Inspired by the unrealised ideas of innovator Cedric Price, whose ‘Fun Palace’ was the early blueprint for the Centre Pompidou, Ssense Montréal comes with a top floor café and will host book clubs and other interactive events. “I’ve been kind of obsessed with things that happen on the margins,” Koch said. “We can read what happens in London, Paris or New York, but not in cities like Montréal, Portland or Belgrade. A lot of the content we do for this place would work whether you’re in Paris, Montréal or Seoul. Ssense operates in a field that’s completely globalised. It’s a mixture between local sensibilities and global ambitions. The idea is that there will be more spaces like this worldwide, so you would always have a mix of local content – trying to correspond with the city – and stuff that can work globally. What I find so charming is that this building is here in Montréal. It’s a sentimental thing. That’s my theory but I cherish that idea.” As far as Atallah was concerned, “I have a feeling it’s going to become a sort of landmark,” he told me