Edison Residence is located on a small vacant lot at the epicentre of Montreal student life, just north of the McGill University’s Milton gates. The site endured a fire in the early 20th century, which flattened the existing 19th century historic stone house, representing one of many narrative layers embedded in the land.

The historical context of the site became the primary inspiration for the urban renewal project, which lead to the exploration of an innovative concrete fabrication technique: photoengraved concrete panels that enabled the building to tell a story. The project encapsulates an architecture ‘parlante’, an architecture that heightens the intellectual and perceptual experience of its inhabitants by stimulating active looking.

The film sequence photoengraved into the concrete façade is extracted from the sequence of stills from the film: Montreal Fire Department on Runners (Edison, 1901). The film was carefully chosen for its historical and contextual relevance, referencing the fire that vacated the site and highlighting the prolific inventor Thomas Edison, an important contributor to the development of ‘tableaux mouvants’ and motion pictures.