Bateau Feu Theatre, Dunkerque, 2009

We conceived the new Bateau Feu theatre in Dunkirk both as an open urban venue and as a structuring civic building and arts amenity. By its location on Place du Général de Gaulle, the Bateau Feu theatre orchestrates several scales and dimensions: an intimate domestic scale on the west for housing and the planted garden, a public scale on Rue du Jeu de Paume, and a non-institutional scale on Place du Général de Gaulle which questions the expression of a new contemporary theatre in the city. On the south, the theatre "enters the city", welcoming the public in the flow of spaces designed on the urban site. The glazed monumental staircase leading to the raised foyer and to the upper entrance to the large hall, placed on the south façade on the side of the entrance esplanade, also participates in this spatial scenography of the theatre's significant spaces. Visually, it opens the space on the underside of the forum pierced by large voids, allowing through top lighting and revealing the volume of the large hall. A chandelier designed like a lighted canopy increases the theatrical effect and corresponds to the vibrations of the internal space.