Based in Montréal, Canada, ADHOC Architectes is an innovative firm offering services in architecture, interior design, and urban design.
In the past, ADHOC tried using an alternative rendering engine and outsourced their renderings to professionals, which were both time-consuming and expensive. But then, they came across Enscape’s simple-to-use real-time rendering solution, which they have been using since June 2019.
In this article, we learn about an award-winning renovation project and how the team at ADHOC uses Enscape to realistically visualize projects and make fast adjustments.
A special thanks to Jennifer Dyke, Architecture Designer at ADHOC Architectes, for speaking with us about the Biodôme project and their use of real-time visualization.
Can you please tell us about the retail project that you were tasked with designing and renovating?
We were tasked by the City of Montreal (Espace pour la vie) to present a new souvenir boutique for the newly renovated Montreal Biodôme, in Quebec, Canada. The Biodôme is an interesting space, located in the old Vélodrome which was used for the 1976 Montreal summer Olympic Games.
This interior design project was a consortium formed by ADHOC Architectes and MESSIER designers. Our mandate was to renovate the 2,100 ft2 boutique to revive the user experience of the space, increase footfall, and stimulate sales. We also proposed a furniture arrangement that can adapt to the evolving needs of the client to ensure the sustainability of the installation.
The finished retail space at the Biôdome boutique, Montreal, Canada
Can you share more about the space and design of the Biôdome boutique?
The space is minimalist in order to emphasize the products themselves and allow for a fluid movement of customers. Anticipating the most frequented commercial space for Espace pour la vie, the design team proposed an adaptable boutique, equipped to anticipate change as well as fluctuating demands.
Like a living organism capable of adapting and responding to its environment, this living boutique will evolve with the passing seasons and years. The modular arrangement will allow the boutique manager to adapt their product line to respond to the variable number of visitors and to changing clientele preferences.
The furniture modules consist of four base elements to which accessories can be added. This concept allows for an almost infinite number of compositions and reconfigurations of the elements by moving, rotating, and assembling them in different ways. The configuration is thus able to adapt to the evolution of the boutique’s needs depending on changing sales and products.
The modular retail units
The interior of the Biodôme is quite unique. Where did you take your inspiration from?
While investigating the Biodôme’s ecosystems, the consortium identified sources of inspiration allowing them to develop a narrative framework unique to the Biodôme boutique. The study of the living world drove our design team to research organization at the cellular level, specifically on the recurrence of certain structures and their forms.
Several natural phenomena like the creation of cells in a beehive, the erosion of rock formations, and the formation of basalt columns provided inspiration for the project.
A flexible and adaptable retail space
How did you use Enscape’s real-time visualization plugin for this project?
For this particular project, it was important to showcase different design options fast, in order to understand the adaptivity of the boutique over time. But it became clear very fast that our renderings at the time did not showcase the desired outlines of the project, so we had to implement a two-step process: render + adding outlines from SketchUp. This turned out to be a tiring process when having to do many design options in a day.
The team then decided to try out Enscape to achieve the same results, and it turned out to be much faster and efficient. Enscape has truly helped us promote the project easily through diagrams and renderings.
Enscape rendering of the interior space
What benefits have you experienced from incorporating Enscape into your design process?
The ability to realistically visualize projects allows us to make fast adjustments, for example, the choice of materials, earlier in the design process. We also really appreciate the use of Enscape with a virtual reality headset, which allows us to immerse ourselves in projects from the earliest stages of the design process. This is also a feature that our clients truly appreciate, due to complex projects that can be hard to fully visualize.
Enscape rendering of the modular furniture and interior space
An award-winning result
The Biôdome boutique has been recognized for its design and has won several prizes during the past 2 years:
- 2021 Rethinking the future awards 2021, Winner in Interior Retail (Built)
- 2020 APR, IID Awards 2020, Winner - Commercial interior built >> International Interior Design
- Nominated for the 2021 Grands Prix du Design 14e in 3 categories: Prix spéciaux + Design d’environnement + Commerce / Commercial space ≤ 1 600 pi2
A special thanks to ADHOC Architectes for sharing the Biodôme boutique project with us. A beautifully-rennovated retail space. Congratulations to all those involved!
