Au Sommet
Place Ville Marie

Designed by I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb—and now synonymous with the urban boom that transformed Montreal in the 1960s—Place Ville Marie drew the attention of the world when it was built. The distinctive 188-metre cruciform tower was once the third tallest skyscraper in the world and remains today the nexus for Montreal’s Underground City—more than 12 square kilometres of underground networks connecting shopping malls, subway stations, apartment buildings, sports venues, and more. Roughly 70,000 people pass through the complex every day.

When the top floors of Montreal’s most famous tower were suddenly on the market, the opportunity was too good to pass up. GSM Project put together a consortium of some of Montreal’s finest companies—including Sid Lee, Cirque du Soleil, restauranteurs Les Enfants Terribles, and building owners Ivanhoé Cambridge—and spearheaded the transformation of the top three floors into a world-class observation deck experience, including a restaurant, a gallery, event spaces, and open-air terraces.

Visitors to the 46th floor of Place Ville Marie get a stunning 360-degree view of the city. Two floors below, Montreal’s highest restaurant boasts a menu inspired by the city itself and made from local ingredients. Four hundred square metres of open-air terraces extend from the restaurant, allowing one of the best dining experiences in town. The entire project is LEED EB+OM Silver certified.

On the 45th floor, 55 original media productions offer an impressionistic portrait of the city and its people. The content is always associated with the view, so that visitors facing south, for example, can watch videos explaining how the St. Lawrence River shaped Montreal’s development. They can also learn about the vital role the river plays today as a shipping corridor, as a source of drinking water, and as a popular destination for boating, fishing, kayaking, and even surfing.

A key feature of Au Sommet Place Ville Marie is the use of RFID technology to personalize the visitor experience. At the reception, visitors are given RFID-enabled wristbands, which they then use to select content during their visit. When they leave, they receive a personalized set of missions with a checklist of things to do in the city at large, based on their interests.

Other important design imperatives included flexibility and updateability. Our approach was to create each space using a modular design that can be easily adapted for different events and exhibitions. To ensure the interactive content stays relevant and evolves with the seasons, a content and social media curator was hired to update information regularly about what’s happening in Montreal.