Evey Reorients the Familiar Montreal Triplex From the Inside Out

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Evey sits in Montreal’s dense residential Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood, on a lot adjacent to a green alley where, as Appareil Architecture describes it, “everyday activities intersect with the more discreet presence of the city.” Appareil Architecture approached the property as a renovation and extension of one of the existing buildings lining the street.

Modern kitchen with wood flooring, stainless steel dishwasher, potted plants, and large windows overlooking a spiral staircase and fenced patio.

Photography by Félix Michaud

The Montreal triplex is a recognizable housing type: three units stacked behind a shared facade, built close against neighboring buildings on a narrow city lot, with a shared party wall that any renovation must work around.

Modern backyard with a wooden deck, red outdoor dining set, small pool, and a two-story building with large glass doors and exterior staircases.

Photography by Félix Michaud

Appareil Architecture’s approach did not “aim to rethink the typology of a Montreal triplex, but rather to subtly reorient the living conditions it offers,” explains associate architect Marc-Olivier Champagne-Thomas. The scope of work included an extension and a renovation, yet the building’s outward identity as a triplex stayed in place—the real change happened inside.

Modern kitchen with wood cabinetry and island, tall windows, bar stools, indoor plants, and a spiral staircase leading to an outdoor area.

Photography by Félix Michaud

Champagne-Thomas ties that restraint to the site itself. The project, he says, “revolves around negotiating a balance between the intimacy of the house and the implicit openness to the immediate urban context.” Rather than resolving that duality, the renovation keeps it active, a tension he calls the project’s guiding thread. The alley bordering the house is where that balance gets tested daily, a strip of the block where residents’ routines and the wider city both pass through.

Modern backyard with a small pool, wooden deck, stone path, tall wooden fence, trees in the background, and a metal spiral staircase leading to an upper level.

Photography by Félix Michaud

The spatial organization inside Evey, says interior designer Esther Leduc, “is based on a continuous line that runs along the party wall,” an axis that “structures the entire project and ensures its coherence.” She describes it as a silent device, along which “circulation, visual openings, and moments of openness are aligned.” A staircase to the basement, a run of interior windows, and a framed sightline between the front and back of the house all belong to that same line. It’s a house built to be traversed, Leduc says, rather than compartmentalized.