Photo credit: Chevalier Morales and James Brittain
The Agora des Arts, a venue for performance arts in Rouyn-Norand, Quebec, designed by Chevalier Morales, has officially opened.
Chevalier Morales won the project through a 2018 competition.
Photo credit: Chevalier Morales
The site of the project is the church of Notre-Dame-de-Protection, which has been adaptively reused and received an addition to form the new arts centre. The church is located at the centre of the city of Rouyn-Noranda. For the past 85 years, it has been a place of worship, gathering, and culture. This notion has been influential in the design of the Agora des Arts. The project’s vision, public programming, architecture, and urban layout all aim to make it an essential pillar of performing arts in the community. Photo credit: Chevalier Morales
The proposal for the revitalization aimed to increase opportunities for social engagement by creating three new exterior forecourts. The main entrance forms a public space of interest, while the natural slope of the site is used to create a small, tiered seating area. The terrace aims to reinterpret the shape of the original forecourt, and acts as a complimentary exterior space to the second floor interior foyer.
Photo credit: Chevalier Morales and James Brittain
The church’s grand symbolic staircase was shifted horizontally to itself become a performance space, and links the two levels of the foyer. The textures and finishes of the wooden stair echo chur...