Chronique - Été 2011

Le magazine des locataires du Fonds de placement immobilier Allied Properties

Q U É B E C • M O N T R É A L • T O R O N TO • W I N N I P E G • K I T C H E N E R • C A L G A R Y • V A N C O U V E R • V I C T O R I A

ÉTÉ 2011

COLLABORATEURSL'agence créative Écorce, grâceà un sens affûté des médiassociaux, dispose de stratégiesréfléchies qui engagent véritablement son public.

[ PAGE 22 ] Une image précise : l’agence David & Goliathet son processus d’étudede marché efficace.

[ PAGE 6 ] La Solution GFI : Comment une desplus grandes firmes canadiennes de logiciels et de services met àprofit une forte culture d'entreprise.

[ P A G E 1 4 ]

+• 5 ans d’art visuels au festivalLuminato de Toronto

• Kobo lance son eReader Touch,version française à venir

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LIBERTY VILLAGE,TORONTO / – L’équipede Kobo poursuit sur salancée, elle qui qui a débutéen occupant quelques pieds carrés dans les bureaux deIndigo Books & Music surla rue King Ouest et que le succès a fait déménager deuxfois déjà depuis décembre 2009. Aujourd’hui, toujours dans des bureaux d’Allied mais dans 37 000 pieds carrés au Liberty Village, la société se prépare à une nouvellecroissance avec la sortie de son dernier produit : le eReaderTouch Edition, qui sera bientôt disponible en français, en allemand, en espagnol et en italien afin que les lecteursétrangers puissent l’utiliser dans leur propre langue.

Comme Michael Serbinis l’avait fait remarquer dans unentretien paru dans la Chronique d’Allied l’année dernière,la plupart des gens changent de téléphone cellulaire aprèsquelques années pour suivre le progrès technologique. Or, dans le monde de la lecture électronique, les choseschangent tout aussi rapidement. C’est pourquoi Kobo (anagramme du mot anglais book) met aussi l’accent sur ses logiciels de lecture électronique. Ainsi, quel que soitvotre appareil, votre bibliothèque électronique peut voyager

avec vous. Vous pouvez certes lirevos livres Kobo sur un appareilandroïde, un iPhone ou unetablette électronique.

Mais le eReader TouchEdition vous propose un écran

infrarouge tactile de prochaine génération pour une lectureencore plus intuitive. Grâce à la toute dernière technologiePearl E Ink, ce nouveau lecteur vous permet de tourner la page d’un coup de doigt, de surligner une phrase, dechercher un mot, de zoomer une image, d’augmenter lataille des caractères ou de feuilleter rapidement les pages.Ce tout nouveau modèle a certes perdu certains des accessoires de ses prédécesseurs, mais il a été conçu en tout premier lieu pour le plaisir de la lecture.

Nommée parmi les spécialistes de la lecture électroniqueles plus innovants par Time.com*, Kobo propose aujourd’huiun catalogue de plus de 2,3 millions de livres, journaux etrevues. Elle compte des clients dans plus de 100 pays, desdétaillants dans les pays anglophones et elle vient d’annoncerau printemps l’ouverture de magasins en Allemagne, enEspagne, en Italie, en France et aux Pays-Bas.

kobobooks.com

[ T E C H N O L O G I E ]

*McCracken, Harry, ‘Your Best eReader May Be No eReader,’ Jan. 20, 2011, Technologizer – Time.com

Équipé du tout dernierécran Pearl E Inkpermettant une échellede 16 niveaux de gris,le Kobo a été conçupour être très sensibleet permettre unelecture très intuitive.

TORO

NTO

Les pages se tournent facilementen tapant ou en faisant glisser ledoigt sur l’écran.

Un seul bouton afin que le lecteurpuisse se concentrer sur sa lecture.

Légèrement plus petit que le Kobod’origine (4,5 sur 6,5 pouces), ilest fait pour tenir dans la poche.

Le progrès à la pointe des doigtsKobo, leader mondial de la lecture électronique, lance son eReader Touch

EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / – While the idea of supporting health and wellness in the workplace is,to Terry Cristall, common sense, sometimes going about it wasn’t all that straightforward.

As CEO of Number 10 Architectural Group inWinnipeg, he and his partners have always encouraged anactive lifestyle among the firm’s 84 employees, of which 60 work out of the Winnipeg office. They organized participation in team events like dragon boat races, hostedwellness themed barbecues, and even started bringing in an aerobics instructor for midday classes in space they weremaking available in their own offices. But it was this lastinitiative that truly demonstrated the need for an on-sitegym facility.

“We were getting 10 to 15 people doing aerobics in ouroffice’s flex/project space. Not only was it getting crowded,there also wasn’t a decent space where we could clean upafterwards,” says Cristall whose 55-year-old firm specializesin commercial, hospitality, institutional, education andrecreation design.

When the foundation work that was being done in theirbuilding at 115 Bannatyne necessitated reworking the base-ment, Cristall and his team realized that a little bit of extraeffort could carve out a tidy 2,000-square-foot gym space.

With the consent and cooperation of Allied PropertiesREIT, they designed a new space, laying down a rubbersport floor and accommodating a good sized change roomand two shower stalls. Now, the brightly lit subterraneanspace, with free weights, two stationary bikes and a treadmill is getting regular use from individuals training as it is from classes. And use is likely to increase in the winter when Winnipeg temps keep employees indoors.

“This is great,” says Cristall. “We’ve always been conscious of promoting a healthy lifestyle and having spacelike this just makes it a better, healthier work environment.”

As for those aerobics classes, they’re still on every day, and open to anyone in the building.

3 • SUMMER 2011

[ H E A L T H ]

WINNIPEG

New gym for Winnipeg tenants: ‘Found’ space creates an opportunity for healthier living.

When foundation workprompted a revamp of thebasement storage area,architect tenants designed atidy 2,000-square-foot gym.


2007 Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12 at Harbourfront Centre (RafaelLozano-Hemmer) was, at the time, the world’s largest interactive light sculpture.

2008 saw Slow Dancing by David Michalek at the University of Toronto campuswhere large outdoor screens showed ultra-slow-motion photography of dancers(a five-second gesture took 10 minutes of screen time).

2009 was the year of the red balls with David Rokeby’s Longwave featured inBrookfield Place and Kurt Perschke’s RedBall Toronto popping up in sevenunexpected locations throughout the city to highlight unnoticed architecture and prompt conversations.

