ANDAS

The ceiling of every apartment is exposed timber.

53 rental apartments in Lachine built entirely in mass timber (CLT), with the wood left visible in every apartment.

ANDAS apartment in Lachine with exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT) ceiling and wood beams

Apartments: 53, from studios to penthouses
Height: 6 storeys
Structure: Cross-laminated timber (CLT)
Ceilings: 9.5 ft exposed wood, 11.5 ft in penthouses
Wood in the structure: About 900 m³
Carbon: 43% less than in concrete
Completed: 2025
Address: 425 18e Avenue, Lachine

ANDAS is a six-storey rental building in Lachine whose structure is made entirely of cross-laminated timber (CLT). Instead of hiding the wood behind drywall, we left it exposed: every apartment has solid wood ceilings and beams, with ceilings of 9.5 feet and up to 11.5 feet in the penthouses.

We designed ANDAS with one goal: an apartment that feels more natural, more pleasant and more durable. It is a building we developed to keep, with Gestion Kokolakis, and that we manage ourselves.

Living room with plants, wood ceiling and sheer curtains at ANDAS

ANDAS means "to breathe"

The name comes from Swedish. We picked it for what we wanted residents to feel at home: calm, fresh air and natural materials. The interiors follow a simple Scandinavian idea: let the wood show, and keep everything else quiet.

Rendering of ANDAS, a six-storey mass timber rental building at 425 18e Avenue in Lachine

Built in mass timber, from the forests of Chibougamau

The whole structure of ANDAS is made of cross-laminated timber from responsibly managed, FSC-certified forests. Wood stores the carbon the trees absorbed while growing, the panels are made to measure to cut waste on site, and they can be reused or recycled at the end of their life. Mass timber also lets architects work with wide, open spans and fewer columns. ANDAS holds about 900 cubic metres of wood. Our architects compared it with the same building in concrete: the wood structure emits about 43% less carbon, or about 674 tonnes of CO2 avoided.

Living and dining room at ANDAS under an exposed cross-laminated timber ceiling

Why exposed wood feels different

Research on indoor environments links natural wood to lower stress, lower blood pressure and a greater sense of wellbeing, in homes as in offices, schools and hospitals. ANDAS was designed to show as much wood as possible in every room.

ANDAS kitchen with quartz island, shaker cabinets and exposed wood ceiling

Finishes chosen to last

Inside, the details follow the same idea: quality materials we are happy to live with for decades.

Quartz counters and backsplash, lacquered shaker-style kitchen cabinets
Large pantry in many units
100% aluminum windows and solid-core interior doors
Ambient LED lighting under the wood ceilings
Bathrooms with a curbless quartz shower base and backlit mirror
Upgraded soundproofing between units

Bedroom with an exposed wood ceiling at ANDAS

Three ideas worth sharing

ANDAS was also a test, and we wanted the lessons to help others build in wood. With support from the Government of Québec's wood construction innovation program, the team developed three details, now documented in public reports:

A wood structure braced with steel hidden inside the walls between apartments
A "dry" acoustic floor with no concrete poured on top, so the wood ceilings can stay exposed
Precast balconies fixed to the wood with connectors that stop heat loss

A new life for an industrial site, built in winter

ANDAS stands on the former Daly & Morin industrial site in Lachine, cleaned up before construction. It is the fifth and last phase of the Daly-Morin complex, and the only one built in wood. The structure went up during the winter of 2024 to 2025, one beam and one floor panel at a time; the team found that snow is easier to manage than rain. The first residents moved in in September 2025.