École nationale de cirque Montréal, Québec, Canada
Inauguration : January 2004
Area : 77,866 sq. ft
Cost : C$ 15 M
Type : Educational
Capacity : 0 seat
When the National Circus School began to develop its new training facility in Montreal’s Cité des arts du cirque, the call went out to Scéno Plus to provide assistance in planning the multipurpose complex. The space had many criteria to meet, including room for offices, a cafeteria, workout and physiotherapy rooms, workshops, dance and theater studios, and performance space. The challenge here was to create an evolving space that would meet the institution’s current and future needs, including space for circus-related businesses and rooms to be used for research, developing original creations and putting on productions.
Outstanding features
The major challenge was to arrive at a consensus with the teaching team in order to meet the School’s varied and specific needs and translate those needs into a coherent architectural program. The architectural program needed to reflect both current and future requirements, to provide for new services and new target audiences in the future. Containing construction costs and working within a tight budget without compromising the functional integrity of the site amounted to a substantial challenge.
Mandate
Development of architectural program for architectural competitions
Assessment of winning proposals as a member of the technical committee
Theatre design: establishing design criteria for all spaces – workout, dance, play, and production spaces, plus associated service areas (front of house, storage, cloakrooms, etc.)
Design of specialized equipment systems and related technical infrastructures
