For its 50th anniversary, Neuf turned the spotlight on a half-century of projects and collaborations with 12 months of celebrations, events, and sponsorships. A retrospective publication, a dedicated web page, press articles, academic scholarships, promotional items, awards and donations were featured on social networks and specialized platforms.

The book “Un demi-siècle et toujours Neuf / Half a Century of Building Storeys”, like the firm itself, is both singular and multitudinous—united like the firm’s great family of colleagues and diverse like its areas of expertise. The challenge was to express this duality in words and images while simultaneously retreading the firm’s history, all within an original publication that had to be distinct from a traditional corporate brochure. We wanted to find our own voice within the tradition of bookmaking in architecture. Striking a balance between imagery and text proportions, between old and new, French and English were key.

The half a century of raw material was very inspiring to us. Digging through original archives, conducting various interviews of past and present partner architects guided our creative process. A narrative emerged through our research circling back to the projects and anecdotes that have helped to strengthen the bonds between members of our large family, and have accompanied it on the journey to becoming the firm it is today.

The book features some of the city’s most iconic buildings, as well as Montreal’s first green neighborhood on Nuns’ Island, one of the largest urban development to date, Le Sanctuaire du Mont-Royal, the first application of the condominium concept in response to the issues of home ownership and urban density, and the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), one of the largest healthcare construction projects in North America, including large-scale automated technologies and the largest collection of public art in Montreal since Expo ’67. A “behind-the-scenes” approach highlights these projects’ impact on society, and underscores their relevance to current issues related to sustainable development, the housing crisis, and the use of new technologies.

Projects and anecdotes are divided into 23 articles across 6 categories, each of which presents a specific format, tone, and graphical treatment. Feature articles, case studies, close-ups, interviews, visual essays and archives combine to form a randomized composition, which makes for an unfettered and dynamic reading experience. Together the 23 chapters retrace the evolution of the organization in parallel with the development of Montreal’s built landscape.

The final object is an imposing tome (26.6 x 21.8 x 5.4 cm) of 608 pages including bilingual texts as well as images of the past and the future, all demonstrating the diversity of the firm’s completed projects across Canada, the Americas, in Europe and in Asia. The publication was unveiled to the public during a special event held on November 24th 2022, and was gifted to the guests. It is also available from specialist bookstores, such as Canadian Centre of Architecture (CCA), and University Architecture Faculties, as of March 2023.

Some 750 guests from Canada’s real estate and construction industry, clients and colleagues, friends and family gathered in the atrium of Maison Alcan (Montreal), which recently underwent an important rehabilitation on which NEUF collaborated. The evening was filled with testimonials, reunions and the unveiling of a sculpture made from hundreds of copies of the book, and will remain a memorable event in the firm’s history.

Prior to the event, an internal campaign was set up to create both a generational bridge (for old and new employees), geographical (uniting the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto offices) with both digital and printed tools. An unveiling campaign was put forward, in a tone specific to NEUF: both offbeat and professional. For the cocktail invitations, printed and digital copies were carefully designed. For the event itself, the anniversary logo was turned into vinyl adhesives in the main entrance windows. Employees, ambassadors of the evening, wore a special company pin and a collection of postcards were scattered across the room. Lighting design during the event and custom crafted drinks were both based on the firm’s two official colours: Pantone 485C red and Pantone 3125C blue. In sum, from tote bags to a 1.5m x1.5m wooden logo and numerous videos and projections, everything was NEUF!