THE GENIUS OF THE PLACE: THE PASSAGE AND THE QUADRANTS
The Salle de spectacles de Mont-Laurier project offers a unique opportunity to define a new entertainment hub that can reflect the aspirations of the municipality and its community. This opportunity is driven as much by the potential of human experiences as by the optimism linked to the fact of providing the city with an infrastructure necessary to the cultural and economic vitality of the region. We also hope that the flexibility of its use will meet the expectations of the performing arts community as well as those of corporate, tourism and cultural organizations.
Based on these observations, we wanted our architecture to give an impression of belonging to the site, its values and its intrinsic qualities. We sought to respond to the challenges of the context and the importance of the gesture, by anchoring ourselves to the genetics of the place, using it as the main source of inspiration for the project. It is this internal and intimate reference that pushed us to opt for an implantation and an architectural organization that can be expressed both through the balance of the present elements (the Notre-Dame-de-Fourvière cathedral, the Christ Roi building, the proximity of the city center, the rue de la Madone and the access by the rue du Pont) and its proximity to unique views on the panorama of the natural and wooded environment and the river La Lièvre below. Through this reading of the site, we sought to distinguish two important notions in the project: the passage and the quadrants.
The notion of passage is intimately linked to the particular shape of the site which passes from a narrower portion on the city side to a wider portion in the background, allowing the passage from the Rue du Pont to the rear landscape and the proximity of the river in a swinging effect that stages the site differently on the way out and on the way back. This effect of passage from east to west that we wanted to highlight in the open space of the lobby and foyer is also balanced by the organization of functions in relation to the bordering environment and the civic importance of the neighboring buildings. As such, we chose to align the project with the Cathedral reference building in an effort to connect to the Downtown through the sequence of sub-places that lead from Madonna Street to the orchard south of the Cathedral, in the space left between the original Cathedral facade and finally to the project.
The project was designed around the main visual breakthrough (passageway) and the alignment to the Cathedral, but also around the four zones surrounding the main auditorium: the hall, the foyer, the animation room and the technical area. The potential of occupation and animation of these quadrants will allow to offer a civic aspect on all the faces of the project by connecting each zone and leaving very little unprogrammed space for the passer-by.
The layout of these various quadrants will also allow the project to be articulated in terms of a series of outdoor spaces that provide an extension of the internal activities. This relationship to the landscape will also increase the project's capacity to benefit from contact with its environment while maximizing the use of the entire available site in a program that can range from open-air cinema, to fairs, to street markets.
THE ENCLOSURE: MATERIALITY AND THEATRICALITY
The project is articulated on the basis of its physical orientation and the deployment of the functions annexed to the hall on the different faces of the project. This deployment creates the enclosure that surrounds the main hall and allows to link all the facades of the project through a reading specific to the place and that plays with the quality of its implementation. We wanted to express the potential of theatricality of the facade by detaching it from the box like a case that adorns the project and gives it rhythm by a play of alternating steel blades and a veneer of torrefied cedar forming a continuous skin and putting in tension each of the functional quadrants of the building. The enclosure in its form and the variation of its closures becomes the link like a large curtain around the project, offering a clear reading of the whole, accesses and passages that punctuate each face of the project.
PHYSICAL ORGANIZATION: THE DIFFERENT ADDRESSES OF THE PROJECT
The primary intention of the project is to serve as a catalyst for cultural and social activities in the region and to offer a potential for animation that goes far beyond the use of the performance hall, both in terms of the periods and hours of use. To achieve this, we wanted to create a place conducive to exchange and dialogue that opens to the outside world and offers a variety of accesses that provide a pretext for civil animation and offer, through landscaping, a series of animated and convivial places.
In this perspective, the spatial organization of the project expresses the potential of the uses and the flexibility of the occupation by positioning the two main addresses of the theater and the animation room on the civic side but opposite each other. The initial choice of siting and mainly the alignment of the cage volume parallel to the cathedral allowed us to identify the main address of the hall and foyer on the north side in relation to the passage zone and in relation to vehicular access from Rue du Pont. This access is characterized by the theatricality of a monumental staircase that opens onto the interior of the combined lobby and foyer space. Above this space floats a glass box that is an extension of the hall's balcony and stages a relaxation space (observatory) while creating an imagery reference to the oculus on the front facade of the Cathedral, a kind of visual landmark at a distance that can come alive in the evening and become a visual reference at a distance from the project.