2010 saw Ship O’ Fools (Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller), an actual shippeople could enter, installed in Trinity Bellwoods Park, and based on themetaphor of the un-captained vessel full of aimless passengers absorbed invanity and frivolity.

2011’s Sargasso by Philip Beesley examined how architecture could come alive, shifting and floating in Brookfield Place. 2007

2011

Pi Media

World theatre premieres and massive free concerts aside, most people knowToronto’s Luminato fest is happening because they keep running into art.

5 • SUMMER 2011

THE ARTOF IMPACTQUEEN-RICHMOND CENTRE, TORONTO / – As 15-foot-highred rubber balls go, it was generally loved and sometimes challenged.That’s one of the things Robert VanderBerg remembers fondly fromhis third year as the producer of Luminato’s visual arts program.

It has been a full five years since the city’s most encompassing artsfestival, featuring theatre, dance, music, literature, food, fashion, film and visual arts came onto the scene. And while it has hosted anumber of world premieres and draws spectacular, thought-provokingperformances from around the globe, the visual arts program hasalways functioned to announce the festival’s presence.

“Emphasis from day one was that the visual arts would be free, open to the public, new to the city and in spaces you didn’t expect to see art,” says VanderBerg, explaining that with the exception ofBrookfield Place, which has been both a spectacular venue and anaccommodating one, works are generally set up in new spaces every year.

After its first year, Luminato began commissioning pieces for certain spaces. So while 2007’s Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12,Mexican Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive lightsculpture at Harbourfront Centre, may have gone on to other cities in some other form (including Vancouver for the winter Olympics),most, such as this year’s Sargasso by Philip Beesley, which shifted andfloated above Brookfield’s Place’s madding crowd, are dismantled atthe end of the festivals’ 10-day run.

All that remains then are the memories of hundreds of thousandswho experienced these accidental encounters with art, and of courseseveral thousand images posted on Facebook and the like.

luminato.com

[ C U L T U R E ]

Luminato marks its fifth year with the release of pictorial book “Luminato began as a dream,” said its co-founder David Pecaut, “a dream that eachyear Toronto would invite the world to join us in celebrating creativity.” Featuring morethan 250 images from Luminato events andperformances and written by acclaimed Torontoauthor David Macfarlane, the book celebratesthe festival’s growth in five short years from a neat idea to a remarkable event that hasdrawn local, national, and international talentand showcased the work of both emerging and established artists. An original portraitssection by celebrated photographer NigelDickson highlights thecontributions of thepeople who makeLuminato happen: volunteers, artists, and the festival supporters.

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CITÉ MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / – À la caisse d’un magasin de grande surface, en train d’acheter desfleurs pour son jardin, Gilles Létourneau se penche pourexaminer de plus près le logiciel de gestion de la caisseenregistreuse. Remarquant son intérêt, la caissière expliqueque le programme est très efficace, mais que le service d’assistance technique l’est bien plus encore.

Ce logiciel n’est que l’un des quelque 40 logiciels proposés par GFI Solutions, l’entreprise de GillesLétourneau, qui emploie aujourd’hui près d’un millier de personnes. Il était plus que ravi d’entendre ce commentaire sur la qualité du service.

« Nous avons des centaines de représentants du service àla clientèle. Le service est ce qu’il y a de plus importantdans une entreprise comme la nôtre. S’il n’est pas à la hauteur, les clients en parlent entre eux », explique GillesLétourneau depuis ses bureaux situés au 75 rue Queen àMontréal, où son entreprise occupe deux étages.

LES SOLUTIONS ERP LES PLUS DEMANDÉES SUR LE MARCHÉ Depuis sa fondation en 1988, GFISolutions a réalisé d’importantes acquisitions et concluplusieurs partenariats. Ses dernières acquisitions,activeMedia, Fortsum Solutions d’affaires (aujourd’hui GFI Solutions PME), Bell Solutions d’affaires (aujourd’huiGFI Solutions d’affaires) et Accovia, l’ont aidée à élargir samission et à atteindre son objectif : passer d’un fournisseurde services à fournisseur de produits et de services.

Ces acquisitions lui ont également permis de développersa clientèle à l’échelle internationale et de conquérir desmarchés verticaux. Ainsi, en cinq ans, GFI Solutions a multiplié par cinq ses revenus et son personnel.Aujourd’hui, elle fournit des solutions d’affaires complètespour des municipalités, des professionnels du tourisme, des entreprises de construction, de quincaillerie et de rénovation, des garderies, des cabinets de notaires et decomptables.

Si GFI Solutions s’impose sur le marché depuis plus de 20 ans, il faut savoir que certaines de ses filiales sont en activité depuis plus longtemps encore. Son équipe secompose d’experts spécialisés dans quelques-unes des solutions ERP les plus demandées sur le marché : SageAccpac, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics GP,Microsoft Dynamics AX et IFS. À ces experts s’ajoutent des spécialistes d’Acomba et d’Avantage qui connaissent sur le bout des doigts ces deux solutions de comptabilitéutilisées par dizaines de milliers de PME du Québec.

UNE FORTE CULTURE D’ENTREPRISE Aujourd’hui,quelque 55 000 clients canadiens comptent sur les technologies de GFI Solutions pour le paiement dessalaires, le traitement de transactions, le transport demarchandises et la gestion des innombrables éléments logistiques qui permettent à une économie de fonctionner.

Mais la mise au point de ces solutions ne constitue que la moitié du travail, les services d’assistance technique étantle côté davantage public du mandat. Quoiqu’il en soit, labonne marche de ces deux fonctions ensemble exige uneforte culture d’entreprise.

« Au Québec, il est difficile de trouver des candidatsqualifiés et lorsqu’on les a trouvés, il faut les garder motivéset impliqués », poursuit Gilles Létourneau en expliquantque sa société organise des concours de « valeurs d’entre-prise » qui permettent à des milliers d’employés de rédigerdes témoignages sur la signification pour eux de certainesvaleurs, à la fois dans leur vie professionnelle et personnelle.

Par ailleurs, elle s’est dotée d’un programme de gestion dela contribution stimulant pour les employés. C’est ainsi queGFI Solutions invite les gens à « venir faire leur marque »et s’assure d’offrir une rémunération compétitive et desplans de développement personnalisés à ses employés.

gfisolutions.com


GFI Solutions : Des solutions multiples et un service hors pairUne des plus grandes firmes canadiennes de logiciels et de services met à profit une forte culture d’entreprise.

