LE GRAND-ESPACE

Location: 250 Dépôt Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
Status: Built 2025
Client: City of Sherbrooke
Type: Performance, Cultural, Public
Area: 1,370 m²
Capacity: 310 seats
Photo credit: Maxime Brouillet and Félix Michaud

Daytime exterior view illustrating the complementary volumes of the red glass Le Grand-Espace theater and the attached CASJB production center in a snowy urban setting.

Evening perspective along the street, showing the illuminated red glass wall of Le Grand-Espace and its warm light spilling onto the winter snow.

The lateral facade of Le Grand-Espace at twilight, highlighting the illuminated integrated public artwork of a chair against a cloudy sky.

The black corrugated metal lateral facade of Le Grand-Espace, acting as a canvas for a large, integrated public artwork depicting a chair floating in clouds.

Wide landscape view of the monolithic black volume of Le Grand-Espace, punctuated by a bold red signage panel overlooking the city.

Urban context and lobby on Wellington South in Sherbrooke

The main façade opens onto Wellington South Street with a large, dazzling glazed wall with colored films, revealing the lobby as an urban stage. The red planes emphasize the depth of the space and provide a bright living room for the community.

Nighttime view of Le Grand-Espace theater radiating red light from its glass facade, connected to the darker volume of the CASJB theatrical production facility.

Close view of the "théâtre" typography on the red glass facade of Le Grand-Espace, showing subtle reflections of the CASJB.

Interior view from the Le Grand-Espace foyer, showing colorful tinted glass panels in red, orange, and purple framing the snowy urban scene of Sherbrooke outside.

Luminous vestibule inside Le Grand-Espace where sunlight passes through red, orange, and purple glass filters, creating a dynamic, colorful interior atmosphere.

The color palette echoes the typical colors associated with the theatre with complementary orange and mauve surfaces.

A portion of the lobby can be closed off with a black velvet curtain. This area includes a small play area with removable plywood bleacher-style seating for intimate performances aimed at very young audiences.

Foyer interior showing heavy black acoustic curtains drawn open to reveal red walls and natural light filtering through tinted glass.

Signage as a spatial device

Signage is a defining feature of the project, in close dialogue with the volumes and the color palette. Words are integrated both as wayfinding elements to guide visitors and as graphic compositional elements.

Close-up of the large yellow "théâtre" lettering applied to the glowing red glass facade of Le Grand-Espace at twilight.

Close-up architectural detail of the bright red exterior sign panel reading "Le Grand-Espace" mounted on the dark metal cladding.

"Côté Jardin" (stage right) signage on a light wood panel beside a black theatrical curtain in Le Grand-Espace.

Bright red curved corridor with minimal typography directing to the creation and production area in Le Grand-Espace.

Black box and acoustic envelope

The performance hall, a volume measuring 18 × 24 m with 8 m of clear height, is the heart of the project. It includes a motorized seating rake with red fabric seats and four rigging grids at the ceiling.

Symmetrical frontal view of the deployed red motorized seating bleacher inside the black box theater under a dramatic blue lighting grid.

View looking down from the audience seating toward the empty flat stage floor of the black box theater illuminated by overhead blue lights.

Elevated side view looking down the rows of bright red theater seats demonstrating the steep rake of the motorized seating system.

View from the technical control room showing a digital sound mixing console in the foreground overlooking the theater seating and stage.

Black box access

A monumental corridor encircles the black box. It serves as circulation for the audience, artists, and technical staff, linking the lobby, the green room and the loading dock area to the auditorium’s seven access doors.

Black rock-wool acoustic panels are installed on the upper portions of the walls and on the ceiling to insulate the performance space from exterior noise and to reduce reverberation and echoes.

View from the dark acoustic vestibule looking through an open heavy black door into the bright theater hall with its red seating bank.

Close-up architectural detail of the red expanded metal mesh guardrail and handrail inside the vividly painted stairwell of Le Grand-Espace.

