La Maison Simons (Simons) is a mainstay of the Québec apparel marketplace, and its expansion into the rest of Canada has been advanced by their beautiful store designs and their sophisticated and chic merchandising.

The new Simons location in Square One, Mississauga, is Simons’ 12th store in Canada and the third outside of its home province of Quebec. The two-storey, 110,000 square foot store is located on the north side of the Square One Centre at the corner of Square One and Hammerson Drives.

The design of the new Square One location is inspired by the award-winning Simons store at West Edmonton Mall, which opened in 2012. The Simons stores have a similar design philosophy but each location features new artistic and creative elements to give it a unique personality.

“We wanted to create minimalist buildings with a unique texture,” says Philippe Blais, architect with LEMAYMICHAUD Design Architecture. LEMAYMICHAUD used white precast concrete surfaces on the new Simons Stores to achieve a sleek look and added unique features to each store.

This project involved renovating an existing anchor tenant at Square One in Mississauga, Ontario. The structure was completely reworked to accommodate the new tenant, Simons. The exterior architectural precast cladding on this project consists of 120, 6.5” thick panels totaling over 20,000 sq.ft. The striking architectural precast panels are ‘super-white’ with a pattern of ribs and inverted pyramids.

Special formliners were required by RES Precast, the precast supplier, to transition from ribs to inverted pyramids, diagonally on each elevation. Due to the accelerated schedule for the project, the rib forms were made at the RES Precast production facility, while the inverted pyramid pattern formliners were constructed by Architectural Polymers in Palmerton, Pennsylvania. Erection of the precast concrete proved to be a challenge, as access to much of the structure required supporting a 90-tonne mobile crane on an existing suspended slab. 

In addition, the panels also required mounting points for 2,200 fibre optic lights and 6,600 green triangular accents. The hand-cut green triangular accents were field-applied and are expressive of a flock of migrating birds.  The result is an enhancement to the beauty of Mississauga and an architectural homage to nature.