Theatre Océan Nord Foyer

Programme

Renovation of the entrance, reception area, bar and ticket office.

The bureau FL.5.2 refurbishment of the foyer of the Océan Nord theatre opens up the space of the theatre and diversifies its uses. More fundamentally, it is the result of a new project methodology that seeks to ‘deconstruct the binary oppositions that are oppressive yet fundamental to the architectural profession’. A vast programme indeed. However, it is the small budget that prompts this approach, which aims to make savings while creating a new link between the theory and practice of the project process. Architectural practice is thus explored to see what it can achieve and, above all, to find a new way of connecting design and production: genuine project-based research. Informed by their theoretical work on the links between architecture and criticism, representation and execution, architects Carla Frick-Cloupet and Victoire Chancel joined forces with the artist Rachel Magnan and the collective After Howl, who brought their complementary practical knowledge. Together with the project owner, they conducted a week-long workshop. Artists, architects, theoreticians, artisans and theatre management worked collaboratively, sharing their expertise and experience. The challenges of matching project and budget were identified, and agreement on the project was reached. The site then became a place where the usual relationships of responsibility for the final form of the project were challenged, in particular by the inversion of roles. This self-build project gave pride of place to improvisation. The figure of the semicircle, which can be found in the bar, the tables and the door handles, is symbolic of this approach: a mistake made in the concrete bar’s formwork became a recurrent identifying motif for the project, and embodied this new process.

Audrey Contesse