Architektur | Cohlmeyer Architecture
Cohlmeyer Architecture - Enduring Collaboration with Montauk - Sofa - Canada
| 2025-02-04 |     |
Cohlmeyer Architecture, an award-winning firm renowned for creating beautiful, technically sound, sustainable buildings and public spaces, presents the fruits of its 13-year evolutionary design collaboration with Montauk Sofa, a Montreal-based company known for the quality of its handmade upholstered products. With showrooms across North America, including in Montreal, Calgary, Chicago, New York, Vancouver, and Toronto, the furniture brand’s increasingly design-savvy showrooms and fluid design process are the products of a 13-year collaborative relationship between Montauk Sofa owner, Tim Zyto, and Cohlmeyer Architecture. “Montauk Sofa has become the go-to destination for high-end interior designers and decorators, and Cohlmeyer Architecture has accompanied them on that journey as a collaborative partner capable of understanding, interpreting, and reimagining their visionary design schemes,” notes Daniel Cohlmeyer, Senior Partner at Cohlmeyer Architecture. “Our enduring collaboration is a case study of the merits of an intense client-architect relationship in a constant state of re-design.”
Fresh beginnings
After initially leasing space for their showroom needs in the early years of expansion, the owners of Montauk Sofa were intrigued by the idea of purchasing their own buildings, where they could be the masters of their own design visions. In 2011, Montauk purchased their first building in Calgary, just blocks away from the city’s financial district. Enter Cohlmeyer Architecture and the beginning of an enduring relationship that marked a new era. “The minute I met Steve Cohlmeyer, Daniel’s father. I instantly liked him and my admiration grew from there. When you mix Steve’s imagination with Danny Chartier’s creativity (Danny is responsible for all things visual at Montauk), you can’t go wrong," says Tim Zyto, owner of Montauk Sofa. "Steve and his team proceeded to help with our buildings in Chicago, Calgary, and Montreal, and we have continued on with Cohlmeyer Architecture with a building in Toronto. The aesthetic subtlety of architecture was established by Steve and Danny and continues to evolve.” Like an artist behind a blank canvas, the first venture into owning a building appealed to Montauk’s creative owner. The process presented a unique approach for an architectural firm to adhere to, but Cohlmeyer soon saw the benefits of such a highly collaborative intervention.
Guided by visions of his products on display, the client embraced a philosophy whereby not only does the furniture affect the building, but the building affects the furniture. That symbiotic relationship between his buildings and products has led to the creation of intimate moods in sparse building interiors, all tailored to an exceptional customer experience. The architects feed the client with ideas, and then the client digests and alters those ideas with new infusions of creativity. “It’s a very unique relationship, and there is never a final design plan until it is literally being built,” says Cohlmeyer. “But you can’t be frustrated by the process, because it’s about the evolution of ideas of a renaissance patron.” Much of the Calgary interior spoke for itself, with a dramatic entry into a light-filled interior of large, open spaces. Cohlmeyer introduced finishes such as stucco-applied grey concrete finish on the walls and polished concrete floors that would carry over to future interventions in Montauk’s Chicago and Montreal showrooms. The firm also made some minor interventions to ensure that the structure was all built to code, and they added a staircase for greater symmetrical balance. They also moved some walls to open up spaces that previously served as offices, and punched out some existing windows that had been sealed to install modern iterations. Some existing columns were maintained, and they worked with the client on numerous schematics to integrate track lighting. “Steve would always say that we should keep certain oddities in an existing building instead of making all sorts of intrusive manoeuvres to hide something,” says Tim Zyto.
A green progression
In 2014, Montauk Sofa purchased a former horse stable on Lake Street in Chicago, which was an elegant two-story brick landmark built in 1885. Inspired by the building’s expansive exterior courtyard entry, the client leveraged another decades-long relationship with HETA landscape architect, Myke Hodgins, to literally bring his ideas to life. “Steve pushed for the huge garden where the facade was 100 ft from the street," says Zyto. "He felt that the neighbourhood is nothing but steel, concrete, and glass, and that the garden is quite refreshing in an urban environment."