[ T E C H N O L O G I E ]

7 • SUMMER 2011

MONTRÉAL

One of the largest software andconsulting firms in Canada, Montreal’s GFI Solutions fosters a culture of service.

Gilles Létourneau was buying flowers for his garden at a Montreal big box hardware when he leaned over thecounter to peek at the software running the cash register.Noticing his interest, the cashier said the system wasgood, but that the technical support was great.

CLIENTS TALK It’s just one of the forty-odd softwareproducts his 1,000-employee firm offers, this one builtspecifically for the hardware industry, but Létourneau was especially proud to hear the service comment.

“We have hundreds of customer service representa-tives. Service is very important for an organization likeours and if you deliver bad service, clients will talk,” he says form his office at 75 Queen Street in Montrealwhere GFI Solutions occupies over two floors.

SIGNIFICANT ACQUISITIONS Since 1988, GFI Solutionshas been on a path marked by a series of significantacquisitions and partnerships. Its most recent acquisitions,ActiveMedia, Fortsum Business Solutions, Bell BusinessSolutions, and Accovia, have helped the company broadenits mission and complete the shift from being a servicesprovider to being a products and services provider.

The acquisitions have also helped it expand its clientbase internationally and conquer vertical markets so thatover a five-year period, GFI Solutions has increased itsannualized revenues and employee base fivefold. Now it provides business solutions for municipalities, travelprofessionals, the construction industry, hardware andrenovation centres, daycares, notaries, and accountants.

IN-DEMAND ERP SOLUTIONS Indeed, while the company itself has been making its mark for over 20 years, some of its subsidiaries have been on the scene for even longer. Its team brings together experts specializing in some of the most in-demand ERP solutions on the market: Sage Accpac, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics AX, andIFS. And then there’s its Acomba and Avantage expertswho know everything there is to know about the mostpopular accounting solutions used by Quebec SMBs. “« Au Québec, il est difficile de

trouver des candidats qualifiés etlorsqu’on les a trouvés, il faut lesgarder motivés et impliqués »– Gilles Létourneau, Président et chef de la direction


ABOVE: Staff and guests enjoy a La Carnita ‘pop-up taco stand’ as OneMethod principals test an idea and indulge in a passion for cooking.

LEFT: Working with Nokia in the U.S., OneMethod helpedlaunch the Nokia Astound, a competitor to the iPhone.

BELOW: The Notebook, whose look was inspired by 1st generation Macs, began as a gift to clients, but isnow available for sale.

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / – When creativity strikes, almost every surface at OneMethod’s second storey space at 445 King Street West has the potential for brainstorming or sketching out ideas.

Steve Miller’s desk, for example, is a whiteboard, and so is every office door (one staffer, a graffiti artist, draws his ideas on a window).

“It’s a very entrepreneurial place and we’re always trying new things,” says Miller, the digital and design firm’s creative director.

“It changes almost weekly in terms of what we’re doing,what we’re interested in, what’s coming up next, and that keeps us fresh and makes this a great place to work,” he says, having recently completed a June move that saw his firm shift from another Allied building to this cozy, central spot on King Street West.

OneMethod’s technical and creative staff works withsocial media, video production, mobile technology andinteractive media to produce fun and highly effective marketing and advertising. In March, they completed acampaign for Canadian company Targetvacations.ca, a client for the past five years.

“Business was picking up, so they wanted to raise theirsocial awareness,” recalls Miller.

DRIVING SALES UP 45% The client, which operates muchlike itravel2000.com but on a smaller scale, didn’t have thebudget for TV ads or billboards, but Miller’s creative teamdidn’t think that was necessary. Instead they launched a contest called “Where’s the Beach?” An app on the TargetVacations Facebook fan page featured a photo of an

anonymous beach, and a pull-down menu for guessing its location.

“If you guessed right, you were entered to win a trip to a sunny destination,” Miller says. “Target Vacations gaveaway eight trips (donated by Sunquest and other sponsors)over four months.”

From November 2010 to March 2011, Target Vacationswent from 500 Facebook fans to 8,000. The campaignbrought sales up to 45% more than the previous year, an18% increase in profits.

CREATIVE MEETS TECH OneMethod also worked on aU.S. project this year launching the Nokia Astound, a competitor to the iPhone. The campaign included a videoon T-Mobile’s and Nokia’s websites, a homepage takeover,in-store promotional materials and more.

As for OneMethod’s work environment, Miller describesit as “flat”, that is, without much hierarchy. “And there’svery little suit-wearing,” he says. (Wearing jeans, a blackshirt with rolled-up sleeves, and a pair of Converse, he was“dressed up” to meet with a client.)

In traditional ad firms, an art director and copywritertravelled from shop to shop and worked on ads together. A more likely pair at OneMethod would be a designer and a tech person. Unlike other shops, many of which build banner ads, websites and so on, OneMethod focusesmore on designing the concept, ideation and strategy.

“Not a lot of shops in the city combine the creativethinking of ad agencies with the technical influence of adevelopment shop,” Miller says. “We sit in the middle of that, which is what we like.”

onemethod.com

9 • SUMMER 2011

King West digital and design firm builds a collaborative environment where high concept meets technical development.

OneMethod’s Two Sides [ M A R K E T I N G ]

TORONTO““Not a lot of shops in the city combine the creativethinking of ad agencies with the technical influence ofa development shop. We sit in the middle of that.”

– Steve Miller, Creative Director

STEPHEN AVE, CALGARY / – If James Bond were shopping for a system to manage his expensive gadgets and the security of his home and family, you’d likely findhim at Bang & Olufsen Custom Home on Stephen Avenue in Calgary. The company’s exclusive retailer for the prairie provinces, this location serves well-heeledclients from Victoria through to Niagara and into the US.And most – including a lot of oil executives – want more than TVs and stereos.

Maybe you’re finishing your wintergetaway and you want your home tobe nice and warm when you walk in.Scot Lane, president of Bang &Olufsen Custom Home can have histeam design a system that lets you turnup your house’s heat from your iPhonewhile you’re still in Key West.

Or maybe you’re getting to the good part of a movie andthe doorbell rings. No need to get up – an image on yourscreen can display your security camera view of who’s at thedoor. And what if you want to keep an eye on your housewhile on business in Hong Kong? Lane and his team willmake you a custom tool that alerts you when your cleaning

staff arrive at your home, and when they have left andlocked up.

