ERE by Ivy Studio
Set at the meeting point of Griffintown and Old Montreal in the Cité du Multimédia, ERE positions itself as a fitness space built around community.
The 4,415-square-foot (410 m²) interior occupies the ground-floor corner of a seven-story office building, with access from Boulevard Robert-Bourassa as well as the building’s internal lobby. Designed with young professionals in mind, the project brings together the existing shell’s industrial edge and a refined, luxury retail sensibility.
Ivy Studio’s approach keeps the building’s original envelope front and center. Concrete floors, exposed metal ductwork, and expansive windows establish a crisp, almost clinical backdrop that leans into the site’s raw character. Against this, the design introduces warm, curving volumes and a more tactile, sophisticated palette, creating a deliberate contrast between hard architecture and soft intervention.
The arrival sequence is intentionally open and gallery-like. A grid of flat, square light panels hovers overhead, reinforcing the space’s precision. At the center, a rounded stainless steel reception desk reads as a sculptural monolith, set at an angle to subtly guide movement through the lobby.
Material and color shift the atmosphere in the shared areas. Cream-painted walls temper the coolness of glass, mirror, and concrete, while accents of baby blue, butter yellow, and terracotta echo the brand’s playful identity. Along the windows, a long red velvet banquette with matching poufs and small bleachers creates a social zone for pre- and post-class gatherings. A curved blue-ceramic juice bar is integrated into the back wall, offering a dedicated moment of pause within the overall flow.
Transition spaces are treated as immersive thresholds rather than corridors. The entrance vestibule features a custom U-shaped oak bench with organic stainless steel bases, positioned before a blush pink locker wall and a large mirror marked with the Ère logo. Further in, the main locker room becomes a monochrome environment in light blue, wrapping walls, full-height lockers, and doors in a single hue. Two monolithic marble vanities in deep blue punctuate the room with weight and visual clarity.
Beyond the bright front-of-house, three studios are shaped as distinct cocoons, each calibrated to a different training mode. The spin studio is dark and high-energy, built for 40 bikes and equipped with color-changing LEDs that sync to music. The heated strength room shifts warmer, with brown walls and flooring and a dimmable LED perimeter that washes the surfaces in a soft glow. In contrast, the Pilates studio houses 10 reformers in a calmer setting, softened by long shee
