Un teatro “vaporoso”

Atelier TAG and Jodoin Lamarre Pratte Architectes have designed a machine of the performing arts in the service of the community for the suburbs of Montreal. It has an industrial “skin” that contrasts with its warm wood-lined interiors

THE THÉÂTRE GILLES-VIGNEAULT AT SAINTJÉRÔME is a new cultural facility that will enrich the life of a small city with a population of 70,000. The policy of decentralization followed by the governments of the province of Quebec (Canada) has progressively endowed this archipelago of the over 80 municipalities that make up the metropolitan area of Montreal with infrastructure and services, with the aim of reinforcing a feeling of belonging to the local community. One of the most dynamic forces in the production and promotion of the performing arts is the private non

THE NEW CENTRE REINFORCES A FEELING OF BELONGING TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

FLEXIBLE PIECE OF MACHINERY, THE TEATRE PUTS ON DIFFERENT KIND OF PERFORMANCE

profit organization Diffusion en Scène Rivière-du-Nord, which through a complex initiative of co-financing involving a variety of private and public players, which was launched back in 2010, staged a competition for the design of a theatre that was won in 2014 by a temporary consortium of the Montreal-based firms Atelier TAG and Jodoin Lamarre Pratte Architectes. This building, which opened in January 2018, is located in the centre of Saint-Jérôme and within a short space of time has already become a magnet. Conceived as a flexible piece of machinery, able to put on different kinds of performance, the theatre can hold an audience of over 850 people. The intelligence of the design is most evident in the plan: the entrance is at the side, where large expanses of glass are used to create

a visual continuity with the public space outside and is enriched with a grand staircase and a multi-level foyer. The large entrance hall is crowned by an origami roof with an underside of laminated timber (black spruce, a native conifer) that protrudes from the building’s perimeter to protect the space in front. The external cladding of perforated aluminium has an industrial look, while the internal finishes of pale wood soften the relationship with the public. Considerable skill has been displayed in the arrangement of the accessory spaces around the main auditorium. Deliberately ambiguous effects have been obtained through operations of rotation and deformation of the volumes, which have proved useful in terms of housing the theatre’s various technical support services and ensuring that the administrative offices are at once well-lit and intimate. This is the first public building to have been constructed in Saint-Jérôme over the last twenty years and it stands on the edge of the historic centre, resembling a small factory in which the coldness of the external metal cladding has been attenuated, resulting in an ethereal appearance. It is as if the theatre were cloaked in a nebulous veil that vanishes at dusk. ○

THE BUILDING STANDS ON THE EDGE OF THE HISTORIC CENTRE RESEMBLING A SMALL FACTORY