Pierre Mierski, partner at LEMAYMICHAUD, will always remember this call he received on the morning of December 26, 2016, during the holiday break. At the other end of the line, Guillaume Lemoine, president and co-founder of the Strøm Spa Nordique banner, delivers bad news: a fire is ravaging his Mont-Saint-Hilaire facility. The architect is stunned. “We had just completed the expansion and renovation project. The spa was unveiled just two weeks ago,” he says.
“It had marked me:
instead of feeling sorry for himself and being bitter,
he was planning for the future (…)”
Guillaume, driving his car, already talks of his intention to build a new building to replace the one that is going up in flames. A few days later, he invites the architect to work on sketches with him. “It had marked me: instead of feeling sorry for himself and being bitter, he was planning for the future with me. In his eyes, it was an opportunity to seize rather than a loss,” recalls Pierre Mierski, who says he is deeply touched by this proof of trust and friendship.
Strøm Spa Mont-Saint-Hilaire. Photo : Adrien Williams
The anecdote is a perfect illustration of the bond between the two men. Their relationship is one whose creative potential and its effects can be seen in the existing urban and modern nordic spas for which Strøm has trusted LEMAYMICHAUD, such as the one which has just opened on the shores of the St. Lawrence in Old Quebec, or the one located near Lac des Nations in Sherbrooke. “Guillaume has the rare ability to give his team of architects all the latitude they need, to make their job easier and to bring them further. With him, everything is always simpler,” says Pierre Mierski.
Strøm Spa Vieux-Québec. Photo : Adrien Williams
This rich collaboration, born from the friendship that binds them, is yet only in its infancy. Several other important projects are taking shape in the mind of Guillaume Lemoine. And no unfortunate event will change anything about that.