Caisse Desjardins Ville Saint-Laurent

One team completed, simultaneously, two mandates for Caisse populaire Desjardins de Saint-Laurent.

The first mandate was to bring together the services of three Desjardins entities in the same branch, namely Caisse populaire Desjardins de Saint-Laurent, Services Entreprises and Services Signature Desjardins, thus offering a complete range of services to individual and corporate members of Mouvement Desjardins under the same roof.

Three separate rental units, partly occupied by two of the entities, were transformed to create 25,500 square feet of space while keeping the services in operation throughout the transformation process, which in turn required that part of the construction work be done at night and on the weekend.

The mandate, simple in appearance to carry out, has had its own set of challenges such as linking all Desjardins entities in space, while respecting their individual set of standards in terms of materials, furniture and ambiance. It was therefore necessary to elaborate a concept with a unifying thread through the designed space that also kept the distinctive signs of each entity. Furthermore, the entrance shared by the three services was to allow distinguishing the entities from the onset, while enabling the switch from one service to another without having to go outside the building.

The second mandate was the fit-out of the head office of the Caisse populaire Desjardins de Saint-Laurent in a new 7,100 square feet space on the ground floor of a building in the same neighbourhood. The space was to integrate Desjardins’ new corporate image into a visually open layout, without necessitating any modification to the building’s structure and access. The concept was to convey a young but serene atmosphere, using inspirational and timeless colors, and combine the “advice” services and the “counter” services, linking them visually and physically.