“When I was young and foolish,” he says, “while talkingto clients I would say things like, ’Wouldn’t it be cool if…’and the client often said ’Yeah? Can you make that happen?’And often I didn’t know if we could, but we did it. And tothis day we have yet to not make a client’s dream come to

reality or turn down a project.”

Lane’s family has a history of selling audio-visual equipment, but the idea of integrating A/V with security, lighting and whole home control developed later when heopened B&O Custom Home.

Set in a 10-year-old structure that was built on condition it reflectthe style of the historic buildings onStephen Avenue mall, the space

includes a basement warehouse, a first floor B&O productshowroom, and a second floor “Integration” area, displayingthe wonders of what can happen when you combine high-end design with advanced technology. This is whereyou’ll find a full-scale state-of-the-art home theater.


Where home electronics used to just be about stereos and TVs, Calgary’s Ban

IN CONTROL[R E T A I L ]

“"To this day we have yet to not make a client’sdream come to reality or turn down a project.”

– Scot Lane, president, B&O Custom Home

Not that you can tell from outside. From street level thegoings-on are fairly discreet until someone walks into the spacious first floor showroom. “And when they get to the second floor, they gasp,” Lane says.

And while the larger-than-life spectacle of a home theatre display is always awe inducing, the future of home electronics is in some ways, much smaller. “It’s an “iWorld” out there,” says Lane, explaining that nowadays everyone wants to run their life with an iPad or iPhone.

“While we can make our systems work on clients’ smart-phones,” he says, “we won’t set up your i-whatever as the onlycontrol point of your whole home control system. Otherwise,when Apple changes its software it might wreak havoc withyour ability to control your DVD collection, lighting or homesecurity. So we always have at least one OEM controller that the clients can fall back on.”

This work is so intricate that one missed wire can affect the whole system. A project can take six months to a year tocomplete, and Lane’s staff sometimes works long hours.

“We’ll do whatever we have to because we’re passionate about it,” Lane says. “Anyone can go out and sell audio-visualequipment but because this is such a unique product line, ifyou’re not into it, you won’t get it. It’s a lot of fun.”

bocustomhome.com

11 • SUMMER 2011

ng & Olufsen Custom Home has come to specialize in truly unique solutions.

CALGARY

B & O Custom Home’s building was built 10 years ago oncondition it respect the historic architecture around it.


NORTH AFRICANNIGHTSBy Yvan Marston

[ R E S T A U R A N T ]

Beber Lounge’s décor, all imported, earned a certificate of authenticity forrepresenting Moroccan culture from the country’s consulate in Ottawa.

13 • SUMMER 2011

ST. LAWRENCE MARKET AREA, TORONTO / – It’seasy to assume much of the décor that gives BerBer Loungeits classical North African feel was imported. But the fact isthat it was all imported.

Owner Angela Panigas and her husband made four separate trips to Morocco totaling 10 weeks during whichthey bought camel-skinned leather stools, handmade Berber carpets, and countless antique accessories. They alsocommissioned ornate hand-carved and -painted panels tocomplement the brass ceilings and brought a space plan toshare with Moroccan lighting experts who would design the glass globes and brass fixtures that now infuse the subterranean space with the sense of a secret lair.

Four shipping containers and two years later, BerBerLounge sits poised and proud receiving a regular flow ofThursday, Friday and Saturday night diners and loungers.

Initially perceived as an alternate to the reservations-onlySultan’s Tent upstairs, the Berber Lounge has becomeincreasingly popular with the young professional crowd for its combination of authentic décor and serious lounge vibe.

“The idea was always to create a space for laid-back fine dining,” says Panigas, who in her former life as a marketer worked with the original owners of Sultan’s Tent and eventually bought the business.

BerBer Lounge is her second restaurant and operates acompletely separate kitchen from the one upstairs, whichserves French-Moroccan food. Rather, this one dishesSouthern Mediterranean fare in full four-course style orsharing platters.

But it is a lounge, and the intricately-carved wood separators, ornate coffee tables and low-slung paddedbenches piled with textured pillows are all meant to giveyour meal an informal quality. “Like you’re sitting in your living room sharing a meal,” says Panigas.

Like its Berber namesake, the menu wanders throughoutthe Mediterranean, drawing as much on France, Greeceand Spain as it does on North Africa. Currently, Italy is dominating the four-course offering with a starter featuring bocconcini cheese marinated in chili, mint andlime skewered with seasoned sun-dried tomatoes, and followed by such mains as a prosciutto wrapped chickensupreme or a six-ounce filet of fresh Mahi Mahi, baked and topped with scallions and fresh basil.

Surrounded by artisanal handmade luxuries collectedfrom the winding alleys of the Moroccan Medinas, the lounge has played host to bridal showers, stags and stag-ettes, rehearsal dinners, and weddings, as well as to corporate functions and product launches. The DJbooth’s wireless microphone set up combined with thestrategically-placed in-wall speakers and two 50-inch flat-panel televisions give business events polished audio-video presentation options in a unique setting.

While the Berber Lounge is still building its reputationas a corporate events place, its vibe as an exotic, chilled-out space for a fine casual meal has grown steadily.

“You know those nights where you are sitting at homethinking about ordering something in and eating in yourliving room? Well you can do that here,” says Panigas,adding that after 10:00, things are likely to get a little more interesting here than at home.

beberlounge.ca

Tucked neatly below Front Street East’s Sultan’s Tent, BerBer Lounge’s hammeredwrought iron entrance panels, handcrafted brass light fixtures, pillowed seating and live music blends 1,000-year-old aesthetics with contemporary lounging.

TORONTO

““The idea was always to create a space for laid-back fine dining.”

– Angela Panigas, owner, BerBer Lounge


La loi du plus grand nombreSous le ton jeune et quelque peu irrévérencieux d’Écorce se cache une stratégie bien étudiée et un sens affûté des médias sociaux. Par Yvan Marston

BLVD ST-LAURENT,MONTRÉAL / – « Nosmeilleurs projets sont ceuxdans lesquels on estimpliqués dès le tout début», explique Karl-Frédéric

Anctil, en frottant sa barbe de deux jours sous la chaleurexceptionnelle de ce jour de mai.

Avec sa dizaine d’employés et son portefeuille rempli deprojets de conception Web et de design graphique, notam-ment dans les domaines de l’événementiel, des médias soci-aux et même de la conception de livres, Écorce, une agencede design créatif créée il y a six ans, est gérée par Karl-Frédéric Anctil et Véronique Desrosiers, spécialiste destratégie Web.

