The redevelopment of Cossette’s offices stands out through the company’s desire to remain in the neighborhood while thoughtfully reusing the existing physical environment to adapt to a hybrid work model in a post-COVID context. The office needed to offer a variety of opportunities for informal encounters, something absent in remote work, where interactions with colleagues are generally limited to online meetings. By reinvesting in the space in a minimal way, the goal was to create a collection of places that would enable diverse moments of connection and collaboration.

To respond to employees’ varied needs throughout the day, the space was designed to offer small, medium, and large-scale gathering areas. At the heart of this redevelopment lies a large public square that showcases the life of the agency and accommodates a multitude of activities, from conferences to casual exchanges between colleagues. This central core, strategically positioned to strengthen the connection with the adjacent park’s natural setting, acts as a pivot around which three distinct “houses” are organized, each containing workrooms of various sizes.

Around this central space, informal meeting areas were positioned to encourage spontaneous interactions, essential to a creative work environment. Benches integrated directly into the exterior walls of the houses create additional opportunities for pause and appropriation of space. To generate a smooth gradation between public and private work zones, the level of intimacy increases as one moves away from the public square, allowing for varied use depending on individual needs. In short, the addition of a few carefully designed formal elements has had a significant impact on the workspace dynamics, the quality of light, and the overall adaptability of the office to today’s hybrid work reality.