Location: Freyming-Merlebach, France.

Architect: Dominique Coulon & associés.

The ‘Théodore Gouvy’ theatre in Freyming-Merlebach has become a symbol of the town’s renewal, offering local residents a 700-seat auditorium with dedicated areas for performers and logistics. It is located on the Place des Alliés, close to the town centre and next to the new town hall and a shopping centre. The theatre’s programming is pluri-disciplinary, covering every area of live performance. The theatre stands on a base and has a streamlined silhouette, allowing visual transition between the various parts of the programme while keeping on the same scale as the town. The ‘Théodore Gouvy’ theatre offers exceptional acoustic and stagecraft properties, with a stage house 24 metres high and a grid at a height of 17 metres, a catwalk, and two bridges arranged around a stage measuring 22 x 14 metres with a proscenium measuring 14 x 9 metres.

The route to reach the auditorium is spectacular and theatrical, with an immaculate white facade and foyer in shades of beige. Visibility is optimised in the 700-seat auditorium, with the most distant spectator only 20 metres from the front of the stage.