Space to grow: Our way of building a better future
We’ve made our statement—this is what it means to us moving forward
Space is potential.
If it’s a wide-open expanse, we can dream about its possibilities, and if it’s limited by boundaries, we can adapt to its constraints. Whatever form it takes—a physical built environment, a mental place of ideas and creativity, a digital space of innovation and research—it’s what we do with the space we have that matters most.
The value of space can be determined by the quality of life it generates, no matter where it is. That’s why design is so important: It can be a driving force of change that can help people thrive in new realities and keep growing. When design is approached with curiosity, invention, and a spirit of generosity that aims to make the world a better place, space can become so much more than what it was when we found it.
We believe in design’s ability to create open and meaningful space to grow.
There are a lot of ways to build a better world. This is ours.
It’s a state of mind
There’s one principle that has always remained the same in what we do: Keep evolving.
We know that to be true change-makers, we need to be open to the space outside our comfort zones. We have to expose ourselves to risks and challenges in order to not only learn, but push past our own limits and create opportunities for growth and progress.
It’s not about perfection, because being perfect means there’s nowhere else to go. Instead, it’s about being better. We’re always looking to outdo ourselves, to constantly look around corners, to anticipate and go beyond the everyday and create true collective value.
It’s how we work
When we employ a transdisciplinary process, we’re pushing the fold and going further. It’s a process that creates our space to grow, a collaborative way of approaching our work where no one and nothing is siloed off or isolated from one another in the design process. Instead, it’s an ongoing conversation that everyone takes part in, creating an environment is created where ideas and disciplines can nourish one another.
This process in turn creates enriching places for others: You’ll find proof of that in projects like the Place des Montréalaises, where landscape architecture, art, and architecture come together to break new ground on inclusion and equality in our cities, or how designers came together to bring the once-disparate elements of Espace 67’s heritage site together in an outstandingly interconnected way.
From ideas comes the collaboration to realize them: We organize ourselves according to design methodologies, not by topic or specialization. We ask about the ideas—the concept behind the building, the landscape, the ground floor—and we have developed a process to bring them to life.
By working together, using each other’s methods and fields of expertise, our teams benefit from a greater range of perspectives. That’s how we grow.
It’s a form of permission
When we say ‘space to grow’, it represents us giving ourselves permission to go further.
Forming a part of our brand image and efforts to celebrate the creative minds that make our team brilliant, it’s a banner that we gather under and carry together. It is a saying which captures a moment in time, signaling not just how far we’ve come, but how far we have to go. In the last decade alone, our focus has been increasingly oriented toward design and doing better by doing things that matter.
It gives us purpose, says Lemay’s Chief Marketing Officer Rob Fiorino, when we look at our last 65 years of development and the next 65 years moving forward.
‘Externally, we give space to grow. It refers to what we do change and nuance. It enables us to latch onto nuances or social changes that are happening and grow with them—climate change, pandemics, war, economics upswings and downturns—as a catalyst of change from a design perspective.
“Internally, it gives us space to grow; we’re giving ourselves permission to grow with the brand. Whether you were an intern architect or a senior principal, you can see yourself in the brand’s refinement, take the principles that we have now and take it where you want it go.”
Above all, space to grow represents a dichotomy, containing both an openness to change and the ideals and principles that won’t change. It’s a balance between what lies ahead and the journeys and changes we’ve undergone together.
Space to grow is unfolding everywhere in what we’ve done and what plan to do.
