TEF

Following an analysis of timber reuse in Montreal, a significant paradox emerged: while a large portion of the city’s building stock is constructed from wood, there is a limited network of tools, knowledge, and infrastructure dedicated to the reuse of timber elements. This studio project seeks to address this gap by proposing a catalyst for a future timber reuse industry.

To envision what the next generation of the wood industry could become when working with reused materials, traditional sawmill typologies were studied to identify the key spatial and operational components that historically enabled the timber industry to function. Rather than processing raw resources, the project reinterprets these industrial systems around the recovery, testing, and transformation of existing wood components.

Jérôme Bélanger, Maxime Bourgault,
Alec Chenard, Vincent Lemay

McGill University 2026