A ground breaking workspace balancing corporate culture and individual needs

Deloitte’s Montreal headquarters is an exceptional workplace with tailored spaces for its varied and multi-disciplinary teams, which also acts as a catalyst for the development of its business, transforming its operations with a space that fosters creativity, innovation and productivity.

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Deloitte Montreal [Photo by James Brittain]

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A building with 'good bones'

AFK worked in close partnership with Deloitte to select and modify a 24-storey tower in Montreal - a building with 'good bones;, adapting Deloitte's seven floors and 160,000sqft of office space to create a highly-connected agile workspace. Deloitte’s Montreal HQ was intended to become a destination workplace for the firm, where people could come together to collaborate and connect, enabling effective collaboration and relationship-building between staff and clients alike. Deloitte's Montreal HQ was also intended to become a tool of business by helping to attract and retain talent, as well as to make the firm out as the employer of choice.

In addition to the design and workplace strategy, to create Deloitte's new workplace AFK also made several modifications to the base building, which also improved viability. AFK’s design strategy focused on the creation of an agile workplace; a distinct evolution of the traditional offices for professional service firms, and an innovative differentiator for Deloitte in the Canadian market.

Evolutionary design strategy

AFK’s design strategy focused on the creation of an agile workplace; a distinct evolution of the traditional offices for professional service firms, and an innovative differentiator for Deloitte in the Canadian market. For Montreal, Deloitte's ambition was to radically rethink what their workplace could be, and how it could be tailored to suit all of the different roles their people perform on a day to day basis. This led to designing more than 18 different worksettings (types of spaces) such as personal workstations, private rooms, treadmill desks, sit-stand workstations, ‘work with a view’ stations and dedicated quiet zones. Inspiring cooloaboration and community was also a key aim of Deloitte's new facility so collaborative work environments were integrated into the scheme, such as open/semi-open ad hoc meeting booths and tables, and shared space hubs at key intersection points across the office.

The workplace would also include a number of communal and social spaces, including lounges and cafes, outdoor green space, a wellness centre with fitness facilities and changing rooms, as well as spaces for quiet reflection. State-of-the-art technology to facilitate efficiency and productivity is incorporated throughout individual and shared work areas, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, wall-mounted meeting room reservation tablets and smartboards.

Choreographed spaces and playful materiality

The interiors exhibit a playful fractal geometry aesthetic with folded planes of glass, wood, stone and metal reflecting the multi-dimensional character of the firm. Tailored finishes including finely crafted stainless steel, copper, silk and leather contrast with distressed timber, raw steel, tin ceiling panels and chalkboard panels to accommodate a plurality of working styles and preferences.

The workplace design features integrated to create interest and texture to the spaces

Connectivity and community

Five of Deloitte’s seven floors are unified by a full-height glazed atrium. All floors have a common core that is linked by a feature staircase in vibrant Deloitte-green, which encourages spontaneous conversations and connections as staff move around the building. The staircase also adds a sculptural element to this dramatic and branded central space and links staff amenities including a café and breakout spaces. Each floor is colour coded to aid wayfinding
Modular Knoll furniture systems are used for maximum flexibility allowing for L-shaped, bench and boomerang (120-degree) desk setups.

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Early sketch of Deloitte Montreal's connecting stair

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Energy efficiency

La tour Deloitte also features energy-efficient lighting and cooling systems that help reduce overhead costs and emissions. Employees have the power to control the temperature of their workstations by turning vents on or off based on their preferences. Ample bike storage encourages healthy travel choices

Deloitte Montreal [Photo by James Brittain]