Welcome Pavilion for Saint Joseph’s Oratory by Lemay, Montreal

At one of Montreal’s most-visited cultural and spiritual landmarks, Lemay’s new welcome pavilion and bell tower reshape the arrival to Saint Joseph’s Oratory as a contemporary, nature-led pilgrimage - weaving light, stone, sound and landscape into a single experience.

A New Threshold for a Landmark

On Mount Royal in Montreal, Saint Joseph’s Oratory has long been a place of pilgrimage, contemplation and citywide presence. With the unveiling of a new four-storey welcome pavilion designed by Lemay, the site enters a new chapter: one that honours its heritage while opening up a more accessible, choreographed experience for over two million visitors each year.

Part of an ongoing master plan launched in 2000, the pavilion sits at the junction between architecture, landscape and ritual. From the moment visitors arrive, movement is carefully staged: paths and interior routes reinterpret the ascent as an act of exploration, transforming what used to be circulation into a layered journey through light, views and sound.

At the heart of the intervention stands a new bell tower, housing a 62-bell carillon. More than a vertical marker, it acts as a musical instrument for the Oratory and a symbolic guide, its chimes punctuating the passage of time and accompanying visitors as they move through the site.

Stone, Wood and Landscape as One

Rooted in the topography of Mount Royal, the pavilion is conceived as an organic continuation of the terrain. Terraced roofs unfold like natural plateaus, offering new vantage points towards the dome and the city beyond, while reinforcing the site’s ascending procession and improving universal accessibility.

Materially, the architecture draws directly from the mountain. Gabion walls filled with stone excavated on site echo the solidity of the original Oratory and filter natural light into the spaces below, recalling the atmospheric quality of stained glass. A delicate balance of wood and glass gives the bell tower and public interiors an ethereal, contemplative atmosphere that feels both current and deeply rooted.

Landscape and built form are treated as a single system, blurring the boundary between inside and outside in a way that aligns naturally with The Wave of Sustainable Design.

Sustainability as Underlying Structure

Behind the luminous calm of the pavilion lies a clear commitment to sustainable development. The project targets LEED Silver certification and integrates a range of strategies to reduce environmental impact: replacing paved surfaces with green areas to limit heat island effects and foster biodiversity; deploying high-performance insulation; and specifying energy-efficient lighting and ventilation systems to lower the building’s carbon footprint while maintaining comfort.

These decisions are embedded, not decorative - sustainability here is structural, tied to site, climate and long-term use rather than to a single gesture.

A Choreographed Journey of Light and Sound

Inside, a sequence of curated spaces supports different modes of presence:

A cafeteria perched high above the landscape frames panoramic views and quiet pauses.
New public squares and sacred gardens encourage reflection and informal gathering.
A rhythmic pattern of skylights and illuminated ceilings subtly guides movement, revealing fragments of the surrounding context and keeping visitors connected to the mountain and the city.

Throughout, the interplay of sound (carillon), light (openings, ceilings, night lighting) and materiality (stone, wood, glass) deepens the sense of pilgrimage - whether spiritual, cultural or purely architectural.

By balancing respect for a major heritage site with contemporary needs and sustainable design, Lemay’s welcome pavilion acts as both monument and threshold: a luminous, open invitation to contemplation, connection and discovery on Mount Royal.