Quai 5160-Maison de la Culture Verdun, Canadian Performance Room, Quebec Art Gallery, Architecture Images
Quai 5160-Maison de la Culture in Verdun
Feb 1, 2021
Quai 5160-Maison de la Culture Verdun
Design: Les Architectes FABG
Location: Verdun, Montréal, Québec, Canada

A winner of an architectural competition held for the conversion of the Guy-Gagnon Arena into a Cultural Center for the borough of Verdun, Quai 5160 includes a 360-seat performance room, an art gallery, a mediation room, a circus school for the children of the neighborhood as well as the additional offices and spaces necessary to implement this mission.

The primary objective we pursued was to open this opaque building on the waterfront promenade and adjacent linear park to foster interaction with citizens while enhancing the sense of security around it. The project is part of a broader vision of valorization and development of the river banks that were once places for swimming and recreation before being contaminated by waste spills and the construction of buildings with an industrial character surrounded by vast asphalt areas. A new public beach has just been laid out, the renovation of the Verdun Auditorium is underway and a new public indoor pool is planned.
The arena was a concrete structure covered with brown concrete bricks and, later, colored acrylic plaster surfaces. The outer shell was partially demolished but the structure was retained. An expansion allowed the addition of a large entrance hal...