DE LA CONCEPTION À LA RÉALISATION FINALE Fière deson talent pour comprendre les besoins de ses clients etproposer des concepts créatifs qui y répondent, l’équiped’Écorce réalise ses meilleures performances lorsqu’elle estimpliquée dans ses projets dès le stade conceptuel.

Quand le Cirque du Soleil cherchait de l’aide pourdévelopper un projet de commerce électronique qui luipermettrait de s’associer avec des illustrateurs et des artistes

de rue émergents afin de créer pour sa tournée des affichesà tirage limité, ses responsables se sont adressés à Écorceavec une idée : chaque œuvre originale sera inspirée par les spectacles et créée spécifiquement pour chaque ville dela tournée. Aujourd’hui, tout le monde peut acheter cesaffiches reproduites en quantité limitée par le biais du siteSafewalls.org, élaboré par Écorce dans le cadre d’un projetplus large de développement global de la marque.

Chaque artiste ayant un réseau, l’emploi d’artistes locaux émergents apporte une connectivité régionale auprojet. Cette approche qui s’appuie sur le rôle du réseau se retrouve aussi dans les stratégies Web d’Écorce.

CONSTRUIRE UN RÉSEAU Autre projet qui fut un grandsuccès, les Interwebs 2010, avait pour but d’entrer en relation avec des blogueurs et des humoristes de la scènemontréalaise. L’idée était de demander à plusieursblogueurs, suivis par l’équipe d’Écorce, de contribuer à une rétrospective de l’année 2010. Sous la forme d’un calendrier, le projet révélait à chaque jour de décembre une nouvelle chronique rédigée par un blogueur différent –meilleures vidéos de l’année, meilleures créations de logos,satires exclusives de vidéos virales – qui examinait l’annéeécoulée en fonction de son expertise.

[ M A R K E T I N G ]

A display at Écorce’sSt. Laurent Blvdstudio demonstratesthe evolution of abranding project forthe Festival duNouveau Cinéma.

« Nombre de blogueurs sont sortis de l’ombre à cette occasionparce qu’on demandait à des gens ayant une expertise particulièrede participer. Donc les lecteurs d’un blogue particulier se rendaientsur le site lesinterwebs.com et pouvaient y lire d’autres blogues »,affirme Véronique Desrosiers, responsable de la stratégie pour lesmédias sociaux.

Espérant en faire un événement annuel, Écorce, par le biais des Interwebs, a cherché non seulement à rehausser son profil,mais aussi à gagner une certaine crédibilité auprès des blogueurs.

« Beaucoup d’agences demandent aux blogueurs de parler deleurs projets », ajoute Karl-Frédéric Anctil, « nous, nous leur avons demandé de participer directement à une partie du projetcréatif et de s’amuser avec nous. Si ça leur plaisait, ils en parleraient à coup sûr. »

CRÉATIF PAR ESSENCE Quand une ancienne de l’équipe d’Écorce, devenue nutritionniste, a cherché à compiler un livre de recettes végétariennes pour les non-végétariens, ses anciens collègues ont non seulement conçu le livre, mais l’ont aussi aidée au niveau du contenu en demandant à des blogueurs defournir des recettes. Sur la base du principe selon lequel « on peut apprécier des recettes végétariennes, sans être végétarien », on demandait aux blogueurs de partager recettes et anecdotes.Quarante des 68 recettes publiées proviennent de ces internautes.

« Ce qui a donné 40 ambassadeurs de ce livre », expliqueVéronique Desrosiers, avant d’ajouter que sa publication avait créé une certaine fébrilité parmi les internautes depuis le mois dejuillet 2010, huit mois avant sa parution au printemps dernier.

Connue dans certains cercles pour ses compétences en design et dans d’autres pour son sens affûté des médias sociaux, Écorce se voit fondamentalement comme un atelier créatif.

« Mais nous ne concevons rien dans le but d’être tape-à-l’œil »,explique Karl-Frédéric Anctil. « Il y a toujours un objectif, unestratégie. L’écorce, c’est simplement la partie de l’arbre que l’onvoit, mais ça prend le tronc et les racines pour l’alimenter. »

ecorce.ca

15 • SUMMER 2011

Beneath Écorce’s young, irreverent tone lies thoughtfulstrategy and social media savvy. “The best projects are the ones we can get involved withfrom the very start,” says Karl-Frédéric Anctil rubbing the two-day stubble on his chin one unseasonably warmday in May.

Outside, Montreal’s construction season has begun and from the sounds of it, not much is moving along St. Laurent Blvd. But here in this open concept sixth floor studio, filled with the whirr of desktop fans and the lightbuzz of work conversation, things are progressing nicelyfor this six-year-old agency.

With a dozen employees and a plump portfolio of weband design projects that includes some very perceptivesocial media work, event organizing and even book designÉcorce, whose management Anctil shares with web strategist Véronique Désrosiers is sticking to its roots as a niche creative.

When Cirque du Soleil was looking for help developingan e-commerce project that would see it team up withemerging street artists and illustrators to create posters forits touring show, they approached Écorce with just an idea:Each original art poster would be inspired by touringshows and made specifically for the cities in which theywere presenting. Now anyone can buy these limited editionprints through the Safewalls.org site designed by Écorce.

Using emerging local artists allows a level regionalconnectivity as each of those artists has a network. It is apattern that repeats itself in Écorce’s web strategies.

Interweb 2010 was project conceived to connect withbloggers and became an easy hit. The idea was to getbloggers the Écorce team followed to contribute to areview of 2010. Each day in December featured a new postby a different blogger – best videos of the year, top newlogos, etc – each examining the past year in terms of theirexpertise.

“A lot of bloggers were discovered because we wereasking people from specific niches to contribute to this. So the audience from one blog would visit Interweb andview other blogs,” says Desrosiers, the firm’s social mediastrategist.

Hoping to make it an annual project, Interweb servednot only to raise Écorce’s profile, but to give it a level ofcredibility among bloggers.

“A lot of agencies want bloggers to just talk about theirstuff,” adds Anctil, “but we were asking bloggers to beinvolved directly in a part of the creative project. If theyliked doing it, they’ll talk about it.”

MONTRÉAL

Quarante des 68 recettes dece livre conçu avec l'aided'Écorce proviennent deblogeurs, ce qui donne 40 ambassadeurs de ce projet.


