Molson Coors Longueuil - Brewery and Distribution Centre

As Prime Consultant and Architect on this large-scale project, GKC was involved in many facets of the work. In particular, the project team advised the client on site selection, coordinated the work of stakeholders and incorporated the site’s various constraints into the design—including the red brick cladding, the Molson name in large capital letters and the famous clock, emblematic reminders of the first brewery built by John Molson in Montreal in 1786.

“One of the great complexities of this project came from the fact that each of the building's seven zones had its own specific requirements for temperature, humidity, and so on,” explains Alper Caglar, Project Manager at GKC. “Molson Coors engineers provided us with an enormous amount of data in this regard, which we compiled and analyzed to develop a functionally and architecturally coherent whole.”

Caglar cites as an example the fireproof wall that separates the packaging room from the brewhouse, the nerve center of the complex with its 36 fermentation tanks and 16 maturation tanks: “We juxtaposed two fireproof walls between the rooms to guarantee four-hour fire resistance, a first in Canada, meeting both the client’s and the insurer's requests.”

A practical and unique solution

To bring the 50-foot-high tanks into the brewhouse, the project team devised a system of removable exterior panels that allow the tanks to be moved horizontally before being rotated into an upright position beneath the 85-foot-high ceiling. Once again, out-of-the-box thinking led to finding an effective solution for a complex problem.

The design of the highly intricate piping system running through the various areas of the complex, the use of blast-proof walls for the malting room, and the integration of the distribution center's automated storage and retrieval system were among the technical challenges the team tackled successfully in collaboration with stakeholders.

Exterior design: playing with perspectives and materials

Given that light and beer production don't mix well, the building has many blind walls. To bring depth and movement to the front facade, designers varied the planes, introducing offsets that create rhythm and visual relief. Tinted glass and red brick (a material emblematic of Molson Coors) were also used, while the main entrance is distinguished by a striking colonnade of light-coloured architectural stone, creating contrast with the surrounding materials.