Montreal's first architecture cooperative Pivot champions community housing

Studio Pivot, founded in 2017 as Quebec's first architecture cooperative, specializes in cooperative and transitional housing to address Montreal's affordable-housing shortage. Cofounder Suzanne Laure Doucet noted the office emerged from eight architects' determination to challenge professional habits through a horizontal self-management model. Despite funding shortfalls, Pivot has 320 community housing units in development. Key projects include Coop Milieu de l'Île, which won the 2025 QOA Award of Excellence in Architecture; Maison Amaryllis, a residential building for people living with HIV/AIDS; and transitional housing for Plein Milieu, a Montreal nonprofit serving people experiencing homelessness. The cooperative operates without a board of directors, with all worker-members having equal voting rights. Pivot also renovated historic buildings and designed microbreweries and coworking spaces. In 2023, the firm relocated to a former textile manufacturing building at 5333 Casgrain Avenue, designing its own office for maximum flexibility.