Studio
About
Chevalier Morales is a Montreal-based architecture and design firm founded in 2005 that runs on provincial and national levels. Its founders, Stephan Chevalier and Sergio Morales, embrace a contemporary vision of architecture that carries social and environmental responsibility while ensuring a connection to the surrounding context.
Known for their sensible and imaginative vision, Stephan, Sergio, and their team strive to reflect contemporary ambitions and concerns regarding social, cultural, and environmental issues. Committed to innovation, they continually explore new ways to address these challenges in buildings construction and design. Driven by a clear commitment to the realities that characterize its time, the firm is a major contributor to the Canadian architectural landscape.
Chevalier Morales has a diverse portfolio that primarily focuses on culture, higher education, workspaces, and both social and private housing. The firm also offers specialized expertise in built heritage restoration and rehabilitation.
Recognized by peers and the broader community, Chevalier Morales has been featured in national and international publications and has received numerous accolades, including the 2018 Emerging Architectural Practice Award awarded by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), two Grand Prix from the Ordre des architectes du Québec and two Governor General’s Medals in Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and several Canadian Architect Awards. Most recently, the firm was a finalist to officially represent Canada at the 18th International Architecture Biennale in Venice. Through the dedication of its partners and team members, Chevalier Morales, actively contributes to both professional architecture and academia, fostering the next generation of ideas through their engagement in higher education.
Vision
Focusing on established and proven architectural practices, team collaboration, and rigorous training, Chevalier Morales ensures that the quality of its projects meets the highest standards.
The firm embodies an extensive sensibility that permeates various aspects of its work. First, through a genuine commitment to environmental awareness and an acknowledgment of its responsibility to imagine and create spaces that address the realities and challenges faced by future generations; second, through an attention to detail that shows in the contextualized approach of each project, where every element is looked at; and lastly, through a human-centered sensibility that cultivates teamwork and respect for others in all facets of its work.
Listening is fundamental to project realization processes. By prioritizing listening as a creative ethic, Chevalier Morales engages with its community and strives to build spaces that encourage cultural exchange. This openness allows it to continuously innovate and to provide relevant insights within the architectural field.
Regardless of a project’s size, our vision is guided by a robust set of practices, processes, and expertise fueled by passion and pride in what we do.
Sustainable vision of the projects
While maximizing the positive impacts of our interventions within a community, our projects are environmentally and culturally responsible. We believe in creating architectural solutions that engage with the daily lives of users, spaces, buildings, and the communities they are part of.
Our team projects serve as examples of sustainable development tailored to the unique characteristics of their contexts. Our strategies prioritize decreased energy, water, and material waste and lowered associated transportation needs by employing sustainable construction techniques and materials. Each project is tackled with a clear understanding of the potential impacts of operational and maintenance activities, including various costs and technical considerations that emerge upon completion.
In our daily practice, we ensure that our entire team is well-informed about today's significant social and environmental issues and is encouraged to integrate a clearly defined social and ecological perspective into their work. We recognize that our responsibility goes beyond fleeting trends and aesthetic choices; it is a fundamental obligation that must guide our practices from the very outset of each project.
Sustainable vision of the team
Our studio is located in the Mile End neighborhood, promoting active transportation and public transit. Our team is deeply committed to social responsibility in the community and within its operations. We implement policies to minimize materials waste, IT resources, and energy, and we strive for a zero-waste approach while forging partnerships with local businesses. Additionally, a dedicated sustainability and social responsibility committee continually seeks to enhance our practices, offering regular internal training to ensure ongoing improvement.
Sustainable vision of the website
As part of our reflections on the development of this website, we have prioritized minimizing its carbon footprint to align with our commitment to an eco-responsible practice. The visual content is initially displayed in black and white and in a compressed format, reducing bandwidth usage for loading. Additionally, the website is powered by Quebec’s hydroelectric energy, a green and renewable resource. Furthermore, our visual content is hosted on a geographically distributed Content Delivery Network (CDN) to optimize performance and minimize the distance data must travel to reach users.
Team
The Chevalier Morales team is characterized by a dynamic combination of talent, skill, and experience, allowing us to confidently and professionally tackle the range of responsibilities that architects face throughout a project’s lifecycle. From studies and preliminary designs to architectural and interior design, cost estimation, drafting, technical expertise, BIM management, specification writing, and on-site services, we deliver excellence.
Carefully cultivated over time through professional and academic collaboration, our team includes intern architects, intermediate architects, project managers, and LEED-certified architects backed by the extensive expertise of the partners, some of whom have over thirty years of professional experience in the field.
Studio
Our studio is a vibrant, open space where transparency and collaboration thrive. Daily meetings and discussions allow project challenges to surface, promoting a culture of healthy emulation among team members. Partners and architectural project managers are readily available to provide support, working diligently to standardize practices and ensure the quality of all documentation produced by the firm.
In this bright, neutral environment, state-of-the-art technology and spacious white tables coexist with drawings, images, models, and physical samples. These elements keep us grounded in the tangible aspects of our work and inspire ongoing awareness of the built environment. The studio’s layout, details, and materiality act as a canvas for creativity, discussion, fabrication, and innovation.