Théâtre Sans Fil
Montréal
Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Puppetry rises from the shell of a disused firehouse

© Marc Cramer

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Théâtre Sans Fil, a Montréal-based puppet theater company, commissioned Saucier + Perrotte to transform a decommissioned firehouse into a new workshop and production facility. The company, whose name translates as “theater without strings,” garners international acclaim for its elaborate shows that use six-foot-tall puppets. Its new home, the firehouse, was built in 1914 and patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in suburban Chicago. The program for its adaptive reuse includes a puppetry workshop, multipurpose rehearsal rooms, storage, and administrative offices. A new addition includes office space for Parc Champêtre, a municipal park that surrounds the building.

The firehouse's old garage is now a multistory rehearsal room. Beyond this space, a new circulation core contains stairs that lead to a mezzanine level, which contains the puppeteers' green room, and continues up to the top floor. The circulation core also contains a multistory tower, also a remnant of the firehouse. Although Saucier + Perrotte left this space open, like the atrium, they divided its vertical volume by adding an elevated walkway that links exhibition rooms on the top floor. The upper story also features administrative offices and an outdoor terrace.

The architects conserved and restored the firehouse's glazed brick walls, which are typical of public buildings dating to the 1910s. In adding new elements, they chose a lighter material to contrast it against the masonry. Similarly, in adding a new park facility at the firehouse's rear, the architects clad this structure in a glass façade that glows like a lantern at night. Covered with vegetation, the addition rises toward the firehouse and, joining it, forms a large terrace accessible from the mezzanine level.

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Formal name of Project:
Théâtre Sans Fil

Location:
Montréal

Gross square footage:
23,250 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$2.94 million

Owner:
Théâtre Sans Fil
www.theatresansfil.com

Architect:
Saucier + Perrotte architectes
110 Jean-Talon West
H2R 2X1 Montréal, QC
www.saucierperrotte.com