A DESIGNED EXPERIENCEFrom wayfinding to websites, Toronto’s Forge Media + Design looks at its projectsand its workplace in terms of user experience.By Micayla Jacobs

LIBERTY VILLAGE, TORONTO / – Forge Media +Design has a thing for experience: the experience that isoffered to the client, the experience that is realized by theconsumer, and the experience that it creates for its employees.

Firm principals Gregory Neely, Stüssy Tschudin andLaurence Roberts came together in 2005 as a small, traditional graphic design firm, but quickly grew to a team of 18 offering a broad range of services.

In addition to website design and development, signageand wayfinding, corporate branding and print work, Forge has mastered the art of creating innovative mediainstallations, including the design and development of digital content for touchscreens, kiosks and art installations.

Despite this broad offering, Forge remains focused on the concept of shaping experiences, while ensuring that theiremployees love coming to work.

FINDING UNIQUE WAYS TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN “Neversettle for the status quo,” says Tschudin when describing the agency. Indeed, Forge is all about trying to find uniqueways to make things happen, whether it is web design workfor Apple Canada or an entire signage and wayfinding system for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.They look to use unique materials, take advantage of landmark placement and use light in interesting ways.

It is also very important to Tschudin and his co-founders to deliver the whole package. Forge has graphic design capabilities, as well as programmers and an environmentalgraphics team – therefore everything is taken care of, including installation. “It’s not just about specifying the materials needed, but presenting a complete package from A to Z,” he emphasizes.

VYING TO BE TOP ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS FIRM That mentality has served them well as this growing shop has already won the Association of Retail EnvironmentsAward for lighting design and installation. A more than ‘nice-to-have’ award for a team vying to be the number onefirm in environmental graphics in Canada.

Tschudin attributes a lot of Forge’s success to the office culture that has been cultivated. The company’s HR philosophy says it all: Forge is all about “working together to boldly create functionally beautiful experiences, broadenhorizons, inspire and open minds to new possibilities.”

It is very important that the employees go into work everyday happy to be there, because that is when the best work is done. To achieve this, team activities are a must, as is acommunal foosball table for onsite stress relief.

Based in Liberty Village and with a growing array of major clients, Forge is building a solid reputation for itself as a creative shop with a unique ability to fuse design, communication and technology to build comprehensive solutions with harmony, elegance and function.

Forgeinc.ca

[ D E S I G N ]

TORONTO

17 • SUMMER 2011

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / – For most of us, city living is a matter of compromise. To be in to thecore, you have to accept smaller living space. But then lifechanges and you look for something bigger, a starter home.Downtown living in North American cities, however, isincreasingly unaffordable, so you widen your search.

“What people are looking for is a place to grow, but really they want to live downtown. That’s our idea, is getting people into space that can grow with downtown,”explains Dermot Sweeny, a principal at Sweeny SterlingFinlayson &Co Architects Inc. and one of the minds behind 508 Wellington, a condominium project designed to provide the opportunity for a truly urban life.

With an entry level cost that is said to be much less than a quality home within 10 miles of the core, buyers can purchase more than one unit and use them in any number of ways.

“You can get three units of space and have three independentsuites – one to live in and two to rent, or you can combinetwo to make one big suite and rent the small one, or viceversa,” says Sweeny, explaining that it’s a good solution forpeople trying to build equity. If an owner is single, theymight only need one of the suites. The rental income canhelp to pay for additional suites she can grow into.

“If you have a family, take more space. When the kidsleave, consolidate into smaller space,” says Sweeny.

Easy-to-relocate walls and raised floor system allows owners with two units t


Wellington CondoFeatures Flexibility

[ R E S I D E N T I A L ]

You couldn’t do this in most condominium buildings, but this one is different. It has no concrete shear walls andtherefore no concrete demising walls. All the loads/slabs are carried on small simple concrete columns at the exteriorand only a minimal number within the space.

What’s more, most of the area in each unit is made of amodular reconfigurable raised floor system which is 10” above the concrete slab. This allows the builders and thefuture owners to reconfigure units without penetrating theslab or the suite below. Drains, taps and plumbing are all in the raised floor. Connection is easily made to strategicallyplace plumbing risers – you could move your shower or move the kitchen with relative ease. The raised floor area is

only on the entry side of the suite so you step down intosunken living areas with 9’-0" ceilings.

There are also some savings to be had in the initial purchase. Since base units are sold as small, i.e., one bedroomapartments, they fall below the 13% HST tax threshold to be paid on residences over the $400,000. This saves thepurchaser of a large unit (i.e.: can buy 2 or more smaller ones and combine them) a great sum of money.

“This project is a machine for living,” says Sweeny, explaining that its flexibility is designed to accommodate lifechanges. And the cost to transform a unit is estimated to beless than a third of the cost of a major home renovation.

thisisdowntown.ca

o expand or contract for any life stage.

19 • SUMMER 2011

TORONTO

With an entry level cost that can be much lessthan a quality home within 10 miles of the core,buyers can purchase more than one unit anduse them in any number of ways.

T O T U M T I P S

THE PORTABLE WORKOUT Totum’s sport strength specialist gets back to basics for

a routine you can do almost anywhere.

PUSH UPS

HOW:1. With your feet shoulder width apart, toeslined up and spine in neutral position,lower yourself by pushing your hipsback as you sink down onto your heels.

2. Drive up through your heels to get back up.

3. Do three sets of 10 and if that’s too easy hold a weight in front of you.

NOTES: “Keep your chest out and yourweight back on your heels. A common mistake is to shift forward on onto yourtoes,” says Zdrojewska.

HOW:1. Lying on the floor, knees bent 90 degreesand feet flat on the ground, keep yourhands up near your head.

2. Tuck your chin in, contract your abs androll steadily up until your chest almosttouches your knees.

3. Start with three sets of 10.

NOTES: If your feet are lifting off the ground, it means your hip flexors are tight and/or yourcore is weak, she says. This is how you makethem stronger.

Travel workouts are never easy to schedule, that’s why Joanna Zdrojewska, a personal trainer at TotumLife Science on King advises her clients to use short intense sessions.“Don’t stress about getting a fullworkout in, just get up and do it,” she says.

Three to four days off won’t hurt your progress, in fact, she says, if you are in a particularly demandingprogram, this can offer a bit of recovery, “but don’t let your nutrition lapse.” If you do go past five days,she explains, you will start to see a noticeable loss in training (e.g., you might not lift the same maximumyou did the week before).

