This prestigious institution emerges from the particular context of the city of Saint-Hyacinthe, a city where the urban is enriched by the presence of a waterway and all the playfulness that it engenders. The recognition of this duality marks the inscription of the project in the site. Occupying the entire block bordered by Saint-Antoine, Sainte-Anne, Marguerite Bourgeois and Hôtel-Dieu streets, it is intended to generate public routes of significant and evocative places both on the urban scale and on that of the building. Through its spatial generosity, the theater's square, turned towards the city and addressing its institutions, creates a new urban square reinforcing its network of public spaces. This approach to the building, ceremonial and in keeping with the civic center, the market and the commercial streets, reflects the status of the institution in the city.
On the river side, a second pole of informal activity addresses the presence of nature through the development of an outdoor stage overflowing to a sloped landscaped esplanade that grafts onto the linear park along the Yamaska.
This redevelopment and enhancement of the riverbank by the creation of a true urban park gives status to the meeting of nature and the city. The esplanade is the result of Hôtel-Dieu Street and Sainte-Anne Avenue and creates a natural link with the river and the promenade that runs alongside it. At the top, five monumental columns, built of metal lattice and covered with ivy, surround a belvedere that reveals the river. Transparent during the day and luminous at night, they celebrate the meeting of the Yamaska and the inclined vegetal plane, a site of cultural meetings in the heart of the city. In the evening, a network of watering cans and lights embedded in the lawn will transform this landscape into an enchantment of color and light.
Hôtel-Dieu Arch
The roof of the theater folds down to form a slender arch framing the view from the Hôtel-Dieu promenade downtown to the sloping esplanade and the Yamaska River. This arch, whose vertical plane displays the site's events, creates a gateway to a playful and cultural territory in the heart of the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. A vertical element dominates this gathering place of great shows and stands like a beacon in the urban landscape. This visual axis crosses the new theater square, animated by the multi-purpose space of the foyer of the performance hall, a true showcase for the cultural life of Saint-Hyacinthe.
The Parvis
Circumscribed by the volumes of the foyer and the lobby, protected by a light and transparent roof structure, the Parvis, the threshold of the theater, is a true urban piece. It is alive with the rhythms of day and night, animated by the play of light and shadow created by the sun through its glass roof, and at night by the dramatic effect of zenithal theatrical lighting and the constantly changing appearance of the foyer's skin, which lends itself to projections in motion.
Two monumental Morris columns, dressed in the events of the day and those to come, mark the entrance to the theater and call out to the spectator.
The Foyer
The foyer, a place of cultural animation, a chameleon-like space, belongs to both the city and the theater. By day and by night, its transparency reveals the heart of the theatre and the events it hosts become in themselves shows that animate the city. Sliding glass panels allow it to open up to the square and allow its activities and those of the bar to spill over into the Place du Théâtre. Spatially autonomous both by its shape, the simplicity of its palette of materials and colors and its inscription in the heart of the project, it lends itself to any kind of event. A demountable stage can be placed anywhere in the foyer, depending on the shows to be held there. On the upper floor, a mezzanine served by a walkway running alongside the foyer is located above the stage deposit; these two spaces can accommodate spectators during performances held in the foyer. A system of curtains allows the space to be completely blacked out if necessary.
The Gallery
A transverse gallery connects the forecourt and the sculpture garden, creating a transitional gap between the foyer and the auditorium, thus allowing their respective functional autonomy. Resting on a slate base, a monumental spiral staircase, light and diaphanous with its perforated metal skeleton, punctuates this linear space and invites the visitor to go upstairs.
On either side of the room, a thin crack pierces the circulation space creating a double height bathed in a zenithal light licking a colored mural.
The sculpture garden
On the east side, an administrative and service wing on one level, crowned by a roof terrace visible from the forecourt, adjoins the hall, while the west side opens onto a mineral sculpture garden. Sheltered from the Hôtel-Dieu street by its metal mesh covered with climbing ivy, the garden is the visual pivot around which the public circulations of the performance hall gravitate. It offers itself to the visitor strolling in the gallery along the foyer or taking the stairs to the balcony or the western access to the hall.
From the garden, the presence of the theater can be seen through the glass window that allows a glimpse of the red veil that covers the hall. At its exit on the courtyard side, this same veil defines a modular airlock that opens after the show, revealing the sculpture garden.
A vaulted glass roof allowing zenithal light to penetrate traces the transversal axis linking the west entrance, the sculpture garden, the foyer and the main entrance with the accesses to the hall.
Beyond the sculpture garden, a planted garden laid out in a series of trays descends towards Marguerite-Bourgeois Street and the sloping esplanade. Adjacent to it, bleachers rise towards the outdoor stage. Adjacent to the stage, it benefits from a direct link with the latter and its support spaces through the opening of sliding doors and is its extension to the outside. A canopy serving as a lighting support protects it, allowing events to be held at any time.
Access and parking
The 200-space outdoor parking lot, sheltered under the sloped slab covered with a lawn (30 cm), benefits from natural ventilation. Two accesses from Marguerite-Bourgeois Street guarantee accessibility to the protected parking lot at all times, especially during large summer gatherings on the sloping esplanade. While waiting for the construction of the esplanade, a surface parking lot of 204 spaces facing the outdoor stage constitutes a plateau that can accommodate large summer events.
The layout and functional organization of the project facilitate access for both visitors and trucks. The former access the theater from the city via the theater square and the main entrance and from the parking lots on the riverbank via the transverse gallery. Avenue Sainte-Anne is animated by the artists' entrance and the presence of the green room. The traffic and maneuvering of trucks using Hôtel-Dieu and Saint-Joseph streets will not disrupt the vehicular traffic of the neighborhood. The location of the loading dock allows direct access from the loading dock to the stage and its support spaces as well as to the outdoor stage. A secondary access for deliveries to the foyer is provided under the Hôtel-Dieu Arch via the doors of the foyer storage room.
Formal expression
The main volumes (theater, foyer and service wing), punctuated by voids, opacities, vertical and horizontal planes, are enveloped in white metal and grafted to a network of public circulations traced by a zenithal light. Transparency is ensured by a clear low-emissivity glazing.
1% artwork
On the main façade, the opaque surface crowning the large glass window of the foyer is intended as a large-scale picture rail that could eventually accommodate the 1% dedicated to the integration of artwork. We propose a light structure supported by metal cables on which are stretched diaphanous spandex sails, animated during the day by the passage of natural light and at night by a play of colored and diffuse lighting.
(From competitor's text)
(Unofficial automated translation)
The jury appreciated the appropriateness of the architectural approach chosen and the quality of the location on the site. It also underlined the simplicity of the volumetric response of the whole project as well as the economy of means with regard to the objectives of the programming.
In terms of urban integration, the jury appreciated the generosity of the project's urban planning and its potential for improvement in the future. It also emphasized the appropriateness of its integration into the urban fabric, its openness to the downtown area and its participation in urban life.
The jury considered the richness, versatility and quality of the various interior and exterior spaces that reinforce the idea of a public facility, a tool for cultural development. It emphasized the quality of the interior and exterior spaces, the clarity of the spatial distribution and the flexibility of the different possible uses, both autonomous and complementary. The appropriateness of the project in relation to the program and the needs, as well as the relevance of the construction and the realism of the project in terms of its implementation were also appreciated. Finally, the jury was keen to emphasize the great clarity, the intelligibility of the spatial organization and the rigor of the planning as well as the relevance of the flexibility and the functional versatility offered by its layouts.
(From jury report)
(Unofficial automated translation)
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