Geneva, Switzerland
Laurent Gravier and Sara Martin Cámara with their team at FRES Architectes have completed the Nouvelle Comedie de Geneve Theater for the city of Geneva, Directorate of Built Heritage (DPBA) accommodating spaces not only for performance but also creation.
The New Comédie is more than a theater: it is not only a place of theatrical performance with its two halls, but it is also a place of creation, with its large construction workshops.
It is the people who work within its walls that make it a real center of artistic creation, bringing together all the theater professions under one roof.
For its inspiring design, the Nouvelle Comedie de Geneve Theater has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The characteristic of a “show factory” was decisive for the design of the project, which accommodates both hyper-functional equipment while at the same time maintaining its own unique architectural identity.
The project places the performance halls at the heart of the volume, with an articulation of the programs that generate a unique cross-section, lending the building its identity.
Circulation spaces, public and private, are located on the façades surrounding the programs to which they give access.
Where classical theaters emphasise the stage tower as the central element of the building’s composition, the characteristic crenelated profile of the project expresses the multiplicity of activities taking place in the new theater.
The lobby space, generous and transparent, create links between the inside and the outside and expresses the theater’s openness to the city.
The crossing foyer gives access to the two halls and creates another link between the two public spaces that surround the building.
The architecture, discreet and neutral during the day, expresses the character of a place of creation and production.
In the evening, its lighting design transforms the building into a performance place, affirming its presence in the city, and inviting the public to the magic of the show.
The building accommodates two complementary halls: each of them develops its own identity, both architecturally and in terms of scenography.
The greater hall is conceived in the continuity of the European theater (Italian style) with a pre-established front stage-hall relationship.
The envelope is made of folded and faceted skin, like origami, accommodating the acoustic and light devices specific to a theater hall.
The modular black-box-type hall is dedicated to experimentation.
An elementary and neutral volume, with a modular bleacher system, allows for multiple configurations.
The walls are covered with fiber-reinforced concrete slats, the patterns of which guarantee excellent acoustics.
Both halls are highly technical spaces.
The objective was to integrate all the technical requirements into the architectural expression while creating a poetic space capable of welcoming the spectator—a transition from everyday life to the magic of the show.
Project: Nouvelle Comedie de Geneve Theater
Architects: FRES Architectes
Lead Architects: Laurent Gravier and Sara Martin Cámara
Design Team : Marina Alvarez Auriguiberry, Hector Arderius, Valentina Bezzo, Joana De Castro Gonçalves, Sara Dell’Osa, Thibault De Reure, Teresa Diaz Rodriguez, Evariste Exposito, Eurico Gomes, Lisa Gramond, Matthieu Grolier, Vincent Hannebert, Domitille Jalard, Amélie Lallemand, Nicolas Marillaud, Cristina Moldes Andres, Hugo Moy, Laszlo Nef, Sandra Palau Montava, Ulysse Panel, Catherine Péresson, Bertrand Perrot, Guillaume Prolonge, Killian Roland, Clément Rongier, Emma Sassi, and François Vandewalle
Structure Engineers: T Ingénierie Batiserf Brasey
General Contractor: City of Geneva, Directorate of Built Heritage (DPBA)
Client: City of Geneva, Directorate of Built Heritage (DPBA)
Photographers: Yves André