Conditioning, as the term implies, is a temporary state: you have to build up to it and then you haveto maintain it. Here are three exercises you can combine with a 20-minute run to stay active, whereveryou happen to be.

Zdrojewska

HOW:1. Start with your hands placed just wider than your shoulders (not too farforward). Your body should be taughtand in a straight line from head to ankles.

2. Lower yourself until your chest almosttouches the floor.

3. Do three sets of 10.

NOTES: “Focus on good form rather thannumber of push ups,” says Zdrojewska,explaining that as you tire, your formdevolves and you get less benefit from the exercise.

SIT UPS SQUAT

WHY: Because push ups engage musclegroups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hipsand legs.

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2

WHY: Because ab crunches do nothing foryour core. Sit ups, however, work the wholecore and a stronger core stabilizes the spine.

1

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3

WHY: Because the squat uses almostevery muscle in your body and burns a lotof calories.

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For videos on fitness, to read the Wellness Blog or to sign up for a FREE week at Totum Life Science on King Street West, visit Totum.ca


Tula South’s newest studio offers Liberty Villagers hot yoga, pilates, and spatreatments in a brightly lit oasis of calm.

21 • SUMMER 2011

SOUTHERN HEAT

TORONTO

LIBERTY VILLAGE, TORONTO / – The gentle strainsof a sitar set to a contemporary beat imbue this downtownsouth west yoga studio’s greeting space with a calm furtheredstill by the steady rush of a ten-foot stainless steel water feature. Deep brown hardwood floors set against crisp whitewalls and exposed brick come together to form a modernaesthetic that is as clean as it is serene.

“The idea for the lobby is: earth, water and fire,” explainsDonna Wong, tracing a line with her slim finger from thedecorative tree-patterned wallpaper, to the glistening wateraccent and over to the incendiary yellow and red hues ofthe sandblasted brick wall.

A yoga practitioner for nine years and studio co-ownerwith Tula founder Isabel Lambert since the winter, Wong iskeen to share all aspects of the lower level space at 47 Fraserjust off Liberty Street that she describes as an urban oasis.

“A lot of other places will just do yoga, but we look atoverall wellness. We have a registered massage therapist, aesthetics, nutrition. It’s a really broad approach to offerservices that will heal the body and nourish the soul.”

The third Tula Yoga studio to crop up in Toronto in thelast six years, the space’s central purpose revolves around a1,200-square-foot ‘hot’ studio. Ceiling-mounted heatingpanels raise the bright room’s ambient temperature from 35 to 40 degrees Celsius.

In this atmosphere, students run through yoga posturesand breathing exercises in 45 to 75 minutes long sessions

described variously as Hot Hatha, Hot Power Flow, HotPilates, Fusion and Yin classes. The studio offers regulartemperature Yoga and Pilates, as well as the popular BalletSculpt. For those who would like a more thorough and personalized workout the studio offers Pilates wall racks,chair and reformer equipment.

The heat in a hot studio, explains Wong, helps to improvethe body’s ability to stretch and can reduce injury. “But youhave to get used to it,” she says, adding that it took hermore than a couple of session before becoming a devotee.

Founder Isabel Lambert says hot yoga also improves one’s mental focus, since the heat can distract at first, butworking through it, you adjust. Clients also interested indetoxing their system tend to try hot yoga, in combinationwith other services offered at Tula.

In fact, group cleansing workshops are held periodicallyat the location where a naturopathic doctor leads clientsthrough educational sessions, diet analysis and even a fieldtrip to learn healthy grocery shopping.

“The studio’s offerings are kind of a broad spectrum, butreally it’s just focused on overall health,” explains Lambert.

A registered massage therapist is on site and spa treatmentsinclude everything from pedicures (for men as well) andmanicures to body scrubs, sports massage, oxygen facialsand scalp treatments.

tulahotyoga.com

[ H E A L T H ]

AVENUE ATLANTIC, MONTRÉAL / – Pour Bachir Saouaf, larecherche marketing peut être une tâche longue et laborieuse quand, avecson équipe, il sonde la relation entre le consommateur et l’annonceur à larecherche du chemin le plus direct vers le Saint Graal du marketing, soitconnaître les besoins de son public cible.

« Les études de marché traditionnelles ont toutes leur place. En fait,une grande partie de notre travail commence par-là », explique BachirSaouaf, président de David & Goliath® Communications Marketing,une agence de douze personnes installée dans le quartier d’Outremont àMontréal.

Depuis des bureaux, style loft, situés au cinquième étage, BachirSaouaf et son épouse Carole Leduc, directrice de création, dirigent uneagence de communication-marketing dont l’équipe complète comprenddes rédacteurs, des designers graphiques, des programmeurs web et unephotographe. Fondée il y a 14 ans, la firme vient tout juste de recevoirdeux prix internationaux pour sa créativité dans le cadre des SummitInternational Awards (avec la participation d’agences de 22 pays). Etpourtant, ce qui préoccupe le plus Bachir Saouaf ces temps-ci, c’est larecherche marketing.

Comment savoir si votre message est adapté à votre public? Qu’est-cequi incite un consommateur à choisir votre produit plutôt que celui duconcurrent? Quelle est la couleur idéale pour votre emballage?


CONCEPTS ÉCLAIRÉES Une petite agence de pub montréalaise met au point un processus d’étude de marché qui permet dePar Yvan Marston

[ M A R K E T I N G ]

PACKAGING KITCHEN GOODS

With the new David & Goliath designedpackage, kitchenware maker Matfer had to order five times more packaging and renew the order every three months.

Sales went up 50-fold.

NAMING STRUDEL

Testing the name Divino for Casse-Noisettebakery’s strudels found that French speakers liked it, associating it with good pastry. English speakers though,immediately thought of wine. A new

name, Délire, along with new packaging,generated an 80% increase in sales.

RAISING STUDENT ENROLLMENT

When the University of Ottawa sought torebrand itself, David & Goliath presentednot only several logos but also statistics on the perception of each of them and their meaning to the general public, andwon the creation of the logo and the advertising campaign. From 2002 to

2007, the number of students enrolled inundergraduate studies at the University

of Ottawa rose by over 30%.

David & Goliath Testing Successes

Tous ces détails sont d’une grande importance, mais ilssont trop souvent laissés à la discrétion du client ou dudesigner, en fonction de leur intuition, de leur préférenceou des impressions de leurs collègues de travail, raconteBachir Saouaf. La méthode développée par David &Goliath®, le Test Driven Design™ est un processus quicherche à répondre à toutes ces questions rapidement et objectivement dans le but de permettre une prise dedécision éclairée.

