Theatre de Verdure

The revitalization of Théâtre de Verdure in Montreal’s Parc La Fontaine transforms a historic outdoor venue, originally inaugurated in 1956, into a dynamic and accessible space that unites theatre and park, architecture and landscape. The mission was to create a vibrant year-round venue that enhances its surroundings while respecting its heritage identity with a sustainable future.

Key challenges • Heritage preservation: Balancing modern interventions with the theatre’s mid-century modernist roots and integration into Parc La Fontaine’s iconic landscape. • Year-round use: Redesigning the space to accommodate performances and events for Montreal’s four-season context. • Environmental sensitivity: Minimizing environmental impact while enhancing its natural setting. • Accessibility: Improving circulation and connections to the surrounding park while maintaining the site’s integrity. • User experiences: Creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for diverse audiences and performers to benefit from access to culture. Design solutions • Preservation and Modernization: The theatre’s modernist essence was retained and celebrated through transparent materials and subtle interventions. The stage and amphitheatre were rebuilt with first-rate infrastructure to accommodate 2,500 spectators for large-scale productions. • Connection to Nature: The theatre blends into its natural setting with a biophilic design, preserving plant canopies while introducing more greenery. Extended pathways and points of view create new visual corridors, interconnecting the venue with the park’s landscape. • Sustainability: Locally sourced materials, such as Douglas fir, reduce the project’s environmental footprint while sustainable construction techniques focus on reuse and minimal intervention. • Accessibility and Inclusivity: Accessibility was enhanced with new entrances and pathways for seamless connections between the theatre and the park. The space is open and inviting by design, allowing audiences to enjoy performances from multiple vantage points, including the broader park beyond the venue. • A Space for All Seasons: Introduced a year-round concept, allowing the venue to remain a focal point of activity and leisure even when performances are not taking place. Its transparent façades and lightweight structures adapt to seasonal changes while showcasing the surrounding landscape. Through these design solutions, the Théâtre de Verdure became a reimagined venue where design acts as the connective tissue, a dialogue, between architecture and landscape that preserves history and enhances it with a contemporary sensibility. Its open and angular form’s transparent siding allows spectators to feel immersed in both the natural beauty of Parc La Fontaine and the energy of the stage. Even when silent, the venue’s terraced wood seating invites and its presence captivates—a grand, panoramic window looking out onto one of Montreal’s most cherished public greenspaces. As this revitalization broadens the theatre’s mission, it’s become more than a performance venue—it now serves as a community hub, a piece of revived heritage, and a living part of its environment. Harmonizing the theatre and its surroundings, its design celebrates the venue while firmly establishing its future as an inclusive and sustainable cultural landmark. A tableau in itself, the open-air Théâtre de Verdure’s balance of functional sophistication and sculptural elegance creates a venue that connects, inspires, and endures—an architectural redefinition of what it means to integrate performance and place.