Motorized telescopic bleachers and auditorium configurations

The project’s distinctiveness comes from the wide range of possible auditorium arrangements, which set it apart from other performance spaces in the area. The black box contains a seating rake of 12 rows, 11 of which are built into a retractable motorized system.

This mechanism provides theatre companies with considerable freedom to create configurations that foster either more dynamic or more intimate connections between performers and the audience.

Video of the flexible black box theater at Le Grand-Espace. Technical staff smoothly operate the motorized telescopic bleachers and foldaway seats.

The front section of the seating rake is made up of two mobile modules, each with six rows. These elements can be detached from the main structure and moved, making it possible to create seating configurations that are either face-to-face or aligned along the side walls.

Under-stage view in Le Grand-Espace revealing the robust black steel mechanical structure supporting the retractable red theater seating bank.

Fully lit interior of Le Grand-Espace black box theater showing the deployed red seating bank and overhead technical grids.

Le Grand-Espace flexible performance space shown with dim lighting, highlighting the bright red retractable seats against the dark room.

Interior of Le Grand-Espace black box theater showing the motorized red seating bank under dramatic blue stage lighting.

Architectural floor plans illustrating six different configurations for the flexible seating system in Le Grand-Espace theater.

Scenography and lighting infrastructure

The hall is equipped with a fixed technical catwalk above the seats, in front of the control room. It includes several hanging pipes to install stage projectors in locations where it is not possible to use motorized battens.

Upward view of the suspended steel technical catwalk casting long dramatic shadows against the theater walls under deep blue stage lights.

Detailed architectural view of the massive steel trusses supporting the roof of Le Grand-Espace theater, dramatically lit in deep blue.

Motorized rigging system

The hall is equipped with a motorized rigging system made up of four technical grids suspended by steel cables, each connected to its own motor by a series of pulleys and blocks anchored to the roof structure.

Backstage, dressing rooms and ecosystem with the Jean-Besré Center

Connected to the Jean-Besré Performing Arts Center, Le Grand-Espace is part of a whole in which creation, rehearsal and presentation of works mutually enrich one another.

The project brings together administrative offices, a green room with three adjacent dressing rooms for artists, a loading dock area, and storage for equipment, removable seats, and sets.

These technical areas open onto the buffer zone surrounding the hall to ensure quick and efficient circulation. They are clear, uncluttered, and generously glazed spaces that provide production teams with a bright, pleasant, and high-performance working environment.

Minimalist black stage door labeled "Entrée des artistes" next to the large square window of the green room reflecting the city skyline on the black corrugated metal facade.

Cultural impact and quotations

Since it opened in 2025, the annual programming has tripled and the venue has been quickly embraced by schools, families and adult audiences. Sherbrooke is now part of the national touring network alongside Quebec City and Montreal.

“We had imagined it for so many years… and then I saw the children go and sit down naturally… I saw that they all felt at home.” — Lilie Bergeron, Executive Director of Côté Scène

“With Le Grand-Espace, we are making a strong commitment to culture, to our youth and to the vitality of the downtown area.” — Évelyne Beaudin, Mayor of Sherbrooke

Team

Architect: Atelier Paul Laurendeau | NEUF Architect(e)s | in consortium

Design architect: Paul Laurendeau

Structural engineer: Latéral-DWB

Mechanical and electrical engineer: Dupras Ledoux

Civil engineer: Gravitaire

Theatre consultant: Trizart Alliance

Theatre consultant (competition): Guy Simard

Acoustician: MJM

Architectural lighting: Light Factor

Code consultant: Technorm

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Le Grand-Espace

Located in downtown Sherbrooke, Le Grand-Espace is a bold architectural intervention characterized by a monolithic black metal volume and a striking red glass facade. The building acts as a vibrant urban beacon, housing a highly flexible black box theater within a minimalist, monochromatic black and red interior.