À titre d’exemple, lorsque l’Université d’Ottawa voulaitmodifier l’image de sa marque pour se positionner commeétant « l’université canadienne ». Elle cherchait égalementà augmenter le nombre de ses étudiants francophones.Plusieurs questions se posaient sur son logo : y ajoutons-nous une feuille d’érable? Comment le rendre bilinguesans répéter le nom dans les deux langues?

Parmi les six agences qui se faisaient concurrence pourobtenir le contrat, David & Goliath® a établi, grâce à sesrecherches, qu’un logo bilingue avec une feuille d’érablecréerait la confusion avec une agence gouvernementale.L’équipe a alors testé plusieurs approches et présenté unealternative toute simple : « uOttawa ». Cette propositions’est attiré 98 % des votes du comité. Par ailleurs, uneétude de marché formelle indépendante, menée après le lancement du nouveau logo, a conduit aux mêmes résultats que ceux obtenus par l’équipe de Bachir Saouaf.

Sans fournir tous les détails, Bachir Saouaf explique qu’il utilise de petits groupes tests permettant ainsi d’ajuster les concepts et de prendre des décisions éclairéesbasées sur des éléments concrets plutôt que sur une quelconque intuition.

Par ailleurs, au fur et à mesure que l’équipe perfectionnesa méthode, elle renforce ses compétences dans l’étude des perceptions, motivations et intentions de divers publicscibles.

Bien qu’il souhaite développer davantage cet aspect deson travail, Bachir Saouaf pense que son agence conserveraune taille raisonnablement modeste.

« On n’a pas besoin de devenir une grosse boîte. Lesgrandes choses s’accomplissent par l’excellence du travail »,conclut-il.

david-goliath.com

23 • SUMMER 2011

MONTRÉAL

A small Montreal advertising firm’s aneat and nimble research process foraccurate creative.“Formal market research has its place. In fact, a lot of ourprocess starts with market research,” says Bachir Saouaf,president of David & Goliath Marketing Communications, a12-person shop in Montreal’s Outremount neighbourhood.

From a fifth-floor loft-style space, he and his wife/creative director Carole Leduc run a nimble creative services firm, complete with copywriters, web and printdesigners, programmers and a photographer. And whilethe 14-year-old agency is still fresh from accolades onprint work that netted it two 2010 Summit InternationalAwards, what concerns Saouaf most these days isresearch.

How do you know if your message is right for youraudience? What makes someone reach for your productover your competitor’s? What colour should your packaging be?

Details such as these matter, but they are often left to be decided upon by a client’s intuition, a designer’spreference or the impressions of colleagues, he explains.

Test Driven DesignTM is David & Goliath’s simplemethodology that seeks to answer these questions quicklyand objectively to make informed marketing decisions.

When the University of Ottawa, for example, sought to rebrand itself as Canada’s university with an eye toincreasing its francophone enrollment, it had severalquestions surrounding its logo design, things like: Do we include a maple leaf? How do we make it bilingualwithout repeating the name in both languages?

As one of six agencies competing for the account,David & Goliath’s research found that a bilingual logo with a maple leaf would be confused with a governmentagency. They tested several approaches and finally presented a simple alternative: “uOttawa.” That won 98% of the committee votes. And formal market testingundertaken once the project was launched yielded thesame results Saouaf’s team had come up with.

Without giving away the details of his process, Saouafsays he uses small research segments combined withconsistent fine tuning to help clients make their decisionsbased on facts rather than their own intuition.

créer une image marketing précise et efficace.

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • ÉTÉ 2011

www.alliedpropertiesreit.comAvez-vous une histoire à raconter? Écrivez-nous au [email protected]

Rédacteur en chef: Yvan Marston • Graphisme: Gravity Design Inc.

FSC LOGO HERE

BASTION SQUARE, VICTORIA / –Le mois de mai a permis à AlliedProperties REIT de finaliser son acquisition la plus à l’ouest du Canada,située au 8-10 Bastion Square dans le quartier historique de la capitale de Colombie-Britannique. L’édificeMacDonald, près de Wharf Street, estun bâtiment de catégorie I comptantplus de 32 000 pieds carrés d’espace à louer, principalement occupés par des locataires semblables à ceuxinstallés dans les édifices du porte-feuille d’Allied dans les autres villescanadiennes.

En plus du tourisme, la technologie,les produits alimentaires, l’administra-tion publique et les services sontautant de secteurs qui contribuent de manière importanteà l’économie de la ville. Il n’est donc pas surprenant qu’un des locataires de cette adresse soit le vérificateurgénéral de Colombie-Britannique.

Construit en 1863, seulement 20 ans après l’installationd’un comptoir commercial par la Compagnie de la Baied’Hudson sur le site qui abrita quelques temps après deuxbastions, l’édifice MacDonald est vraisemblablement né de la ruée vers l’or dans le fleuve Fraser. En effet, en 1858,quelques 25 000 mineurs ont débarqué à Victoria pour yacheter du matériel.

De nombreuses entreprises de San Francisco y ontimplanté des succursales et alors que le bastion nord-estdominait encore fièrement le paysage, la rue adjacente prit le nom de Bastion Street; elle menait au cœur de laville, Bastion Square.

À la fin des années 1890, le quartier est devenu un centre d’affaires mais la crise économique, la PremièreGuerre mondiale et la Prohibition ont toutes affaibli labase économique du lieu, une situation aggravée par l’importance croissante prise par Vancouver en tant que port principal de la côte ouest. De la fin des années1920 aux années 60, l’apparence de Bastion Square s’estbeaucoup dégradée.

Puis un urbaniste visionnaire en a dirigé la revitalisation,fermant certaines rues à la circulation et réaménageant certains bâtiments abandonnés en fonction de directivesprécises visant une nouvelle utilisation de l’endroit.

Aujourd’hui, Bastion Square est surtout connu pour sonmarché ouvert (qui se tient les jeudis, vendredis et samedis)où touristes et locaux rencontrent des artisans proposant unepalette de produits colorés, créés et fabriqués localement.

La nouvelle acquisition d’Allied à BastionSquare dans le quartier historique de Victoria

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Bastion Square, site de la caserne de police locale et prisondans les années 1860, est aujourd'hui mieux connu pour sonmarché en plein air.

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Chronique - Été 2011