Place Ville-Marie is one of the most iconic mixed-use complexes in downtown Montreal. Invited to imagine innovative wellness spaces for its occupants, Humà Design + Architecture conceived an English garden, an organic, wandering promenade designed to spark encounters, free the mind, and reconnect people with nature at the heart of the city.
Unlike the rigid geometry of French formal gardens, the English garden unfolds along sinuous pathways opening onto picturesque vistas, places where a painter might set up an easel. This walking circuit encourages active meetings, spontaneous exchanges, and a sense of mental breathing room, responding directly to the post-COVID expectations of a new generation of office workers.
The design unfolds across four distinct sequences: the Orée, the Habitat, the Fabrique de jardins, and the Belvédère. Each has its own custom carpet, furniture family, and lighting atmosphere, composing a succession of living tableaux. Humà also designed the Bosquets collection, a signature series of planters, lanterns, and rugs conceived and manufactured in Quebec, with pressed metal pots and modular bases that can be combined endlessly.
Our goal was to create a place within a place, where the urban landscape becomes the extension of an interior garden and every corner invites the visitor to pause, meet, and dream.