt the volume to define significant and functional places, namely: the new reception hall and its large exterior forecourt, the daycare service-connected to both the street and the schoolyard, as well as the gymnasium.

▼色彩缤纷的立面，the colorful facade © Stéphane Brügger