Appareil Architecture x MMFA
- Année
- 2026
- Localisation
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, QC
For the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Appareil Architecture imagined furniture that turns a passageway into a place for meeting, play and contemplation.
Set within the brutalist architecture of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion, the intervention introduces organic forms and a colourful palette inspired by the world of Nicolas Party. Without reproducing the artist’s in situ mural, the furniture resonates with it by translating its play of curves, colours and scales into a three-dimensional, tactile experience.
Developed in dialogue with Stéphane Aquin, the Museum’s Director General, and Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Chief Curator and holder of the Zhao-Ionescu Chair, the project places the visitor’s experience at the heart of its thinking.
Generous and sculptural, the furniture pieces can be moved and recomposed at will: brought together to encourage exchange, or set apart to offer a moment of retreat. The visitor thus becomes an active part of the space, freely transforming it and its uses.
Entirely designed and made in Montréal with local artisans specialized in woodworking and upholstery, the furniture comes out of an integrated design-build process. The close dialogue between architects and artisans made it possible to develop the forms, refine the details and let the project evolve through direct contact with materials and know-how.
“We imagined playful furniture that invites visitors to move from observation to experience.”
– Grégory-Charles Blanchette, Furniture Designer
This intervention extends Appareil Architecture’s approach, which explores furniture as an extension of architectural thinking. From building to object, the same attention to material, form and use seeks to create sensitive places, where every gesture contributes to the experience.
At the Museum, this approach gives rise to a living space, where you don’t just look: you stop, you explore and you take part in the space.