Beneath this box is the main entrance, which allows easy access to the ticketing and pre-functions while providing visual clearance to the rear landscape of the site. The combination of the lobby and foyer functions in the same space maximizes the potential for easy use of the space for banquets, receptions and exhibitions. The treatment of the cedar-clad walls will also provide a quality to the space that will give the feeling of being inside a piece of furniture and will also convey the message of the importance of the wood industry to the region. This space provides access to both the balcony via a staircase and walkway and to the administrative functions, technical spaces and the animation room. In the exterior extension of the foyer, a large terrace (belvedere) will float above the landscape and create an additional rear access opening onto the river bank. The rhythmic play of the steel slats extending from the façade and the openings will animate the space with natural light in the morning and at the end of the day.
Behind the hall and at the center of the project, the performance space has been designed to offer a great deal of flexibility (see reference to the text on scenography); in addition, the rich coloring of wood elements will add character to the animation. Punctual windows on the exterior will also allow the place to benefit from natural light when uses allow it.
At the other end of the civic façade, the location of the animation room near the cathedral provides a direct pedestrian link through the front square of the cathedral and its vestige façade. This second animated entrance gives potential for parallel use of the main spaces while occupying this side of the building as a secondary address but part of the suites of subspaces connecting to the main street. The animation room is detached from the main body of the building by the creation of an interior garden onto which the administrative functions adjacent to the main entrance overlook. This garden sub-space will also be the occasion to create a place of relaxation but also to install the work of art resulting from the policy of integration of the arts to the architecture and the environment.
At the rear of the building, in the technical quadrant of the project, the servants' functions of the performance hall and the animation room will create an additional address linked to the functionality of the project but also serving as access for the artists, set back from the main activities and linked to the rear landscape of the project and chemin Adolphe-Chapleau.
All of these different opportunities punctuating the project serve to support the vision of a performance hall project in which the building is no longer simply a receptacle for occasional events and ambulatory programming. Rather, the ensemble becomes a cultural and plural center that is at once an active place, a haven of peace and relaxation, but also a place of diffusion and animation that expresses the vitality of the region.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
The members of the jury raised the following main points regarding PLA+AE's performance:
- The site analysis and resulting proposed conceptual approach is clear and interesting.
- The architectural expression is consistent with the conceptual approach and its translation into plan is equally consistent.
- The diagonal lines of the elevations accentuate the quadrants stated in the conceptual approach.
- The anchoring by distinct functions on all its faces is appreciated. It allows for the development of the project so that the different perspectives on the building are all interesting. There is no ambiguity in the reading of the building.
- The architectural language is appropriate and translates well the use of the place. The gesture of going to the theater makes sense.
- The location shows great respect for the cathedral but a dialogue with it would have been desirable. The link is cut by a traffic lane. However, it is emphasized that from the forecourt of the theater, like an observation podium, the wall that remains of the Cathedral will be presented in a new perspective.
- The sprawl of parking lots in front of the building is a major irritant. However, users of the Cathedral would appreciate it for its proximity. This outdoor space should receive special attention regarding surface treatment, street furniture, required plantings, etc.
- The functional qualities of the interior spaces are remarkable and highly appreciated.
- The versatility of the space is described as extraordinary.
- The high quality of the sequence of spaces composed of the entrance, the lobby, the foyer and the belvedere will mark the experience of the users. However, the floor's unevenness is questionable.
- The actual transparency of the "passage" is questioned.
- It would have been desirable for the activities taking place on the gazebo to be visible from the street to show the vibrancy of the space.
- Although it is not requested of the PFT and the designer has explained that it is not necessary, the jury members recognize that the insertion of an elevator would be a good service to users.
- Although a more noble use of the material was expected, the proposed use of wood is realistic based on current industrial production.
- The complexity of the building envelope raises questions about its realization within the budget.
- The exploitation of regional know-how has not been demonstrated.
- A demonstration of the basic LEED equivalence was presented.
- The quality of the team of other professionals is appreciated. The experience of each of them was recognized. In addition, the involvement demonstrated in the delivery by them is convincing and reassuring.
- The interview was appreciated for its sensory clarification of the spaces and for the support of the professionals present. The exercise allowed a better understanding of the project.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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