Espace OSM
client
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
year
2019
place
Place des Arts, Montréal
format
1 650 pi2
project type
Exhibitions
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal wanted to get closer to its audience, so it created a permanent, interactive, modular space dedicated to classical music inside the Place des Arts.
Espace OSM is a living, evolving digital laboratory. It allows a large audience to wander freely through various experiential zones. Promotional, educational, and festive, Espace OSM showcases the orchestra's history and achievements. More than a multifunctional venue, this meeting place fully embodies the institution's mission to break down the barriers between the general public and the Orchestra, making classical music accessible to as many people as possible.
Conceptual choices
The entire space embodies the identity of the OSM, with the omnipresence of its logo's colour and the selection of finishes reminiscent of the materiality of the new Maison symphonique.
The permanent exhibition was designed as a timeline, while real-time interactive listening stations bring the site to life at all times. Translucent panels can be moved around the space to accommodate event programming orchestrated by the OSM, which regularly attracts crowds of insiders and amateurs alike.
Technical choices
The installation showcases new facets of this great Montreal institution through a mix of technological and scenographic devices. Permanent furniture is custom-built to maximize available space and showcase new content.
Topped by a technical grid, the Vibrant Heart, at the centre of the room, is a modular, interactive sub-space dedicated to hosting a variety of exclusive events, for which sound, light, and configuration can be tailored.
Challenges
- Technical complexity of developing interactive technologies in just a few months
- Renovating and upgrading the room prior to the installation by our team
- Creating harmony with multiple materials and complex finishes during a project with many external stakeholders
- Ambitious and tight deadlines with a fixed, highly symbolic opening date
- Real-time content creation with the client for the exhibition area, which complicated the design phase
RESULTS
- The venue opened in 2019 to host conferences, talks, mini-concerts, and other one-off events
- Espace OSM has received international media coverage, winning several prestigious design awards.
- Every year, Nuit blanche at Espace OSM draws thousands of visitors of all ages into the Place des Arts.
