Under a lush, leafy canopy, students of a downtown Montréal Cégep might forget they are still indoors at the Collège de Maisonneuve’s interior garden. Designed by local design studio Taktik, in collaboration with C2V Architecture and landscape specialists Chantale de Menezes and Albert Mondor, the smartly renovated inner courtyard offers a rejuvenating oasis within a busy urban institution.

The original, Brutalist-style courtyard dates to 1972, and served as an interstitial space between the building’s various volumes and additions. The five-storey space was topped with glass gable roof, creating more comfortable indoor conditions while retaining an airy, light-filled ambiance — not to mention a greenhouse worth of plants. And thanks to a 2023 intervention, the 836-square-metre atrium now boasts colourful murals, ample seating, and bright decor, transforming an erstwhile circulation space into a campus social hub.

The revamped interior is more user-friendly than its earlier iterations, featuring multipurpose seating and lounge areas, plus a polished concrete mezzanine. Wooden terraces, benches and tables delineate social study spaces and a relaxation area, which is outfitted with deck chairs playfully sheltered underneath a palm tree. A human-scale design, all furniture is constructed with Douglas fir and Corten or Zinc-plated steel. 

With forest green highlights, the seating matches the foliage, creating a balanced, grounded base to the interior. The three massive murals by Montréal-based artist Jason Cantoro add bright swatches of vibrant citrus-colours to the walls. Another stimulating element, the rainbow sheen of the steel planters brings new flair to the space, which is contoured by natural light dappled over the foliage.

Finally, the design maintains another important element of Montréal outdoor life — the common pigeon, found in parks and alleys across the city. Painted orange, yellow or pink, these bird figurines sit atop terraces in clusters, evoking the vibrant street life and the many outdoor patios that saturate the the sociable city’s streets. And at Collège de Maisonneuve, they don’t leave a mess.