Global City Builders / Sid Lee Architecture / Montréal
For our second edition of Global City Builders, we sat down with Benoît Lagacé, Director of Urban Design and Real Estate Strategy at Sid Lee Architecture.
Benoît Lagacé, Sid Lee Architecture
A trained architect with degrees from Carleton University, Benoît has helped shape Sid Lee’s emergence as a leader in masterplanning and large-scale urban design, from its roots as a creative agency. Known for blending conceptual clarity with a humanistic approach, he is behind some of Montreal’s most ambitious redevelopment efforts.
Currently, Benoît is at the forefront of several major master plan initiatives, including Pointe-de-Longueuil and the Wellington Basin sector. In addition, he is co-leading the comprehensive redevelopment of the Molson Brewery in collaboration with Jean Pelland and Martin Leblanc (which is a project we talk about).
In this wide-ranging conversation, Benoît shares how a multidisciplinary mindset, a deep respect for local context, and an openness to collaboration are reshaping how cities are made. From radical design integration to inclusive planning practices, his work embodies the ethos of city building as a cultural, social, and civic act.
Globizen: Benoit, thanks for joining us. To begin, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you found your way to Sid Lee Architecture?
Benoît Lagacé: Thanks for having me. I came to architecture a bit indirectly. I was initially torn between fields like philosophy, anthropology, and even carpentry—disciplines rooted in observing and shaping human behavior. As part of my undergraduate degree, I ended up studying architecture in Belgium, at a school where the director was actually a sociologist, not an architect. That set the tone for me—it made it clear that architecture isn’t just about buildings, but about people. After that, I did my master’s at Carleton and eventually found my way back to Montréal, which is home for me. I joined Sid Lee Architecture in 2012 when the studio was still very young and just beginning to define its role within the larger creative agency [of Sid Lee].
Globizen: Sid Lee is known for having a unique multidisciplinary structure. It started as a creative agency, but now you do architecture and lots of other things. How does this structure shape the way your team approaches projects?
Benoît: It shapes everything. Because we sit within a creative agency, we’re constantly exposed to people who think very differently from us—brand strategists, graphic designers, digital creatives. This forces us to be more expansive. For example, when we’re designing a space, we don’t just think in terms of material and form—we think about the brand, the narrative, the human experience. We ask, “What’s the story we’re trying to tell?” and “How will people feel in this space?” We believe that this cross-pollination makes our projects richer.
Globizen: How does this translate into actual city building?
Benoît: It means we don’t isolate architecture from the broader systems. Our projects often start upstream—from master planning to stakeholder engagement. We think a lot about where decisions are made and how we can influence them early on. The Molson Brewery redevelopment, for instance, began as a feasibility study, became a full urban design exercise, and then moved to architecture. We weren’t just designing buildings—we were helping to shape a neighborhood. This holistic approach gives us an advantage when we tackle complex urban projects.
Globizen: Let’s talk about the Molson Brewery redevelopment. What makes it so significant?
Benoît: The Molson site is a rare opportunity to transform a massive piece of post-industrial land in the heart of Montréal. We're talking about over a million square feet along the waterfront—adjacent to the historic Old Port, but cut off from it for decades by industrial infrastructure.
The project started with a simple feasibility study for the brewery’s owners. They wanted to explore what redevelopment could look like. Fast-forward to today, and we’re co-leading the full transformation of the site into a mixed-use district with housing, commercial space, green infrastructure, and a 500-room hotel—all while preserving its industrial heritage.
What’s special is that we’ve been involved from the very beginning—not just as architects, but as strategic partners. We helped craft the vision, the programming, the public realm. And we’ve been working in deep partnership with the city and community throughout. One of my favorite moments was during a public consultation, when someone said, “I want to come here with my daughter, let go of her hand, and feel that she’s safe while I grab a beer with a friend.” That line stayed with us. It’s what we’re aiming for: a place that feels safe, alive, and authentically Montréal.
Selective demolition works underway at the Molson Brewery site
Globizen: This touches on something deeper—your focus on the human aspect of city building. How do you balance design ambition with community realities?
Benoît: We spend a lot of time listening. Too often, development is seen as a conflict between developers and bureaucratic regulation. We reject that binary. We try to create forums where city officials, developers, residents, and artists all have a seat at the table. If you start from a place of empathy and transparency, you find that people want the same basic things—safety, dignity, a sense of place. We’re not here to impose design—we’re here to co-author it.
Globizen: Do you find developers are receptive to this more inclusive process?
Benoît: More and more, yes. There’s a new generation of developers who are deeply embedded in their cities. They’re not building from a distance. They live in these communities, and they care about long-term outcomes. That changes the conversation. And when you bring in design early—before the zoning is locked, before the site plan is fixed—you can actually help developers avoid costly mistakes. It’s not just about beauty or branding. It’s about resilience, sustainability, and future-proofing.
Globizen: What’s next for Sid Lee Architecture?
Benoît: We’re continuing to grow our design practice and working on more projects that intersect with culture and community. We’re also doing more work in Toronto. We have a hotel project under construction in Niagara-on-the-Lake. And in all cases, the goal is the same: make cities more livable, more inclusive, and more imaginative. I think we come at it with a little naïveté, but that’s our strength—our intentions are pure and we believe in doing things differently.
Globizen: Benoit, thanks so much for the great conversation.
Benoît: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.
If you or someone you know would like to connect with us about future editions of Global City Builders, please reach out to hello@globizen.com.