“Over time, landscaping has been integrated into each project as an environmental and sustainable component,” explains Cohlmeyer. “Tim has a knack for purchasing very non-descript buildings and then turning them into visual works of art.” The addition of Hodgins resulted in a combination of three creative visions, each with slightly different perspectives. From that point forward, the three entities functioned as a collaborative team. And, with a façade pulled back from the street, the stage was set for the first of Montauk’s urban oases.
“The process around the entry must have evolved 100 times, but the resulting sinuous pathway through the garden area is a masterpiece,” says Cohlmeyer. “And with a limited floorplate inside the building, there are plans still in the works to add more greenery, including a green roof and ivy walls.” Much like the Calgary building, the interior of the Chicago property was gutted, and some original qualities were preserved, but with overall cleaner lines. Design elements including the stucco wall finish and polished concrete floors were incorporated, but with the addition of contrasts, including sections of wooden flooring and some exposed original brick walls.
Home sweet home
Two years later, in 2016, the group reconvened to collaborate on a new Montreal property in the heart of an old and historic district. Drawing upon ideas and inspiration derived from their collaborative history, the group was aligned in approaching the Montreal project as a chance to create a unique urban oasis that extended Montauk’s dedication to environmental stewardship and sustainability. “Right from the start, we all agreed on a very ambitious plan to pull the building away from the street to recreate the type of exterior environment that was developed in Chicago,” explains Cohlmeyer. “The vision was to create another urban oasis, but this time in the heart of a very harsh urban landscape.” But passing that vision through the City of Montreal proved to be a very arduous process, and it took a great deal of time to secure the necessary permits to support the client’s vision. Part of the approval process included guarantees to the city that the architects would rebuild some of the original qualities of the façade that they were extracting. As a result, Cohlmeyer Architecture redid the terrazzo walls and brick in the same style, and rebuilt frames for the original industrial windows of the building. The original openings of the streetside façade were repurposed as entryways, with former ground floor openings converted to portals that provide access to both the garden and the new building beyond.
Internally, the architects were faced with two connected buildings that were completely different, with the front structure featuring massive beams at 11-foot intervals, and mill floors common for old industrial buildings. The firm worked with the team for nearly a year before delivering a wave ceiling design that integrates the beams, sprinklers, and lighting as a single gesture. The Montauk Sofa Montreal showroom has emerged as an award-winning, minimalist architectural gem, with four floors of open and light-filled space thanks to its glass façade. Full-height glass walls and lightwells bookend each floor, and views of the green courtyard from each showroom floor enrich the visitor experience. Entry to the building passes through a forecourt garden, a masterful creation made possible through the removal of the first forty feet of the building. Many elements of the entry façade are reminiscent of Montreal neighborhoods, but the courtyard, which features a waterfall, instantly transports visitors away from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding urban environment.
A winning recipe for creative design
The collective body of work of the collaborators is a master class in teamwork and the evolution of diverse ideas. The result is a series of very different, yet mutually informed transformations of aging industrial structures that have been repositioned as sophisticated stages of contemporary design.
“The client has a deep understanding of the theory, approach, and thought process behind everything we have done, while we as architects have complemented that understanding with formal principles of design,” concludes Daniel Cohlmeyer. “The result is a series of intimate spaces informed by Montauk’s creative vision, infused with design elements that complete the presentation.” Building upon the lessons learned through multiple projects, the team continues to collaborate on new Montauk properties in Toronto.
About Cohlmeyer Architecture
With offices in Winnipeg and Montreal, Cohlmeyer Architecture offers urban design and architectural services to a broad international clientele. Backed by an experienced team, the firm has garnered a reputation for creating beautiful, technically sound, sustainable buildings and public spaces.
Photo credit: Nanne Springer